Highland ParkYana’s Speakeasy

If you engage Russian-born Yana Khernburg in conversation, either inside her restaurant and bar or perhaps outside as she harangues passersby to come in, you might get a breathless monologue like the one I received one night: “I opened my barbershop here in 2020 right as the pandemic started but the shutdown rules allowed barbershops to stay open so my customers would come and just hang out and I started serving them drinks and I figured that would be a nice new business when the space next door became available so I took it over and opened up this place but I wanted it to be special so I made it dark and romantic and put in a hidden door behind a player piano so it feels like a secret and here try the horseradish vodka we infuse it ourselves.” Whew. The menu is mostly Eastern European, with borscht, stroganoff, root vegetables, and caviar, of course, plus a remarkable steak seared on a stone in front of you and a cocktail program good enough to risk Eliot Ness raiding the place, were it still Prohibition. The horseradish vodka is excellent. And yes, Yana still cuts hair next door. 465 Roger Williams Ave. raviniaspeakeasy.com