The Russian Tea Room’s red and green dining room with 24-karat goldleaf ceilings was once a Midtown celebrity haunt. (Photograph courtesy of Lanna Apisukh.)
For the past 20 years or so, Biberaj’s father, Hasan Biberaj, a real estate developer from the Bronx, has been the Russian Tea Room’s latest caretaker. By the time he was involved in the restaurant, Biberaj was a pre-teen: “I would come here after school and eat dessert,” she says.
The Russian Tea Room first opened in 1926 at 145 West 57th Street as a chocolate shop and cafe operated by members of the Russian Imperial Ballet. A year in, it moved across the street to its current location, before falling into countless hands over the ensuing century—with a fluctuating reputation and mixed results.
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