Russian Dolls: Rasputin Battles Onegin

Onegin Restaurant slated to open soon

A new Russian restaurant is supposed to be opening soon in the West Village in Manhattan.  Vat is the problem?  Well, they seem to be trying to associate themselves with Rasputin of Brighton Beach.  Michael Levitis and Marina are not very pleased with this association and have asked them to refrain from linking the two restaurants together.  However, that has not been the case and recently Michael is threatening legal action if something isn't done about it.  The Onegin restaurant is not only much smaller, it is much less expensive and yet they allegedly say they are being headed up by the team behind Rasputin.  If that was the truth, Michael would certainly not be upset over it.  Here is Michael's letter:

To whom it may concern:

It is with great dismay that my wife,  Marina Levitis, and I read your recent article on Onegin restaurant.   Marina co-owns Rasputin Restaurant and I am a director therein.

Please note that Rasputin is not affiliated in any shape or form with Onegin nor any of its managers or owners.  This is not the first time that Onegin claimed to be our sister restaurant.  They have already been served with a cease and desist notice by our attorney regarding same back in August.  I will happy to provide you with a copy on Monday.  

It seems Onegin has willfully  chosen to disregard said notice and has again brazenly used Rasputin name, publicity and goodwill to promote their cheap imitation of Rasputin. I will now instruct our attorney to commence a lawsuit against Onegin and any publication that falsely reports on the affiliation.

I am hereby requesting that your site post a prompt retraction of your article. We hereby reserve the right to use all remedies available to us in law or in equity in the event of your refusal to comply with this request.

Should you have any questions I can be reached at Michael@Rasputinny.com.  Thank you in advance for your cooperation with above request.

Sincerely,

Michael Levitis

I guess we will see what comes of all this if Michael keeps us posted.  Frankly, I don't blame them for taking action, what's right is right!

Russian Dolls: Michael Musto Raves About Rasputin

Michael Musto, writer of the Village Voice blog, had nothing but good things to say about the Rasputin Restaurant and Cabaret in Brighton Beach.  He was recently invited there by owners Michael and Marina Levitis to enjoy a feast of a meal and a night of entertainment for the restaurant's 20th anniversary, and enjoy it he did.  He even brought a few friends along with him to feast on all the ethnic dishes that Rasputin specializes in.  

The best part of the review was when Mr. Musto writes, and I quote, "At one point, Michael Levitis explained to me, "This song is 'Russian Women Have The Best Asses.' And they do!"  

The eating went on for three hours!  Then Mr. Musto says, out came the lamb kabobs!  Lamb kabobs sound good to me.  There is a lot of talk of another Rasputin opening up in Manhattan in the near future.  A few good reviews here and there will certainly ensure the success of the new Rasputin's Grand Opening!

Good luck to Michael and Marina's new Rasputin!

Check out the review: Village Voice Review


P.S. I hear there will be a Halloween Party being held at Rasputin on Monday, October 31st, with prizes for best costume.  You may want to look into that on Michael's facebook @ Halloween at Rasputin

Picture credit: Patrick McMullan

Russian Dolls: Recap Episode 4 “Ruski Business”

The episode opens with Sveta telling her story of how she and her family came to the United States. She says they came right after Chernobyl happened. She feels she has a presence when she walks into a room and she makes a statement. She knows what she likes and isn’t full of herself, but she admits that she can be snobby. She admits to being a “material girl.” Her husband’s name is Sasha, and it appears that Sveta wears the pants in the family, as she berates her husband for not having a plan. He was a jeweler in Kiev for 10 years, so when they arrived here they decided to open a jewelry store.

Sveta says they have been trying to come up with ways to bring new business to the store so she decided to talk to Marina about doing a jewelry show at Rasputin. They meet to discuss it the jewelry “expo.” Sveta thinks the show will be mutually beneficial for their store and Rasputin as well. Marina launches into her spiel about Rasputin being around for 20 years and it being the most famous Russian restaurant in the world (I think she forgot a few, like the Russian Tea Room?).

At first, Marina says she was excited about the show, and she suggests a good time for it would be 5 to 7 PM, before the dinner crowd comes in. Sveta asks about Thursday, and Michael says they will have to open the restaurant especially for her party and it will cost a little extra. Sveta says when you do a show like this you are putting your name and reputation out there for people to see, so you want everything to be perfect. Michael says they will send out emails to their VIP client list, probably 10,000 names will be invited to the show. Sveta wants to know how many people will come out for the show out of 10,000 emails. Michael tells her to assume 50. She looks disgusted. Then Michael adds, the show will cost her $2,000. Sveta was shocked. She is haggling about the price. Michael says they are doing this as a complete favor to her. They have to cover their costs to pay employees, food and drinks. To try to appease her, Marina suggests that maybe they can work out a trade and Sveta can give her a piece of jewelry, that costs her $2,000 wholesale, in exchange for the show. Sveta says it’s a possibility, Russians like to barter.

