The Balkan Express

[Holly Moore]

Got a flyer through my mail slot yesterday for a new restaurant, the Balkan Express. It's on Gray's Ferry, just south of 23rd and Kater. It shares a building with a hardware store. In fact the hardware store owner, from the Balkans by way of a restaurant and inn he ran in Germany, opened the Balkan Express. The place opened a couple of weeks ago, but the flyer is the first advertising beyond word of mouth. Right now they're just serving breakfast and lunch - dinner is starting up in a week or two.

I stopped in for breakfast this morning and met the owner. He comes across as someone who loves food, is proud of the cuisine of the Balkans, and is a bit leery of whether the neighborhood is ready for Balkan cuisine.

The good news - he makes and smokes his own Balkan sausage. I had it as part of the "Balkan Special" breakfast. It is very good sausage. He told me he had looked all over Philadelphia for the right sausage, couldn't find it, so he's serving the same sausage he has been making all along for his family. It's a coarse sausage with a garlicky smoke to it.

The bad news - that is all there was Balkan about the "Balkan Special" breakfast. The rest - extremely well cooked, they've got a great breakfast chef - eggs, "Balkan fries" aka home fries, a pancake, a slice of bacon and half a slice of ham.

And that's the way the menu is. More American than Balkan. For lunch there's Balkan sausage with peppers, but also a Balkan Hamburger which is just a hamburger though they grind their own beef daily, and a Balkan Hoagie. The breakfast menu includes a Balkan Omelette with smoked ham, pepper and onions and, as a choice of sides, "Balkan Potatos", grits or kasha. There's Serbian sausage alone with the Balkan sausage.

He will be doing Balkan daily specials - today a baked or fried fish, tomorrow meatless or with meat mousaka. He also described a Balkan version of Cordon Bleu, with his own smoked ham. Trouble is he can't find the same soft cheese (a blend of cow and sheep cheese similar to feta) that his version calls for. Yesterday the special was goulash - he told me there are more versions of goulash than there are days in a year.

I'm thinking this is a restaurant with tremendous potential that is getting off to a great start. But right now it's more of a neighborhood restaurant than one representing Balkan cuisine. He needs people to stop by and assure him that Philadelphia is ready for un-Americanized Balkan cooking.

[marinade]

Sounds like a real find, Hol. I'll stop by and start balking about why there isn't more of this type of cusine.

Edited October 29, 2004 by marinade (log)

[KatieLoeb]

Sounds like we need a few stout hearted DDCers to pop by and convince the owner that more ethnic = better as far as we're concerned.

Sounds like a potential weekend breakfast stop, presuming they are open then.

[herbacidal]

Sounds like we need a few stout hearted DDCers to pop by and convince the owner that more ethnic = better as far as we're concerned.

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I concur.

[Andrew Fenton]

I'll third that. I wonder if he could be persuaded to put together a representative Balkan (and where in the Balkans is he from? I can't believe that Albanian food is the same as Bulgarian, etc) meal for a group, whether DDC or smaller.

[cinghiale]

Excellent news! I've been going to Jovan's Place on York St. for my Serbian fix; 23/Kater's closer. BTW: Jovan's dad is a butcher and is known for his suckling pigs. The resto offer a great cevapcic, plus cutlets as big as a catcher's mitt. Hope the Balkan will brave to offer us yocals regional fare. Isn't goulash Hungarian?

[Holly Moore]

Isn't goulash Hungarian?

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One would certainly think so. But I suspect recipes migrate across borders in that area and are adapted to local ingredients. Today I had Balkan mouseka - very good and rather un-Greek. And, if I'm correctly understanding the family tree, prepared by the owner's mother. Also had another blending of cuisines for dessert - pumpkin strudel - which was included with the entree.

Gathered some further reasoning for the name. The Balkan Express is a train that runs from Istabul to Paris. Therefore, according to the rules as interpreted by the owner, it is ok for the restaurant to serve any cuisine served along that route.

[KatieLoeb]

Some of the best goulash I've ever had in my life was prepared by my friend Sabine in Vienna on New Year's Eve. She started the goulash early in the evening and left it simmering on the back burner for the inevitable 2AM kitchen raid.

Goulash is a righteous prophylactic cure for a hangover.

[aliwaks]

Well, my experience at Balkan Express can best be described as authentic. I've read numerous travel books some of whose authors spend time in that part of the word and often I believe they must be exaggerating when it comes to cuisine. My meal at Balkan Express brought to mind the travel journals of Camus.

Let me step back a moment and give some background I am familiar with eastern european cuisine, being of Eastern European descent ( 2nd generation, Ukrainan, Romanian, Russian & Polish). I am no stranger to the holy trinity of cabbage onion potato. I thought I was prepared for "Balkan" cuisine (though I am ashamed to admit I am not exactly sure what all encompasses the Balkans) and after all worst case scenario it would be no better and no worse than my grandmothers cooking.

WRONG. God it even pains me to write about this..I swear I feel awful.

