An Argentinian Restaurant in Toluca Lake: Bodega Malbec

For anyone in the Valley typing argentinian restaurant near me, Bodega Malbec Argentinean Grill at 10151 Riverside Drive is the neighborhood answer in Toluca Lake. It is a low-key, wood-fired grill on the village stretch of Riverside, a few minutes from the studio lots, where Argentine steaks share the menu with Spanish paella and Italian-style pastas. The name and the cooking both come from the bodegón, the old rural market in the Argentine countryside where families gathered to share an asado.

The restaurant explains its name on its own site. Travel through the Argentine countryside, it says, and you will run into a bodegón: bodegas began as rural markets selling goods from local farms, and over time they became the places where families and friends gathered to share an asado and a bottle of wine. Bodega Malbec borrows that idea and adds the Spanish and Italian dishes that immigrants carried to Buenos Aires, which is why paella and ossobuco ravioli sit next to skirt steak.

The result is a menu that suits mixed groups. One person can order a 16-ounce rib eye while another picks a seafood linguine or grilled sole, and nobody feels like an afterthought. Google reviews quoted on the restaurant's site praise the skirt steak, the lamb shank and the low-key, elegant dining room, and several mention it as an anniversary spot. Another reviewer had the team cater an event for 70 guests and booked them again for the next one.

The empanadas are $11 and come with the classic Argentine fillings: beef, chicken, ham and cheese, or spinach and cheese. The provoleta, melted Argentine provolone with fresh basil and tomato on ciabatta toast, is $17. Mollejas a la parrilla, grilled veal sweetbreads with salsa criolla, avocado and a red onion and tomato salad, cost $21 and are the dish Argentines at the bar tend to order first.

If you want a little of everything, the tabla de chorizos lays out Argentine chorizo, red chorizo, thin parrillera sausage and morcilla with salsa criolla and cabbage slaw. It is priced by the number of sausages: $17 for two, $21 for three and $24 for four. The Spanish side of the kitchen shows in the gambas al ajillo, garlic shrimp in a deep skillet, at $15.

On a cool evening, the cazuela del sur is a good shared starter: a saffron seafood broth with calamari, shrimp, scallops and mussels, cooked with white wine and tomato and served with crostini, for $25. Lighter eaters can stick to the house Bodega Malbec salad of romaine hearts, radicchio, goat cheese and avocado at $16.

Every steak comes with three sauces, chimichurri norteño, salsa criolla and salsa gaucha, so you can taste the difference side by side. The entraña a la parrilla, a 10-ounce USDA Prime skirt steak from Greater Omaha with grilled vegetables, is $45 and is the cut most reviewers rave about. The 16-ounce imported ojo de bife rib eye is $55, and the 16-ounce bife de chorizo, a New York strip, is $50.

For a big night, the tomahawk is a 60-ounce, 30-day wet-aged American wagyu steak from Snake River Farms for $180, and it serves two to three people. The 8-ounce lomo, beef tenderloin wrapped with applewood smoked bacon, is $48. Sides such as papas provenzal, fries tossed with garlic and parsley, are $10, and grilled asparagus with egg and capers is $11.

The paella Española is the reason some regulars come at all. Made for two with cuttlefish, calamari, shrimp, mussels, clams and prawns over saffron bomba rice, it costs $75, and it takes time, so order it as soon as you sit down. The milanesa Napolitana, breaded tenderloin or chicken breast topped with tomato sauce, ham and melted cheese, is $33 and is pure Buenos Aires comfort food.

Homemade pasta covers the Italian side of Argentine cooking. Sorrentinos stuffed with ham and smoked mozzarella in a light pink sauce are $28, and ravioles filled with veal ossobuco in a wild mushroom and white truffle cream sauce are $30. Save room for panqueques de dulce de leche, two crepes with dulce de leche, berries and vanilla bean ice cream, at $12, or the $11 flan de caramelo with whipped cream.

Bodega Malbec serves lunch Monday to Friday from 12pm to 3pm and is closed for lunch on weekends. Dinner hours are Monday and Tuesday 5pm to 9pm, Wednesday and Thursday 5pm to 10pm, Friday and Saturday 5pm to 10:30pm, and Sunday 5pm to 9pm. Weekday lunch is a calm option for a long steak lunch away from the dinner crowd.

Reservations are not required, but the restaurant welcomes them, and booking is wise for Friday and Saturday dinner. Call (818) 762-4860 or reserve online. The team also handles large parties with custom menus and caters events, and online ordering covers pickup and delivery if you would rather take the empanadas home.

Riverside Drive is Toluca Lake's main street, a walkable stretch of independent shops, cafés and old-school restaurants under mature trees. A few minutes' walk east brings you to Paty's Restaurant, the long-running neighborhood coffee shop, a good stop for coffee and pie if you come for lunch.

The neighborhood sits right next to Burbank's studio district, and Warner Bros. Studios is a short drive north across the Los Angeles River. An early dinner after a studio tour is an easy plan. The streets south of Riverside around the private lake are quiet and residential, with Spanish Colonial and Tudor houses, which makes a slow loop on foot a pleasant way to finish a heavy steak dinner.

Address: 10151 Riverside Drive, Los Angeles, CA 91602, in Toluca Lake. Phone: (818) 762-4860. Reservations: welcome but not required. Must-try: mollejas at $21, the $45 Prime entraña and the $75 paella for two. Good to know: weekday lunch only, dinner every night, and every steak comes with three house sauces. Ask Karpo in the Karpo APP for more Valley dinner ideas near the studios.