Balkanika

For something different in Hell's Kitchen, why not try Balkan food? The cuisine encompasses a number of ethnicities, including those of Slovenia, Greece and Bulgaria. Preceding Turkish or Greek baklava and cream puffs are lots of salads, soups, cold mezze (hummus, skordalia), kebabs, savory filo pastries and beef guvech casserole cooked in a clay pot. Up front is a market neatly displaying fresh produce, burlap bags of coffee beans and oversize jars of spices, dried fruit and marinating fruit and vegetables. The abundance of cooking pots on shelves in the back dining room evokes a Balkan kitchen.