Over to Anastasia’s home, she is talking to Eddie. They are in deep discussion about different ways to drink alcohol, again. Her ex boyfriend Vlad calls. They went out for four years and broke up 10 months ago. He has been calling and texting, trying to get back into her life. Eddie appears concerned for Anastasia, he says when he thinks of them together all he sees is Anastasia crying on his shoulder. He hurt her a couple of times. Vlad invites her out to lunch for the next day. She agrees to go at 3, and Eddie asks if she is getting back with him. She says she is terrified to get back with him, it’s just lunch. Eddie reveals that he and Anastasia made a pack that if they are both still single in 5 years, when they are 30, they are going to get married. Eddie thinks she deserves better than Vlad, he’s a “douche-bag!”

Back to Sveta, who says she had a bad feeling about the whole deal regarding her show. She decides to meet with Marian and discuss the details. Marina says they have about 25 people who responded yes to the show. Her first inclination was to cancel the show. The whole point of the show is to attract customers from Rasputin. However, Michael wants her to pay for a set number of people which they may not get. If there are not 50 people at minimum, she feels she is over paying. Sveta says, “Just because someone presents themselves as rich and famous, it doesn’t mean they have more class than anyone else.’ ZING! Marina is getting annoyed because they agreed on the price and now Sveta has all these concerns. Sveta wants to make sure she is getting something out of the show. Marina says even if she gets one customer and sells a nice piece, the show will have been a success. Marina says the show hasn’t even started and Sveta is going into it with an evil attitude. Marina’s formula: “they gonna come, they gonna see, they gonna like, they gonna buy” simple.

Anastasia meets Vlad and she is scared because the last 10 months have been hard on her. They discuss why they broke up, she asks if maybe he wasn’t ready to be in a serious relationship. He says he didn’t know what he was doing at 23. He feels bad because they were fighting and broke up over no real reason. Anastasia says being with him felt natural and so right. When he takes her hand, she knew this wasn’t just a talk, and then they get cozy.

Over at Marina’s house she is getting ready for the jewelry show and even has a makeup artist doing her face, like she is a star. Tell me, who has a makeup artist in their home? Michael walks in and asks how her meeting with Sveta went yesterday, like we are supposed to believe Marina could keep her mouth shut for 24 hours about how annoyed she was with Sveta. Nevertheless, we will play along, as she tells him it was very stressful (for the first time @@). She tells Michael they were going to discuss the details when Sveta just started attacking her and accusing her of overcharging. Michael says so why bother doing it, cancel it. Marina says no they can’t cancel, people are coming. Sveta then tells her husband how Marina was talking to her at the meeting and waving her hands. Marina says Sveta is delusional, she is trying to be a pig and trying to get every penny out of her!” She doesn’t want to understand that this is how much it takes to cover their costs. Sveta says Marina thinks she is perfect, a fashion whore, and think she has the best clothes and jewelry in the world. Marina swears after the show they are done forever.

Back to Anastasia and Eddie at her home. She tells him she is having the best time with Vlad. They are together every day. Eddie thinks she is nuts. She says no, because they are taking it slow and it feels good. She knows it is going to lead to them getting back together. Eddie is not happy and says he doesn’t trust this guy and doesn’t know what Anastasia is thinking. She insists Vlad has changed. Eddie says if he hurts her again he is going to kill him.

Over at Rasputin the jewelry show is about to start. Both Sveta and Marina have bad attitudes that can only end up with them clashing. Sveta is expecting to see at least 50 VIPs, great service, great food and an open bar. If they don’t deliver it will be a complete waste of time and money for Sveta. Marina just wants to get through the two hours and move on. The show starts and there seems to be quite a few people there. Marina is mingling with the customers, but Sveta is standing there with her arms crossed looking very unapproachable. Sveta says, she is very disappointed because she doesn’t feel she will even make enough sales to cover the cost of the show. Marina is promoting the jewelry store and the merchandise and says the husband is a sweetheart. Then Marina adds if Sveta gets involved there are no deals…what? How can this help sales? Now, Sveta is completely disgusted with the “open bar” and says, it has the cheapest vodka and some red stuff. No champagne, no wine, nothing! And the food, she wasn’t happy with that either. She feels they presented the show in the worst possible way and it was a total waste of time and money. Michael and Marina are the ultimate hustlers.