We arrived at the restaurant at 6:30 Staurday evening it was nearly empty we were not exactly greeted warmly not curtly just not as warmly as I would think. Peering into the kitchen I saw hands put an industrial size jar of noname mayonnasie away in what I hope was a fridge. I saw alot of things in the kitchen that displease me, namely jars and cans...but still I had yet to taste the food.

Two friends had already been there one who had a porkroll stuffed with ham and cheese and declared it delicious (I don't like things like that so was a bit skeptical) and one who had had breakfast there and mentioned that they made all thier own meats. I was so looking forward to some kind of sausage.

OOK so they sat is in a dark dim corner. We looked over the menu order the two appetizers one of smoked meat, olives and feta and one of a spicy bean dip.

They brought is glasses for our beer (Stella if anyone cares-Belgian-Balkan alliteration was close enough) they were filthy...fingerprints grease ugh. we put them off to the side and drank from the bottle.

We selected entrees: Stuffed Cabbage and Pork Chops with special Dvexnxzkzcke -rice, my fellow diner was making a stew the next day so we shied away from teh stewy beef strip item .

Our apps arrived. along with a plate of bread accomppanied by my least favorite thing little plastic butter tubs. The breads were okay would have been a whole lot better if they weren't ice cold.

The Smoked meat Plate could not have been more dissapointing truly...I was looking forward to some kilebasa type sausage-y thing, cured olives, feta cheese dripping with olive oil maybe an herb or two instead in front of us was a plate of what appeared to be raw bacon, spanish olives with pimentos and a few cubes of dry dry feta. The Meat reeked of liquid smoke. Couldn't even swallow the tiny bite I took, I nibbled an olive--pining for vodka, sampled some dry feta..gulped down half my beer and looked over the spicy bean dip.

I don't know what kind of beans they once were, but it appeared to be some big brown beans mashed up with stewed tomatoes and served very very cold...I could not detect and known spice.

Ate more bread: Our soup arrived Smoky Bean soup and Cicken noodle. The smoky been had big chunks of teh illusive kielbasa type suasage I was looking for and strips of bacon..it was not bad al all again not being a fan of smoky bean soups I cannot say it was great. The chicken noodle soup had chunks of real chicken lots of noodles,carrots,onions (fresh dill would have been so great) but the stock had a suspiciously familiar taste to it...like bullion cube it was very salty.

And then the entrees arrived. It wasn't good, at this point they were really our only hope, I was being to feel as though I was definatley dining in a war torn county. Our server so eager to please and yet somewhat befuddled and scared as though bombs had been going off the whole night.

The smell of the stuffed cabbage arrived first, a funky old kitchen type of cabbage and meat smell it was surrounded by more of an ooze than a sauce and accompanied by potatoes that had pasted thier prime, flourly yet damp and liberally sprinkled with paprika.

The Pork Chops small covered in Brown sauce ( I believe there may have been a cases of jars in the back labeled BROWN SAUCE -product of Croatia) there were a few green peppercorns on top of each the sauce was extremely salty and tasted just brown. The special DVENSXZCJKSYZCXJK rice was just horrific a huge lump over tragically over cooked rice mixed with canned vegatableas and served lukewarm.

We were so sad...its was the first really cold night of the year and we were so looking forward to some hardy meaty potato-y food possibly invovling some sort of dumpling and sausage. we couldn't stay for dessert. we took the food to go becaseu we could not bear to see our server cry and headed out in to the cold night feeling quite war-torn ourselves. The taste of the few morsels I ingested stayed with me well into the next day. (Though I did try to wash it away with copious amounts of hot chocolate that night...I fell asleep at 8:30 amid traumatized taste buds and odd smoky burps)

So dinner at Balkan Express was everything I would have imagined dinner in Serbia would be like. This is at least preparing me to maybe go poll watch in the Ukraine over the holidays..at least I will know what to expect.

[mrbigjas]

whoa

[rlibkind]

Thanks for the frank report, Aliwaks. I guess if I'm hungry for a Balkan meal I'll have to wait until the next time I'm in Milwaukee.

[Andrew Fenton]

Wow. I guess that when one is looking for "authentic", one isn't looking for Marshal Tito's Magic Pan...

[Rich Pawlak]

Wow.  I guess that when one is looking for "authentic", one isn't looking for Marshal Tito's Magic Pan...

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I had a writer for me relate a similar experience; her evaluation was that it was one of the worst meals of her life.

[brescd01]

I think the evals on this thread are very erudite, especially for people who appear never to have been to the Balkans.

I would just point out that I think Balkan Express has potential. Its pastries are very tasty, by the way.

Also, Bulgarian cuisine is actually very distinctive from the other Balkan cuisines. The only restaurant I know of where one can sample it is in NYC's Chinatown, Mechanata (very hard to find).

