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The first frost of autumn brings with it the desire to warm up. This instinctive need for warmth can be fulfilled by sheltering, eating, or both. Few people have been as adept at fighting off the cold as the Russians.

Up until recently, New York City has been largely unaffected by Russian cuisine. With the ease of travel restrictions, more Russians have been coming to New York. They are also opening new restaurants.

Three Russian restaurants are featured, one new, and one that has been reborn.

A special kind of game

HUNTER RESTAURANT feels like a vibrant Brighton Beach restaurant like National, 12 Chairs, Primorski, and Odessa. Here vodka flows like water, English sounds like a second language, and the synthesizer player seems to have come straight from a second-rate Smolensk cocktail bar.

Hunter is a Hunter, and the specialty is game. Wild turkey, wild pheasant, wild boar, wild boar, and black bear are all options.

Here’s my advice: Don’t order the game. It has been frozen for a while. It can be overcooked or tough, as in the wild turkey ($10.99), and buried in a rich cream sauce like the rabbit ($11.90). The black bear was too expensive for me ($29).

The simpler and more casual Russian dishes are often delicious, such as blini with salmon-roe ($8.99). You can spoon the roe on a pancake the size of a palm and then roll it up to enjoy the delicious combination. The excellent borscht de jour ($3.50), a rich, earthy soup with lots of onions and tomatoes.

Siberian Pelmeni costs $4.50 for a large bowl. Dumplings made with chicken and served with sour cream and a pinch of salt are delicate and delicious.

It’s a wonderful meal, the soup and blini are enough to make it. I will take my chance with bear elsewhere.

Russian and Israeli

Despite being born in Russia, Naila Beniamin (owner of 12 CHAIRS) says that she feels more Israeli than Russian. Her tiny restaurant is a reflection of her cultural pluralism.

It serves Middle Eastern cuisine, American sandwiches, omelets, and pancakes, as well as a SoHo-style ambiance. It even has a Website: www.octet.com/12chairs.

However, I prefer Russian-inspired dishes, particularly the blini (here called “blintzes”) with salmon roe ($9.50). They are delicious and filling, but they are not as buttery as Hunter’s.

Although french toast ($3.50 is not Russian), it’s very good and full of egg yolks and cinnamon. The delicious fruit shake ($3.95) is the same.

12 Chairs has just 12 chairs. There are shaky tables, magazines, and fashion magazines for browsing. Smokers are welcome in the restaurant.

A Czech Accent

It was a very sad day when I found out that Cafe Andrusha had closed. This little Russian-Czech restaurant was located on Second Avenue, near 90th Street in Manhattan. It was then that I discovered the newly reborn ANDRUSHA, Lexington Avenue.

Although the name cafe has been dropped, it isn’t the only thing that has changed. The new dining room is larger and brighter than the previous nondescript quarters.

It also has more wood paneling and prices are higher. The prices are higher than synthetic-fabric tablecloths, which hang so low beneath the tabletop, that you run the risk of dropping plates, glasses, and silverware on the floor.

Cafe Andrusha’s legacy lives on with its crispy, buttery potato pancakes (just $9), which come with a generous amount of fresh, chunky applesauce. The cold borscht ($5), which is sweetened with cucumbers, hard-cooked eggs, and dill, is perfectly refreshing.

The buttery, fresh blini with salmon roe ($14), is as good as ever. Veal goulash ($18), however, is out of balance and tastes overwhelmingly salty and caraway.

The Russian tea ($3.50) is a dessert option. It’s served in glasses cups that have been crammed in metal holders. Sweetened with sour cherry preserves, it reminds us of an earlier time.

Russian Troika

HUNTER RESTAURANT, 722 Kings Highway, near East Eighth Street, Homecrest, Brooklyn, (718) 339-7334.

12 CHAIRS 56 Macdougal Street SoHo (212) 254-8640

ARUSHA, 1370 Lexington Avenue near 90th Street Manhattan, (2123) 369-937

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