The show is over and it’s time to settle up. Marina is trying to pick out a piece of jewelry to pay for the cost of the show. Sveta feels that Marina would not be happy with anything worth $2,000, and Marina feels Sveta is dishonest and a cheater. Sveta is yelling $2,000 for pigs in a blanket and you call that an open bar? Michael says they were just giving them the space. Sveta was totally disappointed in the services provided. The arguing goes on between Sveta, Marina and Michael, Sasha tries to step in. Michael says “if you want to stiff us, stiff us.” Marina says she doesn’t want anything from her at this point. She doesn’t want to be abused by this b!tch. Marina says they have no class, that’s it! If she wants to look like a thief in this community, go ahead.

Back to Anastasia’s where she invites Vlad over for some wine and a hot tub session. They are very lovey dovey and she sees it as a new chapter. She wants more communication from him, he says one step at a time. While they are kissing in the hot tub, Eddie calls to invite her out, his call goes unanswered. Then Vlad picks up Anastasia in his arms and carries her into the bedroom. Shuts the door.

My turn…well the clash between Sveta and Marina was bound to happen and of course that is exactly the kind of drama the show wants. I think it was close to a tie. I don’t know Sveta as well as Marina, but from what I saw of the show I think Sveta had some excellent points. Marina would not serve VIPs cheap vodka or pigs in a blanket and the open bar looked bad even to me, a nondrinker. However, Sveta did agreed on the price ahead of time and if she felt she was getting ripped off she should have cancelled the event rather than create bad blood. The truth of the matter is that I think Lifetime actually paid for the jewelry show and it was their idea. They got a lot of video out of it and drama. So I do not think Marina or Sveta were out any money, though they may not really like each other.

Anastasia can’t make up her mind about anything. The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. As much as I hate to agree with Eddie, and I do, he is right on the money about not trusting this guy, Vlad. Anastasia says they are taking things slowly, but obviously not slow enough. She should be focused on school and getting her degree. She sure doesn’t need another distraction from doing that. Good luck Anastasia.

Picture credit: Lifetime

Russian Dolls: Rasputin, Russian Healer

Curiosity got the better of me. I wanted to know who was the man that Michael Levitis chose to name his restaurant after. After reading about Rasputin I am even more confused as to why he would use his name for his restaurant. 

Rasputin seems to have been a man of many talents, most notable was that of healer. Born in 1869 and murdered in 1916, Rasputin was also known for being a madman, a womanizer, a hater of baths and a friend of the royal family. Quite a nice resume for a man who was born a peasant and became accepted into “high society” for his spiritualism and exoticism, which were “fashionable” at that time.

He became popular in the Russian Orthodox Church and had a lot of influence with the Royal family, the Romanovs. Czar Nicholas II practically treated this “madman” as an equal and that damaged the royal family’s reputation. Between 1906 and 1914, Rasputin politicians and journalists used his influence with the royal family to discredit them and force them out of power.

Why was Rasputin treated with such respect by the royal family? The czar’s only son and heir to the throne, Alexis, had hemophilia and could easily bleed to death. Rasputin was able to heal the boy several times from minor wounds that could have cost him his life. So they felt Rasputin was sent to them by God. And since Czar Nicholas II could not tell the public about his son’s condition, for fear it would weaken the monarchy, they could not explain why Rasputin enjoyed their favor and was allowed to live in the palace.

During World War I, Czar Nicholas left for two years to attend to his army and Rasputin was the advisor to Empress Alexandra. The communists felt things had gone too far and Rasputin’s influence was too great. They decided he had to die. They made several attempts to kill him. First they tried poison, but several doses had no effect on him. In December 1916 he was murdered by a group of conspirators. The royal family, because of their association with him, were all assassinated.

Though he was not an attractive man, Rasputin had charisma and charm that women found very alluring and irresistible. His healing powers seem legitimate and his womanizing legendary, but it is difficult to know with certitude how much of his story is true.

