Bronx Burek Taste-Off
The newest food item in my life is the Albanian burek. It's similar to Greek spinach/greek pie, but in place of phyllo pastry is a layered dough similar to a cross between a crepe and thin layered pizza dough. It's salty, savory, with some chew, and without the butteriness of phyllo layers.
#1 Tony and Tina's.
Meat, spinach, and cheese. Pumpkin is listed on the menu, but hasn't been offered the three or four times I've been there. I hope that they'll bring it back now that the fall is here, but I dunno how attuned this little pizza shop is to seasonal produce. The first time I stopped in, this summer, there were children outside selling Italian ices, blasting traditional Albanian music, and grooving away to it.
The spinach is my least favorite, and I haven't had it since my first time there. The cheese is delicious, and tastes like a blend of ricotta and a mild feta. The meat is ground and seasoned with loads of onions and other spices I could tease out, and reminds me of good lamejun. Or something. It's a familiar taste, and it's tasty, though I can't quite place it.
$3 an enormous slice. The key is to ask them to heat it up in the pizza oven (their default is the microwave, gasp). Crispy outside, yum.
Get that with a $1 cup of incredible tangy creamy strained yogurt. And somebody, please sample some of the dessert fried doughy things and report back. I'm always too stuffed, but they look great.
#2 Burektorja Dukagjini.
I learned about this place from the Village Voice review: http://www.villagevoice.com/nycguide/...
Definitely second place. The meat was too greasy and lacked the rich flavor of Tony and Tina's. The cheese was good, but sharper and tangier. I prefer the milder T&T version. I didn't sample the yogurt, but it looked promising. Also $3 for a huge slice of burek.
There are more places around the Bronx. Who's been? And what's good? And any reports on that display of fried dessert things at T&T's?
Tony & Tina's Pizza
2483 Arthur Ave (on the corner of 189th St
)(718) 733–8094
Burektorja Dukagjini
758 Lydig Ave (near Pelham Parkway)
(718) 822-8955
By rose water on
Oct 16, 2006 10:06PM
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I enjoy T&T's pumpkin burek. Amazing taste. I didn't know we had the option of having our burek heated in the pizza oven. I've always had it nuked there because I thought the other way wasn't allowed. Pumpkins are in season, hopefully they'll make them soon.
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heating in the pizza oven is definitely an option, but their (unfortunate) default is to microwave. you just have to ask.
you make me hopeful about the pumpkin. i'll keep trying, and will report back if it shows up.
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My wife brought home two slices of T&T's cheese burek on Friday; heated up in the oven (NOT the microwave), it was crisp and delectable - cheesy, salty, and (to my taste)buttery. Highly addictive, and definitely worth a detour!
If you like this, and ever get to Brooklyn, I highly recommend the Su Boregi Cheese at Gulluoglu, a Turkish bakery on Coney Island Ave between Quentin and Ave P. Their version of burek is imported from Istanbul and cooked up on the premises; it's a subtler, more refined dish and it's totally delicious.
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I hope I remember to stop at GULLUOGLU on my way to DiFara's from a day of pantry shopping in Brighton Beach. You can only imagine what my food consumption would be that day. Russian, Turkish, and Italian. Pure deliciousness.
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