Just holding the cevapi sandwich from Kiosk Balkan Street Food is a small marvel. Lured in by the aroma of freshly grilled sausages, one can’t help but be thrown by the somun, a traditional Balkan flatbread that proves simultaneously richly browned and potentially crunchy, yet incredibly soft to the touch.
This is the work of chef Nemanja Milunovic. He’s a Chicago restaurant industry veteran, having worked for years at places like Prime & Provisions and the now-closed Little Goat Bakery. But like a lot of restaurant workers last year, he found himself with too much free time, so he started scheming with his brother, Marko Milunovic.
One constant topic of discussion was the food they grew up eating in Belgrade, Serbia. Their family moved to the United States more than 15 years ago, but still they longed for street food staples like cevapi, an immensely popular grilled sausage sandwich found all over the Balkan Peninsula.
“We kept talking about how we wanted to open something that fits our background,” Milunovic said. “I kept saying to my brother, ‘I think (Balkan food) will become popular in Chicago.'”
It’s amazing how correct he was. After all, this was before Doma’s cevapi won our Readers’ Choice award for best new sandwich of 2020. Joe Flamm hadn’t yet opened his Italian- and Croatian-inspired restaurant, Rose Mary, which still regularly has lines around the block. (Though I pointed out some issues with the Italian portion of the menu, I was stunned by the cevapi.)
The brothers really wanted to open their own restaurant, but they decided to go the more affordable route first and try things out in an Avondale cloud kitchen, a shared kitchen space used exclusively for takeout and delivery, a concept that became increasingly popular during the pandemic.
After talking to Milunovic, it’s clear why the somun bread is the softest and fluffiest version I’ve ever tried. He has an extensive pastry background, having graduated from the French Pastry School in Chicago. He also recently interned at the Pastry Academy by Amaury Guichon in Las Vegas before the pandemic.
The secret to his somun? Lots of water. The dough has a hydration level of 80% (80 grams of water for every 100 grams of flour), which is almost hilariously high. Dough with a hydration that high is outrageously sticky.
“It’s so hard to shape, but I love it,” Milunovic said, explaining the dough has the annoying habit of affixing itself to every surface it touches, requiring him to work quickly and deliberately.
As for the attractive dimpled surface, that was something he decided to add at the last second. “I just wanted to put my signature on that bread,” Milunovic said.
Milunovic has thought intently about every component of the sandwich. For the cevapi beef sausages, Milunovic says he mostly adheres to the straightforward original.
“The traditional cevapi is flavored with just salt, pepper and garlic,” Milunovic said. “I use a little paprika, but some people add way too much, along with other spices.”
If the recipe list sounds spare, how he combines those components is fascinating. Instead of just adding in minced garlic, he cooks the garlic in water, strains out the cloves and then uses a little of the liquid in the sausage mixture.
The real key to great cevapi, he said, is time. “It needs to ferment overnight in a cooler,” he said. “You can’t just grind the beef and use it immediately. It needs to rest at least 24 hours.” This helps explain the incredible bouncy texture of Kiosk’s cevapi. The meat doesn’t just crumble when you bite in; instead, the ground beef seems to fuse into a remarkably juicy whole.
With such great somun and sausages, the sandwich ($8.95 for five sausages, $14 for 10) doesn’t need much embellishment. The bread gets a smear of kajmak, an ultra-creamy fresh cheese. It’s then loaded with diced onion, which gives a crunchy and bracingly pungent kick to each bite. On the side, you’ll find a container of ajvar, a mild roasted red bell pepper and eggplant sauce.
The excellent somun bread is also used for the fried chicken sandwich ($9.95), a gargantuan offering that’s nearly impossible to pick up with one hand. Along with the crispy chicken, Milunovic adds a crunchy cabbage salad, pickles and urnebes, a Serbian dish of feta cheese and spicy chiles.
Another highlight is the roasted lamb sandwich ($13.50). For the meat, Milunovic took inspiration from doner kebabs, but didn’t want the sandwich to be too dry. “That’s when I got the idea to soak the sliced lamb in a reduction of the roasted lamb juices,” he said. “It becomes really messy, almost like an American sloppy Joe.” Those with an Italian beef obsession will likely see the delicious parallels to Chicago’s famously soaked specialty, as well.
If any of this sounds appealing, get to Kiosk sooner than later. Milunovic wants to eventually leave the cloud kitchen for a brick-and-mortar restaurant, though he’s not sure when exactly he’ll make it happen. Working in a cloud kitchen may save money, but it also means that he can’t interact with his customers, something he really wants to do.
As long as Milunovic keeps making that somun, I’ll follow him wherever he cooks.
Kiosk Balkan Street Food, 3517 N. Spaulding Ave., kioskbalkanstreetfood.com
nkindelsperger@chicagotribune.com
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