Picture credit: www.lilith-ezine.com





Russian Dolls: Anastasia Kurinnaya Launches Show

 

Anastasia at the Premiere Party for the launching of Russian Dolls, was interviewed by Chance TV.  She was very happy with the way the first episode turned out, after editing.  The cast were not given the opportunity to see the show before it aired.  It must have been an amazing experience for these first time television personalities to see themselves on the big screen.  Who knows how many stars may be born?  Oh, and Michael Levitis, owner of Rasputin, where the launch party was held, wants everyone to know his mother Eva is singing in the background of the clip below!  Very nice of Eva's son to show her support...unlike Marina!

Picture and video credit: ChanceTV

Russian Dolls: Premiere Party At Rasputin!

With just three days until Russian Dolls premieres on Lifetime, it's about time we all start making plans for watching the debut episode. And what better way to launch this exciting new show than with the Russian Dolls themselves? Michael and Marina Levitis, and the cast will be hosting a party for the premiere at the famous Rasputin Night Club, on Coney Island Avenue in Brighton Beach, and it looks like we're all invited!  They say the whole cast will be there!  In case you cannot see the number it's 718 332-8111!  Is there anyone you'd like to meet?  Check out our blogs on many of the cast members and get a little insider information before the series starts.

So, will you be RSVPing?  I know we will! 

By the way, have you read our blog on Rasputin? It's a very impressive nightclub. Check it out at: Rasputin Nightclub

Picture source: http://yfrog.com/z/ke1puqej

Russian Dolls: More News On The Russian Front!

Russian Dolls was created by Alina Dizik and Elina Miller, Russian immigrants from the city of Chicago, who wanted to show aspects of their culture and chose Brighton Beach for their project. The spotlight is on the strong, independent women of the Russian neighborhood in Brooklyn. And strong women mean “lots” of drama!

Marina Levitis is described as the “diva” of the show. She came to the US when she was 14 years old, from Rostov, Russia. She is part owner of the Rasputin night club, with her husband, Michael, of 14 years. They purchased the club five years ago. Along with dinner, diners get a real Russian cabaret show and can party the night away until 5 am.

Eva Levitis is Marina’s mother-in-law and a little is revealed about their relationship. Eva enters a talent contest for grandmothers and, against Marina’s advice, wears a belly dancing costume. Marina walks out on the event while Eva is performing. Sounds like some family drama there!

Diana Kosvo ends things with a young man named Paul, because he isn’t Russian. Diana was born in Moldova and was concerned how her mother would fell about it. It sounds like the relationship never really got off the ground. I’m sure she knew he was not Russian when she agreed to date him.

Russian Dolls premieres this Thursday at 10:30 PM ET! Will you be watching?


Picture Credit: Lifetime

Russian Dolls: Interview with Michael and Marina Levitis



In an interview with russianny.com, the owners of the Rasputin nightclub try to reassure the Russian community that Russian Dolls is not going to be another Jersey Shore.

They say they were approached about 18 months ago about the show and that they agreed to do it with the understanding that they would represent a positive influence in the community where people in the entertainment industry go to eat and socialize. The difference between the two shows is that Russian Doll will represent three generations, from the young to the more mature at various stages of their lives. They feel it’s a good opportunity to spread knowledge and understanding of the Russian culture in New York. They hope that the show will bring attention to Brighton Beach and increase the revenue of local business by bringing tourists there.

For the entire interview visit: russianny.com

Russian Dolls: Rasputin Nightclub

The Inside of Rasputin!

The Rasputin Nightclub, along with it’s owners, are being featured on the new reality series, Russian Dolls. The owners are Michael and Marina Levitis. According to the review in New York Magazine, this is not the place to go to if you want a quiet dinner. It provides a traditional Russian dining atmosphere where guest like to dress up, drink and dance. There is a cabaret band, singers, a dance floor, and stage for a 30 minute Vegas style show. The food is delicious and included many Russian specialty dishes as you would expect. There are also continental choices. The fixed price banquet is $75 per person ($100 on Saturdays) with a minimum of four people. The nightclub is lavishly decorated Check out their elaborate website below where you can information and pictures about their menu, shows, concerts and special events.

Michael and Marina

Michael, Rasputin's owner, is also a lawyer in danger of disbarment because he is in some hot water with the law. Michael is allegedly involved in a political scandal of corruption with State Senator Carl Kruger. Michael has already pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators in a case that goes back to 2007. Levitis was taped telling another restaurant owner that if he held a fundraiser to raise campaign funds and handed over thousands of dollars, Kruger would help him with state matters. Kruger himself was charged with accepting over one million dollars in bribes. It remains to be seen if Lifetime will exploit this corruption scandal as part of the storyline of the show.

The Show!

Picture credit: Rasputin website Rasputin