If one were to go to the Balkans, at least in Romania and Bulgaria, the quality of the cuisine believe it or not is actually similar to Balkan Express. The best food is sampled in private homes.

rlibkind, why did you make that remark about Milwaukee? I ate one of the most beautiful meals of my life there in a wonderful Serbian restaurant, Three Brothers, that was very hard to find. I wonder if you are referring to this place?

By the way, I used to think Balkan cuisine was awful in general. It is actually wonderful, and I mean really stunning. Sampling its best however, is very difficult.

[rlibkind]

rlibkind, why did you make that remark about Milwaukee? I ate one of the most beautiful meals of my life there in a wonderful Serbian restaurant, Three Brothers, that was very hard to find. I wonder if you are referring to this place?

I was at a different restaurant, I think it's "Serbian Gourmet" or something like that, on W Lincoln south of downtown. The bureks were great.

[Holly Moore]

Had lunch at the Balkan Express today. It was great. Especially as I was semi-rain soaked. Needed this kind of food.

I started with the a cup of the Serbian Bean Soup. The owner smokes his own meats and this was jam packed. Good smokey flavor to the broth, too.

Then on to a lunch special, Sauerkraut Caserole. As the name implies, the base is sauerkraut, again made from scratch ie cabbage, and very mild. No bite at all, which is the way I prefer sauerkraut. More of the same smoked meats. Again, plenty of meat and a hearty portion. I managed about 3/4s of it.

Finally dessert - an Ottoman version of the baked apple. The core is filled with a chocolated baklava like blend of nuts and raisins. It was topped with canned whipped cream and a red cherry - not needed and commercialized it. But a good dessert.

The dinner menu looks great. They serve dinner Wednesday thru Saturday. All manner of Balkan fare - more pork dishes than anything else but beef and and a single seafood special. I think they do a few other specials - for sure on Fridays - maybe the rest of the week too (Open for dinner Wed - Sat).

I just saw Aliwak's write-up above - my experiences so far have all been for lunch and breakfast and I've been very happy and very satisfied. Could be they were just starting up their dinner service and didn't have it all together. Anyway I'll be giving dinner a try soon.

The Balkan Express reminds me of some of the start-ups during the Restaurant Renaisance of the late 70s. It is very mom and pop - in fact mom and pop do most of the cooking. None of the polish of a typical 21st Century restaurant opening. Somewhat "homey," informal service. All of which is fine by me. In fact I like it that way.

[brescd01]

Holly, this is very interesting because there are some new positive reviews of Balkan Express on Chowhound. I wonder if they have significantly improved over the last 6 months?

[GregD]

I ate there last week for dinner and liked it a lot. I wouldn't say it's great but it's very good. The smoked meat appetizer wasn't fantastic, but it was interesting. The beef in particular is very smoky. The bean soup is very good. Several of us got the beef strip stew--I forget and can't spell the actual name--and liked it a lot. It's quite spicy--though not hot spicy--and full of interesting tastes. The baklava was fantastic, I thought, drier than Greek baklava and very satisfying.

There were only a few tables going on a Friday night, but the people in them seemed to be regulars. One who said they came every week, another who ran in as they were closing and got the owner to stay open for a group that was on their way. The inside is nicer than I expected.

There are better restaurants in Philly, obviously, but it's a place I would go back to, especially while it's cold out.

[stephenc]

Write-up in citypaper

Serb Your Enthusiasm

Balkan Express gives a whistle-stop tour of Yugoslav cuisine, but it should linger longer at certain destinations.

by Elisa Ludwig

If you've never sampled Serbian cuisine, now's the time to hop aboard the Balkan Express. The restaurant, named for the train that runs from Paris to Istanbul, rolled into the Graduate Hospital neighborhood last fall. The owners, who also operate the hardware store next door, began by offering a mostly American lunch and breakfast and have just recently expanded their hours into the evening.

The concept, according to the restaurant's literature, is to serve Balkan specialties inspired by the many countries along the train line. While the Balkan Peninsula technically spans Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey, most of the food here would fall squarely within the limits of former Yugoslavia. (A few Italian and American dishes have also been thrown in as a gesture to the wimpy diner.) In general, there's something tentative about the place, as though it is trying not to offend diners with out-and-out foreignness.  .  .

more at

http://citypaper.net/articles/current/food.shtml

[cinghiale]

Now Laban is jumping on the bandwagon: Today' Inky Food section reports that his review appears this Sunday.

[stephenc]

That's because all the food writers obviously read the boards.

[cinghiale]

At least M. Klein is out in the open -- BTW he gave a shout-out to scoates in Thursday's Table Talk.

[cinghiale]

Had a quick bite at BE this AM. I spoke with the owner and asked him to recommend something. He steered me to the sarma, cabbage stuffed with ground beef and rice -- it's their current special. Two smallish rolls, but they were quite good, real old-school home-y taste. Plus, a fresh cabbage salad. The $12 price tag was a little steep, I thought. But the server was nice enough to point out that the item is a dinner entree; hence, the price. The breakfast and lunch items are reasonably priced and look good.