Busboys and Poets, Washington DC – Let’s be honest about this one, if this were in any other city, it would obviously make the list. Because the communists who speak here are inevitably of the crypto- variety – including politicians – for some reason it gets a pass. But my friend Stephen Richer has been on this beat for a while, and his impressions are most definitely correct. They host communists, most of their books are from the radical left, and Shallal’s mayoral bid is all about running to the left of the usual crowd – layer on the usual social justice bromides, in other words. If only the place weren’t so expensive, you might think they meant it.
Mao’s Kitchen, West Hollywood
Che Cafe, at UCSD – The school administration was not pleased when they tried to link to FARC rebels in 2002:
The University of California at San Diego has ordered a student organization to delete hyperlinks to an alleged terrorist Web site, citing the recently enacted USA Patriot Act.
School administrators have told the group, called the Che Cafe Collective, that linking to a site supporting the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) would not be permitted because it violated federal law.
In a letter to the Che Cafe Collective, UCSD University Centers Director Gary Ratcliff said the hyperlink violated a law that bans “providing material support to support terrorists.” Ratcliff warned that the student organization would face disciplinary action if it did not immediately remove the link to FARC.
It doesn’t appear that they serve anything, it’s sort of just a clubhouse for La Jolla’s radical community (what a fun phrase that is to type).
(la Wik)
Propaganda, Prague
Chez Guevara, Knoxville TN
Nasha Rasha, Manhattan – They’ve got an excellent menu and apparently great vodka, but according to Yelp-ers, service is mixed.
(Twitter)
Back to USSR, Coney Island – Its menus are in both Russian and English, and they have some amusingly simple communism-themed cocktails, like the house one, which is just garlic vodka and tomato juice. Others include the Kremlin Fir, Fellowship of the Nations, and the Perestroika. Next time I’m in Brooklyn, I’m not sure I’ll be able to pass up trying a salad called Lenin’s Tabernacle.
Che Chicken, in Amman, Jordan. “Taste the Chicken Revolution”
Apparently there’s one in San Antonio as well, unaffiliated, of course.
The People’s Republik, Cambridge MA.
From Esquire:
People have been calling way-left Cambridge “the people’s republic” for years, so the owners ran with the concept. Soviet propaganda posters take up most of the wall space, and time has transformed totalitarian relics into great pop art. The place sits between Central Square and Harvard Square but is not really in either, so you won’t run into many college students and instead will probably meet regulars like the free-verse-spouting guy who sometimes takes off his wooden leg and strums it like a guitar.
(Facebook)
Red Square at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
Lol:
Red Square allows guests to take a peek behind the “Iron Curtain” with an exquisite menu that takes contemporary American favorites and infuses them with exciting Russian influences.
According to Yelp-ers, their martinis are excellent and the menus are on iPads.
The sister restaurant in Atlantic City closed in 2012.