Wealthy merchant Grigory Yeliseyev opened a posh foodstore, in summer 1901, in a late 18th century house built by renowned architect Matvei Kazakov in Tverskaya Street, Moscow's main thoroughfare. Wisecracks knew the place as Temple of Gourmandise. Surviving through all 20th century trials and tribulations, the shop bears its founder's name to this day. Re-opened after thorough repairs in 2003, it has more than 25,000 varieties of delicacies, 70% of them Russian-made.
