7 Places to Eat, Drink, and Overthrow the Establishment

From the fight for civil rights in the United States to an Estonian uprising, movements for radical social change tend to get started over food and drink. After all, big ideas are great, but even revolutionaries need to eat. While many of the gathering spots of the literati and luminaries who called for cultural upheaval have shuttered, a few highly significant ones are still serving today.

Perhaps you’d like to down a cup of strong, black coffee and a plate of molletes where Fidel Castro and Ernesto “Che” Guevara used to hatch plans in Mexico City, or maybe order a “Proletariat’s Cutlet” at the Warsaw restaurant that once hosted Vladimir Lenin. 

Not all revolutions require bloodshed. When Cesar Chavez was advocating for labor rights, he broke bread—well, tortillas—with his fellows at a Route 66 institution that served as the inspiration for Taco Bell. And while Aleksandr Pushkin, Russia’s most beloved poet, may not have overthrown any tzars, his literary legacy inspired generations of Russia’s greatest thinkers. You can grab a drink where he had a final lemonade in 1837 right before being fatally shot in a duel. His disturbingly lifelike wax statue watches over the scene—right next to the taxidermied bear, of course.