RESTAURANT REVIEW: Traktir

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A Russian restaurant that wasn't inundated with banquets or large parties but suitable for a two-person dinner was a dilemma Mr. Borscht and I ran into whenever we tried to find a Russian restaurant to have a casual dinner.  Then one night when we least expected, we came across a little Russian restaurant called Traktir located on Santa Monica Blvd in LA's West Hollywood.

The smallish restaurant that offered indoor and outdoor seating was moderately filled with glossy wooden tables that reminded me of Danish culture. The restaurant is more casual than fancy and gives an air of simplicity, a place where good friends can gather to eat in leisure — very Russian, may I add.

Complimentary bread basket

A basket of complimentary bread and butter to start. I'm almost positive the bread was "home-made" but the lack of moisture in each bite whispered "day old". Or, perhaps it was supposed by that dry?

Home-made Compote

Home-made Compote is a fruit juice made from the flavors extracted from dried fruits, the drink was refreshing, sweet and delicious. It, however, tasted more of flavored iced tea than juice.

For our cold appetizer we opted for something we were familiar with, beet salad (pictured above), this beet salad (called Vinegret Salad) was a small dish with a mound of small diced red beets, potatoes, carrots, pickles and onion.  I found the Vinegret Salad to be rather plain and less flavorful than the Russian beet salad I make at home. Also, the dish is small and is better off feeding one, not two.

Combination of different kinds of dumplings: potato dumplings, ground meat dumplings and mushroom dumplings served with porcini mushroom sauce and friend onion

For a hot appetizer we again decide to order something we were familiar with, dumplings. We went for a dumpling sampler dish.  The small Russian trio of dumplings comes with 10 pieces, all once again fairly small. The three types of dumplings include dumplings filled with 1. Ground meat 2. Potatoes, and 3. Mushrooms.  We order the Russian trio with the porcini mushroom sauce and a side of fried onions.  A dumpling with a little bit of porcini sauce topped with fried onions was scrumptuous.  The downside?  There were barely any fillings in the dumplings.

Chicken Shaslik, marinated chicken in lemon and spices served with a side of roasted potatoes and pickled cabbage

As our main entree we order the Chicken Shashlik AKA Chicken kebabs. The chicken kebabs are served with a side of roasted potatoes and pickled cabbage. The chicken is moist, flavorful with spices — absolutely delicious! I may have been set back and gloomy from the under-stuffed dumplings, dry bread, and plain beet salad, but the Chicken Shaslik definitely made up for it. The chicken Shaslik flame-grilled entree is perfect for one person if this is the only thing you're going to eat, another option would be to share the dish if you choose to try appetizers too.

While I suggest foregoing the dumplings and the beet salad for other appetizer options, the Chicken Shaslik is a must try.