D.C. Elite Crave a Mouthful of Russia

WASHINGTON -- When breaking for lunch or unwinding at happy hour, many U.S. government employees in Washington choose an unlikely spot: the Russian restaurant Maxim, whose address distinguishes it as one of the closest restaurants to the White House.

Located at 1875 F Street, about a block from the White House gates, Maxim opened in 2001 with a menu of traditional Russian and Georgian dishes and a bar stocked with Russian vodkas. Alexandra Costa, a former Soviet defector, founded Maxim along with her son, Konstantin "Cody" Costa, and her husband, Zourab Tsiskaridze. In the last two years, the restaurant has become a crossroads of diplomats, expats and fans of genuine Russian dishes.

"We try to keep the menu as authentic as possible without offending the American clientele," said Konstantin Costa, who added a cheeseburger to the lunch menu since it was such a popular lunchtime request. "We want to be an authentic Russian restaurant, but we can't survive just on that."

Surviving has been a very real issue for Maxim, which opened in September 2001, only to be closed on government orders following the terrorist attacks. Located in such close proximity to the White House, the General Services Administration and other U.S. government institutions, Maxim was inside the security perimeter that no one was allowed to cross for several weeks.

After losing a considerable sum of money in 2001, Maxim managed to stay in business. But its unique challenges remain. "Our location limits our clientele," Alexandra Costa said, explaining how strict daytime parking rules put a dent in local traffic. "Also, we are very dependent on political upheavals and events. I could tell you, simply by looking at my financial records, when the U.S. went to Iraq and when we declared war. Our business dipped about 30 percent because the people who normally come in for lunch were too busy."

Costa is no stranger to American politics. Her name was changed from Yelena Mitrokhina by the CIA, as part of standard procedure concerning Soviet defectors in the 1970s. After defecting, Alexandra served as a translator for the CIA, went on lecture tours for the FBI and made several TV appearances as a Cold War and Soviet defense specialist.

A petite woman wearing a classic red suit, she interrupts her dinner to periodically check in with her restaurant staff, whom she addresses in both English and Russian, to make sure that Saturday night at Maxim is running smoothly. She has such an open and lively manner that it is difficult to imagine that she was the center of a storm of controversy three decades ago.

Alexandra Costa came to Washington in 1975 with her then-husband Lev Mitrokhin, who served as first secretary of the Soviet Embassy. In 1978, she defected from the Soviet Union, a decision she explained by a desire to give her children more freedom of choice in the future. Her life subsequently took many surprising turns, which she describes in her 1986 autobiography "Stepping Down From the Star: A Soviet Defector's Story." The book explains how she, a professor of Marxism in the Soviet Union, set out on an unlikely entrepreneurial path, receiving an MBA from the Wharton School and subsequently opening a slew of businesses.

Maxim is Alexandra Costa's seventh company. Past firms have dealt in computers, accounting and translations. "Now I'm approaching retirement age," she said, "and I want to have fun in my last business -- although it is a lot of work."

Costa named her restaurant after Maxim de Paris, a famous meeting place for Russian emigres who fled to Paris during the Revolution. "I hope that Maxim will also become a home-away-from-home for the Russian community in Washington and a place for the two cultures, the American and the Russian, to meet."

Her return to Russian expat life has come as something of a surprise considering her past as a defector. "I've been away from the Russian community for many years," she said. "We didn't speak Russian at home. Konstantin is just learning now. We didn't have anything to do with the Russian community."

However, she became part of that community in the early 1990s, largely because of her third husband, Zourab Tsiskaridze (they have since divorced). "Zourab came here in 1991 from Georgia, where he was an opera singer," she said. "He didn't speak any English, and he still hasn't learned much."

The couple opened a Russian grocery store. "While Zourab sang at the Washington Opera a couple of times and had concerts here and there, he needed a more permanent stage," she said. "So the idea for a restaurant, a place that would be more conducive for socializing and serve as a performance venue for Zourab, emerged."

After scouring the city for sites, the couple found a space located in a former federal building, which had once served as a well-known French restaurant, Maison Blanche. Luxurious crystal chandeliers and cream-colored curtains line Maxim's banquet hall, exuding a classic elegance. Starched tablecloths, grand wine glasses and black and white paintings of turn-of-the century Moscow streets remind Maxim's guests of Russia's majestic, bygone past.

"We walked in here, looked at each other and said, 'That's it!'" she said. "We didn't want Maxim to be the typical emigre Russian restaurant. That's why we picked this location. That's why we speak English here. Seventy percent of our customers are American."

And those customers are afforded an experience that differs greatly from other Russian restaurants on the Eastern seaboard, most notably the popular yet gaudy Tatiana and Rasputin restaurants in New York City's Brighton Beach. Clientele helps make a big difference.

Tom Ridge, U.S. secretary of homeland security, dines at the restaurant alongside other senior bureaucrats. James Kimsey, the co-founder of AOL, is said to have sampled Maxim's lunch fare and vodka bar on more than one occasion. Quite different from these guests, however, is the international crowd that arrives after 11 p.m., when the kitchen closes and Maxim turns into a dance club, running until 3 a.m.

Konstantin Costa, Maxim's manager by day, is a restaurant guest by night, and he may embody Maxim's spirit best. The son of a former professor of Marxism, he doesn't speak Russian. Born in the American capital, he has never visited Russia. While chatting with regulars at the bar, he sips on Maxim's extensive collection of more than 115 different labels of vodka.

"I think there's only one other place in the United States, The Red Baron in Las Vegas, which may have more vodkas," he said. The most frequently requested martini at Maxim is called the Russian Way. "It's got horseradish vodka, the one we make here, mixed with a Ukrainian herb vodka called Zhitomirska."