Give It to Me, Baby, by Jennifer Chater, Ira Iosebashvili & Sveta Graudt
Gift-shopping spots that put some fun in the giving.

Restaurants Barashka I have to admit, when the call came to review a new restaurant featuring Azeri cuisine, I was less than enthusiastic. After all, upscale food from the Caucasus can be a bit of a three-ring circus in Moscow: native costumes, writhing belly dancers and overblown decoration, all set to the beat of a shrill pseudo-Middle Eastern house band. Drinking & Dancing HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ZEPPELIN: Bagrationovsky Most, Dec. 18 One of the most successful players on Moscow’s nightlife market, the Zeppelin promotion group, celebrates its fifth birthday on Dec. Zakuski Designer Yolki Tired of Christmas trees draped with cliched tinsel and mass-produced decorations? To see how much more creatively glossy magazines’ art directors can decorate a yolka, head to Moscow State University’s Aptekarsky Botanical Gardens.

Restaurants Banana Leaf Attention, sports fans. Craving a curry with your cricket? A tikka with your tennis? The new Banana Leaf restaurant and sports bar, just off Tverskaya Ulitsa, offers both. Zakuski Snowboarding High The All-Russian Exhibition Center is soon to see the construction of a nine-story-high snowboard ramp. The ramp is to be completed by Near Year’s to host a round of the International Ski Federation Snowboard World Cup on Jan. Restaurants Kinema Over-the-top opulence encompassing classical, Stalinist Empire and baroque styles. Gold everywhere, from the walls to the chairs.

Places to check out

	Exhibits
	Galereya na Solyanke 1/2 Ul. Solyanka, Building 2, (entry from Ul. Zabelina) (M. Kitai-Gorod) 921-5572,
	Cafe / Bar/Club
	Maki Cafe 3 Glinishchevsky Per. (M. Pushkinskaya) 292-9731, noon-midnight, Fri & Sat. noon-5am.
	Restaurant
	President Hotel 24 Ul. Bolshaya Yakimanka (M. Oktyabrskaya / Polyanka) 239-3938, 6pm-midnight
	Restaurant
	Marinad 5 Teatralnaya Ploshchad, Building 2 (M. Okhotny Ryad) 298-2737/02, 11am-11pm
	Bar/Club
	Samolyot 14/1 Presnensky Val (M. Ulitsa 1905 Goda) 234-1818, noon-6am
	Bar/Club
	Forte 18 Bolshaya Bronnaya Ul. (M. Tverskaya) 202-8833, 2pm-midnight, concerts 9pm-11pm