West Village Balkan Food Spot Suddenly Shutters

WEST VILLAGE, NY — A Balkan eatery named as one of the city's "hot" new spots suddenly closed Monday in the West Village.

"It is with a heavy heart that we made the difficult decision to close Balkan StrEAT," the fast-casual restaurant wrote on their Instagram page.

"We want to extend our sincerest thank yous to both the Balkan and NYC communities who have welcomed and supported our run in the West Village," the post continued.

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The restaurant is the brainchild of William Djuric, a Serbian-American who had also worked at Bouchon Bakery, Gramercy Tavern, and Momofuku Ssam Bar, according to Eater.

After opening in January, Balkan strEAT garnered wide praise for their wide array of classic Balkan meat dishes, 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.

Back in April, Eater included Balkan strEAT on their "Hottest New Restaurants" list for the month.

But their baked goods, made by fellow Serb Milan Milijancevic, the former head baker at Belgrade’s Hotel Moskva, is what made the New Yorker's visit to the Sixth Avenue spot stand out.

In an April review, the magazine hailed the hand-stretched phyllo dough used to make an "irresistible" burek.

The previously announced East Village location with a larger menu and table service is still on the menu, according to Eater.