Café Balkan
Opened: June 2022
Don’t let your possibly shaky understanding of the Balkan Peninsula keep you away from this immaculate café. You’ll get delicious lessons in the region’s diversity – and familiar presentations – right there on the spot. Cases in point: Lepinja is a lighter, fluffier version of pita and sarma is simply stuffed cabbage (in this instance, stuffed with ground beef and rice, $13.50). Can’t pronounce “pljeskavica?” Me either. Just ask for the “Balkan burger” and specify the “Gurman” iteration ($16.50) – a spicy grilled beef patty topped with bacon, cheese and chile flakes tucked inside a split, house-made lepinja. Hard to beat, as are other grilled meat and lepinja combos such as classic cevapi (the finger-size, charcoal-grilled beef sausages of Serbia, $9) and suvlaki (yogurt-marinated pork tenderloin skewers, sided with tzatziki, $13). All grilled items come with ajvar (chunky roasted red bell pepper sauce), kajmak (Balkan cream cheese) and chopped onions.
Tender lamb shank, smothered in spice-perfumed gravy and set atop creamy mashed potatoes, is pure comfort ($17.50), and you’ll want a whole pie ($29) not a slice ($8) of burek – ground beef, spinach and feta sheathed in flaky phyllo.
Wild Card: Crempita, Serbia’s fabulous take on the Napoleon, but less puff pastry, more custard.
21043 N. Cave Creek Rd., Phoenix, 602-283-5360, cafebalkanaz.com
