This post is from DCist food contributor Mike Roscoe

Every once in a while you have to treat yourself. Throw common sense and responsibility to the wind, strangle that nagging voice of reason yapping inside your head and do something you know is truly irresponsible and imprudent. You work too hard not to splurge on the good stuff now and then, right? A fine place to indulge your blossoming epicurean side is the Russia House Restaurant and Lounge perched on the intersection of Connecticut and Florida Avenues, NW, where for the price of a modest monthly car payment you can dine like Nicholas in St. Petersburg.

DCist and friends went there in pursuit of two things and two things only. No borscht or Beef Stroganoff for us. Forget the Chicken Kiev and pirogies. Hold the sour cream. Now, we’re big fans of Russian food but we had different plans in mind; we were after the pinnacle of Russian cuisine. We wanted vodka and we wanted caviar.

Truth be told I’m not much of a vodka drinker. I don’t dine too often on caviar for that matter either, but on a chill winter’s evening with the hope of snow lingering in the air, the time was right. We mounted the stairs of the imposing townhouse and entered the warm, cozy atmosphere of the lounge which was decked out in lush red velvet, dark shiny woods and illuminated by candlelight.

The vodka sampler is a great place to start if you truly want to get into a Slavic mindset. For $45 you get your choice of six samples from the impressive collection of regular and flavored vodkas that runs nearly a hundred deep. They’re presented as double shots in two ounce test tubes upon a stainless steel chiller and served with the traditional Russian garnish of cornichons on the side.

Photo from flickr user arxetures.