Russian restaurant in California is on the verge of closure due to a pandemic

The Pushkin Russian restaurant in San Diego (California) was on the verge of complete closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, after the restaurant owner and his friends managed to protect the restaurant from pogrom during protests in the United States.

Photo: Shutterstock

The Russian restaurant "Pushkin" proudly bears the name of Alexander Pushkin (1799 - 1837) - the great Russian poet, playwright and novelist, who is credited with creating modern Russian literature through his reinterpretation of classical Russian poetry, according to restaurant website.

Since the opening in October 2015, the restaurant combines the authenticity and deep history of the cuisines of all countries of the former Soviet Union, which has had a huge impact on dishes popular in modern Russia. The main idea of ​​dishes in the restaurant comes from classic recipes, but modernized in new and unique ways.

Financial difficulties

On the portal GoFundMe restaurant owner Hayk Gazaryan created a fundraising page in an attempt to keep the restaurant afloat.

“Dear friends, our favorite restaurant “Pushkin”, unfortunately, is forced to close its doors to guests for the third time in the last four months due to coronavirus. We managed to stay afloat all this time, but this time, it seems, this is the last blow for us, the page says. “At the moment, our financial situation is not in a very comforting state and it seems that we will have to close for real and forever.”

The owner also indicated that all donations could be used as a loan in a restaurant.

“We are terribly embarrassed to ask for help, but we were driven into a corner and were left with no choice. We need your support more than ever to get through this period, we need help to cover essential expenses such as salaries, rent, taxes and utility bills. You can use the contributions made in the future as a loan at the Pushkin restaurant,” it is written on the page.

The history of the opening of the restaurant

In an interview for Dalma news Hayk Ghazaryan told what the path to becoming a restaurant was.

“Everything was not easy at all. Nobody left me an inheritance; I achieved everything myself. When I first moved to San Diego, I opened a hookah bar with a friend. Then he founded a small cafe himself. The friend left and left the matter. And I slowly founded my own restaurant - fortunately, I had money earned from hookah,” says the owner of “Pushkin.” At first it was difficult to put it mildly - they were injected with his wife, who soon became pregnant. Julia ran around the restaurant in an interesting position, which was not easy, in addition, we were choked by serious financial problems. But we survived. You won’t believe it, but a year after the opening of Pushkin, after working out the next shift, we closed and went to the hospital to give birth. ”

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Ike said that the restaurant quickly succeeded, and his wife helped him in everything.

“Our beloved Aren was born. The child, without exaggeration, grew up not like me in Pushkin, but in “Pushkin” - already on the 3-4th day after birth, our baby settled in a corner specially equipped for his sleep on the second floor. My wife, with whom I was very lucky, rocked my son with one hand and controlled our other “brainchild” with the other. Now Aren is 4 years old, and in October 2020 we will celebrate the fifth anniversary of Pushkin. Over the past five years, our rating has grown to quite high in the United States - on Facebook it is almost 5 stars, and in services such as TripAdvisor - 4.5,” says Ghazaran.

The man also said that he was not going to stop there and plans to open at least one more restaurant.

“In addition, now I am opening a second restaurant - this time Uzbek. He should have opened the doors on the very days when the pogroms began. But everything is still ahead, and I hope that “Samarkand” will “heal” soon,” Hayk shared.

As ForumDaily wrote earlier:

• In San Diego immigrants saved from pogroms during the protests, the Russian restaurant "Pushkin".

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