Yuppeteria for Bohemians : L.A.’s Gorky’s, Former Political Hangout, to Invade Orange County--and Perhaps U.S.

What a country!

Russian food--served in a cafeteria named after a revolutionary-era novelist--is coming to Orange County.

Believe it or not, an as-yet-undisclosed county site will be the test for the national franchising of Gorky’s Cafe, a downtown Los Angeles restaurant that began as an openly political hangout for down-and-out artists, actors and activists but has gradually turned into a neon-lit yuppie haven.

According to Fred Powers--who calls his restaurant “the only Soviet-American friendship cafe that’s run by a Republican”--Gorky’s will go national if it succeeds in Orange County.

After all, if the food of the proletariat can catch on in the land of Mickey Mouse and John Wayne, it can probably do well anywhere.

Orange County is ideal, Powers believes. It’s close enough for him to keep an eye on the new Gorky’s but far enough from downtown L.A. With customers already traveling to the existing restaurant from Orange County, Powers believes a second restaurant in the northern or central county will be ideal to test the concept, yet not erode his base of customers from West Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley.

Of course, the Gorky’s version of Russian culture isn’t exactly imported directly from Red Square.

In fact, there has been a fair amount of grumbling among the Los Angeles Gorky’s regulars since Powers bought the cafeteria for about $500,000 in 1985, more than tripled its size from 3,000 to 10,000 square feet and brought in the big neon signs (including one in Russian and a huge 5-foot-high rendition of Maxim Gorky’s head in bright yellow).

But what Gorky’s may have lost in atmosphere, it more than gained in business.

Powers says Gorky’s revenue has doubled to $2 million since he bought it. The restaurant feeds 50,000 people each month--up from 35,000 to 40,000 last year. Powers predicts it will seat another 10,000 customers per month by February.

Part of the new business, he believes, will come from an on-site brewery due to open any day. The brewery has a capacity of 10 barrels, or 331 gallons, a day and should provide about 20% of the restaurant’s revenues, compared to the present 8% from beer and wine.

Then there’s a catering business, which accounts for about 5%, and a bakery, which makes up another 15% of Gorky’s business.

The rest of the revenue comes from the food, prepared on site from what Powers says are family recipes, such as pelmeni , a Russian-style ravioli with meat, tomato and cinnamon sauce; vareniki, potato- and cheese-filled dumplings, and piroshki, a stuffed, puffed pastry.

It’s a concept that he believes will work well as a franchise “because it’s so unique,” Powers says. “There’s a lot of hands-on control, and everything is homemade right here. It’s not like Marie Callender’s.”

Powers says he began negotiating last month with a Toronto-based company that now operates family-style dinner houses in the United States. One possibility is that the Canadian company will franchise a region of the country, with Powers retaining at least Southern California.

At the same time, he is also talking with a Placentia marketer, Bob Chickering, about putting together an investment group that would open a chain of company-owned Gorky’s Cafes with limited partners. Powers envisions Gorky’s catering to the average Ivan in Baltimore, Boston, Detroit, New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington.

Eventually, he also hopes to open a separate brewery east of downtown that will bottle Gorky’s specialty beer for sale at liquor and grocery stores.

The vision will become reality if Gorky’s can translate its Los Angeles appeal to other locations.

‘Sensitive Issues’

“I don’t think it’s going to be another Colonel Sanders,” says Janet Lowder, restaurant consultant for the accounting firm of Laventhol & Horwath. “The whole theme can probably touch upon some sensitive issues to people.”

Still, the cafeteria style could succeed if it’s kept simple, she says.

Simplicity, however, isn’t the key to the Gorky’s success in Los Angeles. Aside from having relatively little late-night competition downtown, Gorky’s has attracted customers with innovative art exhibits, progressive live music and a casual self-service atmosphere that encourages mixing and mingling.

Located in the middle of the warehouse district, the restaurant offers music every night--ranging from Ethiopian reggae to jazz to barnyard boogie. Exhibits by local artists--some of the works very experimental--change every two weeks.

Eclectic Mix of Customers

The ambiance is eclectic, and so are the customers who enjoy it--a mix of actors, theatergoers and students as well as a fair share of Westsiders.

Chris Baker, 32, an illustrator who lives in the Hollywood Hills, has been coming to Gorky’s since soon after it opened in 1981 for the food, the working-class atmosphere and “to dish (trash) the art. They have guts to put some of the experimental stuff up. It’s not easy art to see, and they don’t always succeed. But we sure have fun.”

Chuck Davis from Venice says he has been coming to Gorky’s for several years because “it’s the only relaxing, comfortable place in downtown where you can go to hang out and read a newspaper.”

Davis, a physician and film student, recalls that Gorky’s “used to be a real proletarian restaurant. Now it brings people like me--who are upscale, who like to think they’re part of the bohemian community, who have bohemian blood. And who watch ‘Thirtysomething.’ ”

But will the same sort of people turn out in Orange County?

Regulars Are Skeptical

The regulars in downtown Los Angeles are skeptical.

“It won’t work,” says John Nagem, a writer who lives in the Hollywood Hills. “People in Orange County won’t appreciate something like this. It would be wasted on them. As long as they’ve got their Red Onion, they’re happy.”

Powers, though, seems to think there’s a lot more to Orange County:

“We’re looking for that segment of the population down there that loves the feel of Europe or of something created back East. If we can provide a place where people really feel at home, we’ll succeed beyond our dreams.”

And certainly beyond the dreams of Maxim Gorky.