icking up on the scent of something new, I made my way to the Rasputin Vodka Bar in Leslieville, only to catch co-owner Maria Vimitrov and her husband Rumen at the bar deep in thought over a smoke and a whiskey. Surrounded by dark wood and ancient deified photos of the czar’s family in a cloud of smoky warm light, the scene was ripe for Tolstoy to struggle away with, say, War and Peace. In a gruff Russian accent, Rumen beckoned me to pull up a stool, and I was soon to be transported into the world of pre-communist Russia.

Rumen, the original brainchild of Pravda Vodka Bar in its first incarnation, was the one who pushed the Communist theme with sickle and hammer décor and all the vodkas the world had to offer. Rasputin, he explains, is just as Russian as Pravda, only from an entirely different era.

His latest piece of demographic bait is decked out in chandeliers, elaborate candelabras, antique couches, thick wood tables - there’s even a piano in one corner for late-night carousing. The twenty-seat feasting table in the back room would make an appropriate spot for a Czar family supper or a rowdy drunken birthday party. The entire space is shining with polished wood and stocked to the brim awaiting the evening onslaught.

Getting down to the business about the name, Rasputin, Rumen enlightened me with the legend surrounding the Russian monk. Rasputin was a peasant healer who could cure hemophilia through hypnosis. The Czar’s son was stricken with the then fatal affliction and Rasputin helped him to survive it. His miraculous work gained Rasputin trust within the prestigious family, especially the Czar’s wife, Alexandra. She began to believe that God spoke to her through Rasputin. His seductive power over the royal Czarist and his rampant promiscuity and sexual deviance added conflict to his affiliation as a holy man within the Catholic Church. Steps were taken to relieve Rasputin of his epic influence. He was first stabbed, gutted and left for dead by a prostitute. He wondrously survived the extensive surgery only to be shot four times, poisoned and then finally drowned in a freezing cold river where he finally died of hypothermia.

So, what does the story of Rasputin have to do with a new bar? Well, as explained by Rumen, the monk’s attitude of resistance and persistence as well as his tendency towards extravagance is the inspiration and philosophy behind Rasputin.