Simple Things

Simple Things, a year-old café owned by Moscow food maven Katya Drozdova, is the capital's first venue to combine peasant cooking with a gourmet sensibility—inspired by Alice Waters, whom Drozdova met at a Slow Food festival in Italy. From the tacked-up illustrations in the bathrooms to the strawberry gardens on the restaurant's deep windowsills, Simple Things has a wabi-sabi warmth and personality lacking almost everyplace else.