Beograd Meat Market

I eat Bosnian, Croatian, and/​or Serbian food at least 3 times a week at a few different places around Chicago. I figured I was on a roll, so let me try this nice two-​sided café/​meat market. A few times, I came in, sat down for lunch and was totally ignored by the server. After about 15 minutes I got up, and walked over to the «take-​out» side… which is, as Unilocal calls it, a Meat Market. okaaaay. The first trip was unsuccessful. The lady ignored me and helped a couple that arrived after me… who spoke their language. Normally, I would say something: Frustrated and hungry, I just left.
The second time I visited, I went to sit and after 10 minutes of seeing others served before me, I went to the meat market. After another good wait, I finally got to order soup for our office from the take-​out hot food counter. It was exceptionally good! Some of the foods are tricky… if you are a Muslim or a non-​pork eater, ask first! Most of my favorite dishes, on the day of my visit, were cooked with pork. Also, the food is served by the pound, so a juicy or heavy dish can put you back an arm and part of a leg. Gosh, it was great though.
The last visit, I went straight to the meat market, were once and for all… I gave up on this being a place which welcomes brown faces. I went down the grocery isle, choosing some of my favorite Eastern European snacks to take back to the office when a lady, who was not present to help me at the hot food counter, pops out of no where and follows me nearly, shoulder to shoulder. When I walk back to the food counter, she looks surprised and says may I help you. I smile… and say yes… you can stop following people of color that come in your store and please give me a pound of your soup for my employer. Red faced… she says ohhhh… you know our food? Yes… however, I will buy from Restaurant Sarajevo from now on where I can get easy, quick, and polite service. As I paid for the food, two customers who saw the entire exchange actually apologized to me for what occurred, saying that their people are not always ‘like THIS”. While I warmly and sincerely accepted the sense of humanity, I will not spend any more of mine nor my employers money here. Surely I will miss that awesome soup, yet will not miss the horrific service!

Excellent Serbian specialty foods available here, including Beograd’s tasty burek, and some of the best cevapis i’ve tried. Jars of ajvar (Kostana is the best) are a dollar more than my usual places but it works in a pinch. George’s brand meats available, which is a big plus since they closed their deli on Lawrence earlier this year.

love this place… I am a regular… nothing like sitting outside during summer nights and having themmm crapes yummy :)

Went shopping here as I was waiting for my burnt Burek. This store took me back to my childhood. They have the best feta cheese, you cant find this feta in any American grocery stores, I highly recommend trying there feta. The smoked pork loin was probably one of the best I’ve ever had. Do not buy the prepackage smoked pork loin, you have to try the stuff they make. If you buy burek make sure it’s not burnt, had a bad experience there. I also recommend there homemade doughnuts, yummy! Now if this location can only move to Miami :-)

The service here is always lovely and helpful! They are always happy to answer all of my silly questions as I am not serbian. They will go so far as to help you real labels that are in Serbina… thank goodness :)
This place has the BEST cevapi (sp?) that I have ever had. Its homemade! Thats saying quite a bit as my boyfriend is Serbian and I have tried plenty of different cevapi. I always replenish my stock of ajvar, which I have started to put on EVERYTHING because I love it so much, and Kajmak (sp?) here as well. Oh and the Turkish/​Serbian coffee is something you should definitly try if you enjoy coffee.

I went to Beograd Café in order to get in the zone for my trip to Croatia (yes, I know it’s a Serbian place, but close enough). I went back to Beograd Meat Market the weekend I returned to buy up all the fixins to at least attempt a recreation of my beloved cevapcici sandwiches I consumed in mass quantity while overseas.
On a Saturday morning, Beograd Meat Market is bustling. I had to ask for a little help since I had no idea where the cevaps were kept in the store and everyone working there was very nice. They didn’t even mock me for not speaking their native language because, as you might have guessed, most patrons are of the Balkan variety.
I was able to pick up a HUGE tray of cevaps, jvar, kajmak AND lepinja bread right at the market. Sweet. Everything I needed! I even noticed this warming oven full of meat or cheese burek so I couldn’t resist picking one up, too. All this goodness set me back just under $ 40, which isn’t bad considering I picked up enough meat, bread and toppings to satisfy at least 8 people that night plus a little treat for me in the form of the burek.
Balkan win. I’ll be back for sure.

