West Village Balkan Eatery Named 'Hot': Ranking

GREENWICH, NY — Is New York City about to have a Balkan renaissance?

If you were only going by the heaps of praise being given to the newest Balkan eatery, Balkan StrEAT, you'd think so.

Both EaterNY and The New Yorker have taken time to call Balkan StrEAT an unparalleled success.

Soon, everyone on the subway is going to be making TikToks while reading Ivo Andrić.

Back when it first opened, Eater was hip to Serbian descendent William Djuric's mix of fast casual Balkan meats and traditional baked goods, made by fellow Serb Milan Milijancevic, former head baker at Belgrade’s Hotel Moskva.

For meats, there's all the Balkan classics, like ćevapi — a minced sausage-like kebab mix of meat, herbs and spices, pljeskavica — a beef burger made from the same meat, and burek, a phyllo pie stuffed with a farmer's version of feta cheese, spinach, potato and onion or a protein, like beef or lamb.

The dough is excruciatingly hand-stretched, causing the New Yorker to describe it as "irresistible."

But what makes Balkan StrEAT really stand out from the other Balkan eateries in the East Village or Astoria is the baked creations of Milijancevic, including krofne, "great puffball doughnuts, in rich flavors including raspberry, with a magenta dusting of crushed and sugared freeze-dried raspberries, and pistachio, filled with a thick, not too sweet custard," write the New Yorker.

Even before the Greenwich Village shop opened, reported Eater, Djuric already signed a least for an East Village location.

To check it out for yourself, Balkan StrEAT is at 353 Sixth Ave., between West Fourth and West Washington Place.