It was a dark and stormy night, and sitting at my table at Djerdan, an old-world Balkan restaurant in the Garment District, I kept imagining a spy resembling Alan Arkin, clad in a long gray overcoat, stumbling through the door, grazed by a bullet and grasping a rain-spotted manila envelope. “For the love of the republic, get this microfilm to Hasad,” he would rasp, pressing it into my hand. Then, before collapsing in a wet heap on the cracked tile floor, he would add, “Try the burek. It’s quite good.”
Well, Alan would be right. Homemade burek, a specialty at Djerdan, are large, flat slices of phyllo pie stuffed with spinach and cheese or ground beef. I tried the spinach variety and ordered some Turkish coffee that was strong enough to support my coffeespoon upright, as the bottom of the cup contained, I discovered upon draining it, a sludgy, mudlike layer of fine grounds.
Continuing my phyllo feast, I got a thick wedge of moist Baklava that had something like 30 flaky layers. Not only was it tasty, the desserts menu contains a full dozen intriguing-sounding choices, from tulumba and hurmasica, to oblanda and cupavac.
Consulting the menu while listening to the rowdy 20-somethings a few tables down speak rapidly in a thick, tangled Eastern European language, I noted that other specialties at Djerdan include beef goulash, stuffed cabbage and peppers and traditional veal dishes, including soup and kabobs. Good, hearty food, and cheap, too. They’re open for lunch and just a street down from where I work in Midtown. Tastily convenient!
Djerdan
- 221 W. 38th St. (between Seventh and Eighth Avenues)
- (212) 921-1183
- Meal 27 of 52: spinach burek ($4.95), Turkish coffee ($2.50) and baklava ($3.95).