With Elephant Extinct, Traktirr Pushkin Plows to the Top of Best Russian Category

Well, that didn’t take very long.

As happens each year when we hold the annual Reader Restaurant Awards, some places end up closing between the time the ballot is made in January and when the awards are announced in March.

Well, we just announced the winners yesterday and this morning we learned of this year’s first casualty: the winner of the Best Russian category, The Elephant, which closed its doors just after the Chinese New Year.

When this rather unfortunate yet inevitable event happens, we promote the next runner-up to the top slot, and add another favorite to the Outstanding list.

With Elephant’s closure, our readers' favorite Russian restaurant is now Traktirr Pushkin. Congrats to the fine folks over there that their outpost just outside the Russian embassy in Dongzhimen.

Dacha remains on the Outstanding list and is now joined by the fourth runner up, White Nights.

Fans of the old Elephant will be happy to know that the owners still run the Russian restaurant Mango, which shares much of the same menu as the old Elephant. Check them out next time you're craving some borscht.

Our revised Russian category winners, for the record:

BEST: Traktirr Pushkin • 彼得堡俄餐厅

OUTSTANDING: Dacha • 别墅西餐厅

OUTSTANDING: White Nights • 白夜西餐

Image: Pixabay