Robert’s Russian Cuisine offers a variety of food from many different regions

Originally I hadn’t planned on getting Russian food, which might be why I ended up in a run-down shopping center late at night, at a table near a bunch of people celebrating a birthday party with the help of a bottle of vodka.

I had initially planned to try Peruvian food, based on a suggestion from a Peruvian friend. Though she didn’t think Los Angeles had any decent Peruvian food to offer, she thought I might like it.

But as it turns out, many restaurants outside of Westwood close as early as 9 p.m., including seemingly all of the Peruvian restaurants in Los Angeles. Now I know.

So, that led me to Robert’s Russian Cuisine, located at 1603 1/2 North La Brea Ave. in the run-down shopping center, with the very entertaining group that managed to enjoy alcohol in a restaurant that doesn’t serve it. Overall, it was a good experience.

I got some flack last week for mentioning drinks without trying them, which won’t happen again. Kvas, Russian cola, comes in an AriZona Iced Tea-sized can and tastes like non-alcoholic beer. Tarhun is carbonated soda flavored with tarragon and dyed green. It tastes very strongly of licorice ““ I would only order it out of curiosity.

My friend described her drink, buratino lemonade, as tasting like cream soda, but with an odd bite. It’s hard to taste the lemon juice, but it’s there along with orange juice, honey, flavored syrup, simple syrup and soda water.

The only thing I knew about beet soup, or borstch (there are about six different ways to spell this) prior to this week’s column was that it is a maroon colored soup and that there are beets involved.

It can be served hot or cold, usually with beets, beef, cabbage, a side of sour cream and sometimes with tomatoes.

The version I tried was hot, with thinly sliced beets and potato chunks dyed pink by the broth ““ no meat, no cabbage. It tasted like a decent vegetable soup, and the sour cream gave it an extra bit of flavor.

Between the six of us, my group ordered the lula kebab (ground lamb meat and onions), beef stroganoff (beef, mushrooms and onions in a sour cream and wine sauce), Armenian-style quail, Ukranian chicken a-la Kiev and varenki (Ukranian ravioli, boiled dough stuffed with potatoes and onions).

Again, not an excellent selection of vegetarian options. Though the varenki (actually an appetizer) was meat-free, it was somewhat bland, though that might just be unique to the restaurant and not the dish itself.

By the end of the meal, I was struck by how familiar most of the food was, particularly the entrees. Even the dessert options were nothing new ““ baklava, mixed fruit and Italian ice cream ““ though that’s a result of limited menu options. Our waiter, Sergey Hovespyan, recommended blini (thin, crepe-like pancakes) and pirozki (individual baked buns with filling) for Russian dessert options at other places.

Russian food, or at least Russian food as interpreted by Robert’s Russian Cuisine, is sort of a mix of Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and Western European cuisine. Frog legs (French) and veal schnitzel (German) were on the menu, as were several feta cheese and cucumber options one would expect at a Mediterranean place. And the kebabs, as well as the rice cooked in chicken broth, were nearly identical to what would be served in a Persian restaurant.