In The News
Mari Vanna Turns One
Last night, over 150 notable Washingtonians and VIPs turned out to celebrate Mari Vanna DC’s One Year Anniversary. The 6,000 square-foot, three-level restaurant opened in January of last year, serving up authentic, home-style Russian cuisine in a tea party-meets-grandma’s house ambiance.
Managers Victor Star and Sergii Andriushchenko were joined by notable attendees ABC 7’s Scott Thuman, NBC’s Danielle Leigh, DC Vote Executive Director Kimberly Perry, newly appointed DC Office of Motion Picture and TV Development Director Pierre Bagley, Echostage Owner Antonis Karagounis, DC Senator Paul Strauss, WPGC 95.5’s Sunni and The City and GILT CITY Senior Curator Marissa Schneider to celebrate the restaurant’s first milestone.
Guests enjoyed a complimentary pelmeni tasting station, an open bar and traditional Russian bites such as khachapuri, blinis, vinegret, olivier salad and pirozhkis. Partygoers jammed to oldies by Mari Vanna’s in-house accordionist along with music spun by resident DJ, DJ Freddy.
In just one year, the hotspot has already attracted celebrity fans such as Alex Ovechkin, Paula Abdul, Matt Bomer, Marlon Wayans, Omar Epps, Taraji P. Henson, Evgeni Malkin and Richard Schiff among others.
To pay tribute to the 2014 Winter Olympic games this Friday, February 7, Mari Vanna will honor the Russian city of Sochi by adding three, traditional Sochi dishes to their menu. From 6 to 9pm, the restaurant will also kick off the games with an Olympics happy-hour, offering all sports fans a complimentary vodka shot and free bites from a pirozhki tasting station.
Mari Vanna DC is located at 1141 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington D.C. 20036. For lunch and dinner reservations, please call 202.783.7777. www.marivanna.ru/washington.
One Comment
With the new infrastructure in place, the Sochi reogin will most definitely not be abandoned after 2014. It was a popular tourist resort even during USSR times and apart from still being that, it will host the Russian Formula 1 Grand Prix from 2014 to 2020, the football world cup in 2018, many winter sport events (bandy, ice hockey, skiing) etc. I’d say that the reogin is in fact entering a new prosperous era if anything, at least as far as tourism goes.