Word: gastronomic
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Gastronom No. 1, an imposing three-story building on Gorky Street, Moscow's busy shopping thoroughfare, is no ordinary supermarket. Its vaulted interior boasts crystal chandeliers, inlaid marble and huge, gold-trimmed mirrors. Regular shoppers know it simply as "Yeliseyev's," after a Russian merchant who built the store in the 18th century. It is popular among foreigners, who consider it as awesome as some of the palace museums that were once the Czars' homes. It is equally appreciated by Muscovites, because it stocks such hard-to-find items as fresh fruit, vegetables and meat...
Noted one Western diplomat in Moscow: "Recent events around the country point to a resurgence of efforts to wipe out corruption." Meanwhile, the doors to Gastronom No. 1 were locked and barred and an ironically appropriate sign went up in the window. It read: CLOSED FOR REMODELING...
TASS, the Soviet news agency, showed no such reluctance in publicizing the fate of a Moscow store manager. Yuri Sokolov, former director of the Gastronom No. 1, Moscow's finest food store, was renowned for being able to supply his customers with such rare or rationed delicacies as caviar, smoked sturgeon, coffee and Indian tea. As caterer to the capital's elite, Sokolov lived in high style and had friends close to Soviet Leader Leonid Brezhnev...