It's a damned paradox, I tell you!
How can you find an…read moreout-of-the-way place in the middle of a dense urban area?
Yet here in the middle of a decidedly unattractive industrial park, Is a handsome restaurant. There has to be a story as to why this restaurant was built in this particular location, but I don't really want to know the details.
This is Serbian cuisine. I'm not aware of a particularly dense Serbian population In the vicinity of this restaurant, But there are two more Serbian restaurants not far away on Ogden Avenue.
I like Serbian cuisine. Charcoal broiled meats, seasoned well, Unique salads, and some really tasty cheese applications.
It's hard to make a choice because everything on the menu looks really good. One of the fellows we were dining with had been to this place before and had some suggestions. The first was "Shopska" salad. Very close to a Greek "Horiatiki" or "Village" Salad. Not one leaf of lettuce, rather, tomatoes, cucumbers and onions; chopped small, with a light vinaigrette, and a healthy portion of crumbled feta cheese on top. It was a nice, bright prelude to the rich meats that were to follow.
My usual rundown is to order the house specialty in a restaurant I've never been to, which in this case would be Cevaps-Grilled spiced ground beef. I happen to love Cevapcici, but I've had them before, And opted to go somewhere else on the menu.
I swung with the "Leskovacki Djevrek". (Well, wouldn't you?)
The menu says it's a ground beef ring stuffed with bacon and provolone cheese, grilled with onions and Urnebes.
Okay, ground beef, bacon, provolone cheese, and onions, I'm in!
But...Exactly what are Urnebes?
The dish arrived, and it didn't look like anything I had ever had before. My first impression is that it had been cooked in a Jell-O mould pan, with a mound of pink something in the middle. (which I soon learned were the "Urnebes").
Not long after that, I realized I had become a keen fan of Urnebes, which turned out to be a very tasty mix of cheese, peppers, and spices.
The Leskovacki Djevrek was a delicious ring of grilled ground beef, wonderfully seasoned, on a bed of grilled onions with chunks of good bacon interspersed. There were small dollops of provolone atop the ring. Some tasty Roast Veggies on the side. The dish was absolutely fabulous. Right up my alley.
Two of the other fellows had "Karadjordjeva Snicia" (and why not?)
This was a roll of Pork Tenderloin, stuffed with Cheese, lightly breaded and fried. This looked fabulous. The gents said it was.
None of this stuff turned out to be exotic eats, but it was just different enough to be very, very interesting.
I must mention the baskets of bread they brought out at the beginning. They were round, puffy loaves, with an airy crumb, A bit larger than a Jelly Bismarck. A bottle of olive oil was on the table, I dosed my bread with it. Yum!
This is definitely stick to your ribs fare, although I didn't feel as if I swallowed a bowling ball as I was leaving.
Service was attentive and cordial, The waitress was knowledgeable about the dishes, which helped.
The room had a masculine vibe to it, in fact, besides the waitress, there were no other women there that night. Then again, the restaurant is smack dab in the middle of an industrial area. There were no boutiques or nail salons anywhere nearby, LOL!
If you want to try something different but are a bit squeamish about possible unfamiliar foodstuffs, don't worry about this place. These are foods you know and love, just put together a little bit differently.
You might vibrate a little on the way in because the surroundings definitely don't look like there should be a decent restaurant in the middle of it.
Stay the course; it's worth it.
A totally enjoyable feed and worthy of five...