The Seaside Café Metropolis

Grand Budapest Hotel meets A Gentleman in Moscow in this Cold War comic novel, set in a bohemian restaurant in the Soviet Union.

In this comic novel about drawing warmth from food and company, a Canadian restaurateur, trapped in Soviet Lithuania with his staunchly socialist mother, navigates the repressive communist regime while opening a fashionable bohemian restaurant — while KGB spies listens in from the basement.

Reluctant Canadian restaurateur Emmet Argentine is stuck in Khrushchev-era Vilnius, Lithuania, trapped under the tyranny of two equally formidable forces — the Soviet Union, and his staunchly socialist mother.

Raised in the kitchens of Toronto’s Royal York Hotel, Emmet’s talent for hospitality catches the attention of a high-ranking architect, who hires Emmet to helm a magnificent new restaurant. The Seaside Café Metropolis, though located neither by the sea nor in a major metropolitan area, aspires toward elegance without pretention, bohemianism without vulgarity. Evading the repressive communist regime through guile, wit, and charm, Emmet assembles the menu and the staff to create a sophisticated and atmospheric fine dining experience in the heart of the Soviet Union — all while KGB operatives listen in on the restaurant from the basement.