While a majority of Americans have to cut down on food during the economic crisis, some people are feasting like kings. Russian millionaires who became regular visitors to New York can't dine here without feasting on black caviar, French cognac, and wines aged at least 20 years. They spend a few thousand dollars for dinner alone. "It's so cheap in comparison to Moscow," they say. New waves of Russian immigrants live in the lap of luxury. There's nothing they won't lavish on themselves.

New wave Russians like to dine in the heart of Manhattan in a restaurant called Mari Vanna. Its interior combines the charm of aristocratic houses and elements of the old Soviet era kitsch. Businessmen spend $15,000 for dinners here. Of course they don't give their names, but for some of them it's difficult to be unnoticed. Hockey celebrity Aleksandr Ovechkin often comes here and is a lavish patron. Mickey Rourke likes to treat his Russian girlfriend to fine Russian cuisine. Russian spy Anna Chapman was a regular customer at Mari Vanna. Chelsea Clinton's husband, Mark Mezvinsky, introduced Russian food to the president's daughter at Mari Vanna.

Recently, the Russian "princess" Kristina Kovalenko famously spent $8,000 in one night at the restaurant, where she made a drink with Louis XIII Remy Martin cognac and apple juice and assured her friends that no one else knows the secret to mixing this drink correctly.

Kovalenko, who claims she has an aristocratic background, was born in Kabardino-Balkaria, is also well known at Nello, a restaurant where she spent $6,500 for dinner. Drinks priced over $300 are her signature.

Today, Russian spy Anna Chapman doesn't need to go to Russian restaurants to feel at home. She eats her favorite food in her motherland. While in New York, however, she often dined with her friends at Mari Vanna. "She liked expensive red wines," said Sasha Polin, a partner of the project Ginza that operates Mari Vanna. "Anna was a regular customer; it was nothing special for her," said Polin, adding, "Russian businessmen bring the biggest profit to the restaurant. Once we had a $25,000 order."

You don't need to guess how happy the waiters are to serve such clients. Considering that tips are usually 15 to 20 percent of the order, they can make around $4,000 a night.

However such squandering is understandable. It's difficult to imagine Mikhail Prohorov, Russian oligarch and owner of the NBA Nets, having dinner in one of the restaurants at Brighton Beach. But what if he misses borscht and kotleta (meat rissoles)? Of course, he will go to the Manhattan Russian restaurant. After all, they say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. In the past Prohorov has joked that he isn't married yet "because I can't find a woman who cooks really well."

Russians like to pair their food with expensive drinks that make their dinners doubly expensive. A bottle of good wine can cost a good $10,000.

"Russian millionaires have become very modest of late. They spent less than they did two years ago," said Polin. However Irina Shayk, a hot model and a girlfriend of a soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo, is not cast from a modest mold. She is a regular customer of luxurious boutiques in Manhattan and never leaves Christian Louboutin without two to three pairs of shoes.

There are rumors in New York that one Russian millionaire spent $20,000 in a strip bar to rent the rooftop, for cigars and champagne. "Every guy had at least five strippers. They were very lavish and gave good tips," said a flash dancer Cynthia.

Since obtaining a U.S. visa is easier these days, New York has become a very popular spot among Russian oligarchs. Marina Izareva, a consultant that helps rich Russians to explore New York, said that her clients are willing to spend $25,000 to $100,000 for two weeks and it's very difficult to please them.

"They buy luxury real estate; they like comfort. They are renting Ferraris, helicopters, penthouses. They spent a lot of money for shopping," said Izareva.

Unlike the Russians, Americans millionaires feel guilty during economic crisis and try to soothe it with charity. Wealthy financiers from Wall Street are ashamed to spend big bucks on expensive toys and fine wine during the crisis, but not the Russians who seem to be ashamed of nothing. They like to show their wealth. "Russians have no sense of guilt. My business is thriving now mostly because of the wealthy Eastern Europeans," said an owner of one of the elite nightclubs in New York.

Russians like New York because it's prestigious and much cheaper than Moscow, where to reserve a table in a night club costs $15,000 compared to $1,500 in New York. I guess Big Russian Bears like shiny Big Apples.