Louis The Claw jazz & buzz
NEW ORLEANS POP-UP BY ALEXEY BUROV (DREAMTEAM) AND ARTEM BALAYEV (CABARET SHUM)
Louisiana vibes, St. Petersburg art-decadence, and the collaboration (and adventure!) of the year: Louis The Claw is a restaurant, music bar, and creative space opening at Patriarch Ponds for just one year by restaurateur Alexey Burov and producer Artem Balayev. Burov is responsible for style and class in hospitality, drinks, and food, while Balayev curates the cultural program.
HOW LOUIS THE CLAW IS ORGANIZED
Louis The Claw is located in the Marco Polo Hotel, occupying a building from 1904 designed by architect Walcott. The layout of Louis The Claw is two-part: bar and restaurant. The bar operates from noon, featuring rare vinyl, a raw bar with seafood, a large marble counter, and high seating. The restaurant, accessed through a small lobby from the bar, opens at 18:00 and offers live music daily. On nights when there’s a special program in the restaurant's hall, entry is like a theatre — by tickets. Closer to summer, there will be breakfasts and brunches, an inner courtyard, and the largest terrace at Patriarch Ponds, where every centimetre of open air is precious. The menu and wine list are the same in both the restaurant and bar, with a unified mood and concept — food, jazz, & buzz.
JAZZ & BUZZ
Poetic slams, theatrical performances, and a vibrant music program: Louis The Claw will have everything that creates buzz — things people will talk about everywhere. Patriarch Ponds isn’t just glamour but also Bulgakovian, the birthplace of Tsvetaeva, and home to Gurchenko. Louis The Claw is situated between the "Praktika" and "Na Bronnoi" theatres and aims to match its neighbourhood.
FOOD & DRINKS
Alexey Kanevsky is the head chef at Louis The Claw. The first part of the menu consists of Louisiana specialities: gumbo soup, fritto misto, barbutto chicken with green salsa, and jambalaya rice. The second part is old-school classics served by room services and lobby bars: Caesar and Nicoise salads, cheeseburgers, fish and chips, and a club sandwich with homemade pastrami. Louis, from the establishment’s name, has the nickname The Claw for a reason — seafood is the main food in Louisiana, a state on the Atlantic coast. Similarly, at Louis The Claw, the raw bar offers oysters and sea urchins. Shrimps are served on ice, Creole-style, in cocktails, pasta, and tacos. The seafood menu ranges from caviar on pancakes to lobster rolls. In the Signatures section, the Louis Seafood Tower stands out: a platter with crab, scallops, oysters, shrimps, and langoustines. Weekend specials include Crawfish Boil for sharing, Wellington, bagels, and other dishes as per the chef’s imagination. In the cocktail menu, Alexander Nabokov has adapted New Orleans classics: mixing Sazerac with Creole bitters, cocoa-mint Grasshopper with cream, and a refreshing twist Louis Mojito. The wine list is compact and purposeful: Burgundy, Champagne, Germany, South Africa, and Russia, with an expert selection of spirits focused on whiskey from the USA and Mexico. The beer is from Dreamteam Brewery, and the tap also features Louisiana Party Punch, an apple punch with whiskey and jasmine tea soda.
A FEW FUN FACTS ABOUT LOUIS THE CLAW
Louis, in the establishment’s name, is short for Louisiana: the most musical and vibrant state in America, named after the Sun King Louis XIV, who knew how to entertain — in French, his name is pronounced as Louis. Why is Louis The Claw only open for a year? In a year, the Marco Polo Hotel will close for renovation. Burov and Balayev initially envisioned the project as a bright, temporary pop-up. What could be more adventurous in the spirit of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn — the most famous adventurers from the Mississippi River, which still carries steamboats to Louisiana, the birthplace of jazz."What we play is life," said New Orleans native and another Louis — Armstrong. "What we play, eat, and drink is life," adds Louis The Claw.