Tarzana Russian Restaurant With an 80-Guest Patio: Traktir

Traktir Tarzana, at 18588 Ventura Boulevard, is the San Fernando Valley branch of the West Hollywood Russian restaurant of the same name, built for big tables: a main hall, a patio that seats up to 80 and a private back room. Pelmeni come in chicken broth or with sour cream for $21.95. It is closed Monday and Tuesday, opens at 4:30pm Wednesday to Friday and from 1pm on weekends.

A traktir, the restaurant explains, is an old Ukrainian and Russian word for a roadside tavern, a place where travelers stopped and locals gathered over honest food. The owners, Oleg and Rina Atroshenko, emigrated from the former Soviet Union and joined the original Traktir in West Hollywood in 2002. Early critics called it a Russian restaurant, but the family describes it today as proudly Ukrainian-owned and Eastern European at heart.

The Valley branch was opened so that Valley regulars would stop crossing the hill for dinner, and the family says it filled up quickly. The recipes are the same ones Oleg's mother handed down, but the room is different: more tables, a bigger patio and space for events. Weekend banquet packages start at $70 per person, and the back room is where birthdays and anniversaries usually land.

The menu calls the cold appetizer table the soul of the Eastern European feast, and that is the right way to order here: several small plates, all shared. Herring Traktir on dark toast with butter and onions is $17.95, shuba, the layered herring salad under beets and egg, is $16.95, and the Odessa-style eggplant caviar is $15.95. Add a $15.95 plate of pickled tomatoes, cucumbers and cabbage for crunch.

For a celebration, the red caviar service is the signature splurge: four ounces of salmon roe with blinis and sour cream for $65.95, brought to the table. It is worth it for six people and not for two. A smaller table gets more from the basket of five homemade peroshki at $14.95, filled with cabbage, potato and chicken, which disappears quickly once it lands.

Pelmeni, $21.95, are the house signature, and the choice between chicken broth and sour cream matters. Broth makes a lighter plate that works as a starter, while sour cream turns it into a full meal. Chicken blintzes topped with mushroom sauce and cheese are $23.95. Beef vareniki are $26.95, while the potato version starts at $18.95 for a small plate. Golubtsy, the cabbage rolls stuffed with meat and rice, are $25.95.

Tarzana also cooks over a wood-fired grill. Chicken shashlik and pork shashlik are $26.95 each, beef tenderloin shashlik is $37.95 and lamb chops are $43.95. Our verdict: order shashlik for the table rather than the beef stroganoff, $29.95, because the grill is what the Valley room has that many smaller Russian kitchens do not. Chicken Kiev at $28.95 is the classic pick for a first-timer.

Syrniki, the farmer cheese pancakes with sour cream and strawberry preserve, are $18.95 and large enough to share after a full dinner. Medovik, the honey layer cake, is made here with prunes and costs $12.95, the same as the Napoleon. If you only order one dessert, take the syrniki; the cakes are good but quieter. Cherry vareniki with sour cream start at $20.95 for a small plate.

Kvass made from rye bread is $7 small or $9 large, and the house mors, a berry drink, is priced the same. Dried-fruit compote is $8 or $10. The house-infused vodkas, in flavors like horseradish, cranberry and blackcurrant, are $7 a shot, and the five-flavor sampler is $25. Ukrainian beer is $7. Parties of six or more get an 18 percent gratuity added automatically.

Reviews quoted on the restaurant's page give a sense of the crowd: a family that hosted a mother's 70th birthday in the back room, an office group with kosher and vegetarian diners at one table, and a regular who orders kvass and stroganoff on the patio in the evening.

Saturday is the long day, from 1pm until 11:30pm, and the evening is when the big parties arrive. For a calm meal, come Wednesday or Thursday right at opening. Sunday afternoons suit families with children. On Monday and Tuesday, when the Valley room is dark, the West Hollywood Traktir serves the same recipes from noon, and EuroAsia in Encino, closed only on Monday, is a shorter drive east.

Traktir sits on the Tarzana stretch of Ventura Boulevard, lined with low shopping centers and restaurants, where parking is easier than over the hill. Before dinner, Tarzana Recreation Center is a short drive away for a walk around the park. Los Encinos State Historic Park in neighboring Encino, with its spring-fed pond and old adobe buildings, is ten minutes east and an easy stop on a weekend afternoon.

After a long dinner, the patio itself is the place to linger over a pot of hot tea, $6.50, which serves three or four cups, or a $6.50 cappuccino. The wine list is short but serious for a family restaurant: Prosecco is $12 a glass, L'Ermitage sparkling from Roederer Estate is $80 a bottle and a 2020 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon is $140. A new vodka pairing menu has also been added. On warm nights, ask for a patio table when you book online, since the restaurant takes reservations through its website.

Traktir Tarzana, 18588 Ventura Blvd, Tarzana, CA 91356. Hours: closed Monday and Tuesday; Wednesday and Thursday 4:30pm to 9:30pm; Friday 4:30pm to 10:30pm; Saturday 1pm to 11:30pm; Sunday 1pm to 9pm. Prices: borscht $12.95, pelmeni $21.95, chicken blintzes $23.95, chicken Kiev $28.95, syrniki $18.95, vodka sampler $25. Banquets from $70 per person. Ask Karpo in the Karpo APP to book a Valley dinner.