Meaty Fare Gives Taste of Balkans

No, Cafe Maria doesn’t serve ravioli; it’s a Romanian restaurant. It takes over the Sherman Oaks location of Dracula, another Romanian restaurant that never quite, er, came to life.

The new owners have brightened the looks of the place considerably. The soothing green walls are offset by rows of burgundy red velvet banquettes--an Op Art color contrast that calls to mind ‘70s-style American fern bars (which are, incidentally, becoming popular in Eastern Europe now).

The walls feature frescoes of traditional Balkan village scenes. On the forest-green walls, they give the odd effect of being portholes on a bucolic past. I rather enjoyed it, but one of my edgier dinner guests found the effect strangely unsettling.

The menu at Cafe Maria is no surprise, really, given the Romanian culinary context. This is heavy, meaty cuisine influenced by Romania’s Slav, Hungarian and Turkish neighbors. Happily, however, the cooking is more accomplished and appealing at Cafe Maria than Dracula’s ever was.

The beginning of the meal is inauspicious--a waiter brings out a basket of flavorless black and white breads--but the fun begins soon after. I’d advise starting with one of the homey, hearty peasant soups (ciorbas), served in clear glass bowls.

Ciorba di fasole is a light, delicious bean soup with a distinctly smoky flavor. There’s a chicken noodle soup with an intensely chickeny broth and long, languid noodles with bits of carrot, celery and chicken meat lurking toward the bottom of the bowl. (The menu calls this soup ciorba di polo so non-Romanians will know what it is, but the proper Romanian name would be ciorba de gaina.)

I like Cafe Maria’s Romanian appetizers too. There is a frothy dip of cod roe and olive oil (icre), a smoky eggplant puree (vinete) and, the heaviest of this trinity, a mashed bean and garlic concoction called fasole. I wish these dips weren’t crudely served in ice cream-sized scoops, but they’re still delicious.

*

The other appetizer of note is mamaliga cu brinza, which is cornmeal mush with feta cheese and sour cream. It’s lighter than it sounds, but since mamaliga (though without cheese) comes with most entrees, it might or might not make sense to order it as an appetizer.

The main courses are built around meat, meat and more meat. Rissoles are juicy fried meatballs along the lines of Greek keftedes. The meat mixture is prepared with garlic, mint and quite a lot of egg before being dredged in flour, rolled into balls and fried. They’re served with mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy, giving an effect a bit like good old American hash.

And then there are mititei, garlicky grilled cylinders of meat with blackened stripes from a broiler. They look like Indian seekh kebab or Persian koobideh, but they have a unique rubbery-springy texture that I haven’t found in any other cuisine. One of my companions queried owner George Dima about the magical properties of this mystery meat. But he simply shrugged.

There are fine grilled lamb chops here too, two meaty ones to an order, infused with the scents of garlic and herbs. But the menu is not entirely red meat. You can get a fried whole tilapia (called whitefish on the menu), bones and all, paired with an enormous square of mamaliga and doused with a no-holds-barred garlic sauce.

The best thing here might just be dessert. Romanians make wonderful delicate crepes (clatite), stuffed with apricot jam and drizzled with chocolate sauce. Make sure they are made to order, not cooked in advance and reheated, and you will surely enjoy them.

But there is something even better. I refer to Romanian doughnuts, papanasi: rings of risen dough, pan fried, lightly dusted with sugar and topped with a sour cherry compote and homemade creme fraiche. This might be the best dessert I’ve had all year, bearing in mind that one order (two doughnuts) has more calories than most main courses.

I can’t say whether papanasi keeps vampires at bay, but Cafe Maria is a more than adequate replacement for Dracula.

DETAILS

* WHAT: Cafe Maria.

* WHERE: 5254 Van Nuys Blvd., Sherman Oaks.

* WHEN: Open 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday and Sunday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

* HOW MUCH: Lunch for two, $14-$19. Suggested dishes: ciorba di polo, $2.95; rissole, $6.95; lamb chops, $12.95; papanasi, $3.50.

* FYI: Beer and wine only. Street parking. American Express, MasterCard and Visa.

* CALL: (818) 788-4741.