A Hint of Mother Russia

The decor in the cavernous dining room is stately glitz--gold lame curtains, imposing chandeliers, pink table cloths, red carpet, mirrors and U.S. flags.

*

Strolling balalaika players wend their way among the banquet tables, where more than 300 revelers--mostly prosperous, middle-aged immigrants in sequined dresses and double-breasted pin-striped suits--gather to make melancholy merriment on a free-world Saturday night.

Moscow Nights bills itself as “L.A.’s Only Russian Restaurant and Cabaret.” Despite social and political upheavals in the former Soviet Union, the mood is decidedly pre- glasnost .

Forget Boris Yeltsin. The stand-up comedians here are still lampooning Brezhnev, who appears briefly as a rubber-masked villain playing a violin with a broomstick.

Owner Arkady Kivman emigrated in the late ‘70s. He opened Moscow Nights 10 years ago and moved to the current location in 1991.

“We’ve become popular with lots of different immigrant groups,” Kivman says. “Not just Eastern Europeans, but Persians and Israelis, too. People who like a certain kind of entertainment.”

The floor show, described in the club’s brochure as “a Gypsy-Russian-Yiddish extravaganza,” is a cross between “Nutcracker” and reruns of the old “Carol Burnett” show--at least to the casual observer.

Just as it took Italians a while to perfect the Western, perhaps it will take Russians just as long to serve up the quintessence of the musical-comedy-variety genre. Devotees of the “Rocky Horror Picture Show” will find a lot to like here, as will their sweet old grannies who haven’t seen a good show since Liberace died and Lawrence Welk went off the air.

The show may be gaudy, but it’s not, strictly speaking, high camp. It’s too real.

Many of the performers are well known to the club’s habitues and are greeted with whistles and applause, and often deservedly so. One violinist did a fair interpretation of Jimi Hendrix, fiddling behind his back, over his head and, for the grand finale, holding the bow between his knees.

The food, like everything else here, is lavish and deadly serious--Cold War Continental cuisine favoring caviar, rack of lamb and the like. The feast is served by a staff that is both gracious and somewhat furtive. Every employee asked to comment quoted a variation on the restaurant’s brochure, saying something like: “Moscow Nights is the greatest Russian night club in L.A.” A waiter, when asked to say a word or two about his background, went away and never came back.

“I’m here to celebrate my birthday,” says Armand Kay, a Swiss Elvis impersonator who lives in Granada Hills. Kay was seated at the head of a table of 10 well-wishers. “This is a great place for a big party, friends, family, all ages.”

It would indeed be hard to think of a better place to throw a surprise party, bachelorette bash or friendly roast. Or, if you just want to soak up a little atmosphere--and a little vodka--the velvet stools at the bar have an excellent view of the stage. With more than 130 varieties of imported vodka on hand, it’s worth a pilgrimage.

And who knows--after a few shots of Terminator, Denaka or the murky, peppery elixir known as pertsovka , you might even see Elvis.

*

Where: Moscow Nights, 11345 Ventura Blvd., Studio City; (818) 980-8854.

When: Friday-Sunday. Dinner, 8 p.m.; cabaret show, 9-11 p.m., followed by dancing. Occasionally closed for private parties.

Cost: $20 minimum. Banquet menu, includes wine or vodka (per person): Friday, $29; Saturday, $40; Sunday, $27. Dinner entrees, $16 and up. Caviar (black), $28; red, $16. Cocktails, $3.75