Burek to go? Yes, you can pick up the legendary Balkan savory pie hot and fresh right here. Beograd makes cheese, meat, spinach with cheese and potato varieties all day long. I have a friend who swears by the power of burek — he picks them up before sales calls and it’s no surprise that his close rate is a through-​the-​roof «mystery»!
Besides burek, you can buy cevapcici and other sausages at this market o’ meat — some ready for the grill, some ready for slicing, ALL delicious. I love the Fructal (a Slovenian juice line) and they’ve got a cooler full of the individual ones as well as the 1.5 liter size. Need some ajvar (roasted red pepper + eggplant spread) to go with your grilled meats? They stock a few different brands, mostly imported from Macedonia. Creamy, buttery kajmak lives here too. And don’t leave without a bag of of the homemade lepinja bread — no Balkan BBQ is complete with a few of these thrown on the grill in preparation for a cevapcici sandwich lovefest.
There’s a hot bar with hearty Balkan favorites such as potatoes, cabbage and on the weekends, sarma. But — If you have time, walk on over to the adjoining café side and eat one of the best and most inexpensive dinners you’ll ever have. Don’t forget an ice cold Lasko pivo (beer)!

Why is this place even called a meat market? I was expecting an ethnic delight, with lots of freshly made homemade sausage hanging in loops on hooks behind the counter, with a wonderful smoked sausage aroma in the air. NONE of that applies here. Whatever sausage they make must be made elsewhere; because there is no meaty smoky smell. My father sold supplies to meat packers, so believe me, I have been in my share of butcher and specialty shops redolent with aromas of what they make. All there is here is a small counter with manufactured whole salamis. A counter next to it sells baked goods. That wasn’t what I was there for.
There was only one person minding the store when I walked in around 6:30 on a weeknight looking for some fresh Polish sausage. At first, she didn’t seem to understand me and said no, then she realized what I had asked, and she said yes. She walked me over to a back cooler where there were only four trays of cevapcici, and one frozen tray of fresh Polish. I asked her how much, and she told me $ 5.00 a pound.
That seemed high, but I was in a hurry. My husband was waiting in the only open on-​street space in a tow zone. I paid for them and left.
I wish I could tell you they were delicious. Alas, BOTH sausages were very plain, coarsely made, without much savory taste at all. I had eaten cevapcici elsewhere that was a wonderful garlicky experience. These were not like that AT ALL. Both tasted overly porky, with no garlic or seasoning to compliment. My husband and I were VERY disappointed. Their sausage was not worth $ 5.00 a pound. We will not be going back, nor would I recommend it to anyone. Sorry.

I bet that if I were Serbian, this would be my favorite place ever. As it is, I have to go in and ask stupid questions like «which of these is good on a grill?» The very friendly staff is always happy to recommend something — I’ve settled on cevapcicis (or cevaps — little skinless sausages) as being perfect — you can buy a whole tray of ‘em for about $ 4 something a pound. And you can get kajmak to go with them — and as I learned the other day, its like sour cream but «is better.» They also have ajver, an eggplant and red pepper dip that is pretty much good on anything. Finally, they have those awesome European-​style cookies in foil wrappers and lots of cured meat I hope to get to soon.
Anyway, the opening of Pitchfork across the street and the forthcoming Leader Bar makes me concerned that soon my ‘hood will be overrun by mass produced boneless buffalo wing-​type places. So here’s to a great local business with interesting food and good folks. Go there.

The price of Burek is going up!
Two (one meat, one cheese) cost me a total of $ 13.47… still worth it. Damn they were good.

These folks make totally addictive bread. The loaves labeled as ‘pita’ are not flat but a good three inches high. They are a delightfully moist and chewy bit of heaven and remind me of my Grandma’s bread.

Yum, Beograd — my go-​to place for some Eastern European comfort food (I’m surprised no one’s Unilocal’d it yet!). Part bakery, part meat market, and part café, Beograd specializes in meats and homemade breads, but when you’re looking for a quick, filling meal, here’s what you gotta do: First, head to the back of the storefront and ask for one of the hot deli dishes (the scalloped potatoes are a meaty, greasy side dish from heaven); then it’s off to the cooler for bottle of Borsec mineral water; and then — here comes the best part — go to the cash register and ask for a burek. There, they’ll slice a large savory pastry-​pie (it comes in two flavors: meat or feta) for you, hot and ready to be devoured. For about $ 10, you have enough food for two — or two days of lunches to keep to yourself (my preferred version of events). Oh, if you want to hang out, there’s a large outdoor patio with plenty of umbrella’d tables.