Deta's Montenegrin Café

I went to Deta's again last night - as usual, she was her ebullient self, and the food was great. I had told her I'd be bringing a friend, so Deta went out of her way to put a bouquet of fresh roses on the table.

We started with a fresh salad, then moved on to slices of her amazingly tender braised veal, served with a very buttery, slightly al dente rice. On the side, she served a cheese burek, her freshly-baked bread, and addictive Bulgarian feta.It was a lot of food, so she finally said - "That's it - no more." Shortly thereafter she brought out some of her nut-rich baklava. And as we were getting ready to leave, she gave us a meat burek for a subsequent meal (best heated in the oven, not the microwave, she advised).

Also, one big change - no smoke (although Deta and some of her friends were sitting and smoking out back in the alley in the near 60° weather).

It's been said before, but I'll reiterate - you can't have a restaurant experience - at least at any place I've ever been - that's as much like going to someone's home and being treated like a treasured guest. Nothing fancy, but good, solid food, loving prepared, by an incredible hostess.

Deta's Cafe
7555 N. Ridge
Chicago, IL
773-973-1505

Glad to hear she's obeying the law.

nr706 wrote:I went to Deta's again last night - as usual, she was her ebullient self, and the food was great. I had told her I'd be bringing a friend, so Deta went out of her way to put a bouquet of fresh roses on the table.)

That's so sweet - and so like Deta!

So...did the food taste different without the smoke?

Does anybody know what Deta's hours are currently?

I searched the site and the Web, but didn't have any luck finding them.... I've got to get back there!

tarte tatin wrote:Does anybody know what Deta's hours are currently?

I'm not sure she has any formal hours, although it seems like she's there pretty frequently - sometimes it resembles a private cocktail party with her friends there, even though the neon "Open" sign remains on.

We had our first meal, a lunch, a Deta's on Saturday. Two thoughts:

First, I would not have been able to tolerate this with smokers. The place is so small, it would have ruined any meal. Thank you non-smoking ordinance.

Second, this, more than almost anything I can think of, illustrates why I'm so thankful that lthforum exists. I would never in a million years have found this place on my own, and Phil Vettel is not likely to review it. The food is certainly good, but the experience of having Deta serve you a meal adds so much more the experience.

Jonah

Deta's Cafe
7555 N. Ridge
Chicago, IL

I'm not familiar with bureks, what are they?

Basically, bureks are a Balkan version of stuff (cheese, meat, greens, et al) wrapped in a coiled, flaky pastry. See pix here and Cathy's famous video of the making of burek here.

I just returned from a wonderful meal at Deta's, even more enjoyable than the meals that I have previously had there (I had never had tasted her simultaneously hearty and subtle green been (haricot verde) and chicken soup. We took up the main table and Deta sat with us for a good portion of the meal (one of my guests had spent considerable time in Bosnia). The bureks are the best in Chicago (at least in my experience). When I admitted that I didn't much care for beer, Deta poured me some nice (Johnny Walker Red) whiskey.

As for smoking, Deta does obey the rules by not serving foie gras. And in truth, once we arrived the restaurant was non-smoking. But there are some restaurants in which tobacco smoke should be defined as a condiment.

GAF wrote:As for smoking, Deta does obey the rules by not serving foie gras.

Except that it might get her in trouble, that's a banner quote in my eyes, G!

To appreciate Deta's is to appreciate that one is in effect eating in a dining room in a private home, with a (small) service charge included. And the same rules apply.

To be clear, I saw no cigarettes once I arrived.

It's been posted elsewhere, but I thought it might make sense in this thread to link to the recent Gourmet magazine article (which is somewhat harsh in its description of Deta's personality and clientele).

Went back again Friday - in part because I hadn't seen Deta in a while, and in part to pick up some bureks for Saturday's picnic. I made the mistake of putting out the bureks early - I'd intended to crisp them up briefly on one of the grills, but by the time the grills got going, so many people had dug into them that I didn't bother. However, for those who tried Deta's burek for the first time at the picnic, be aware that the ones she sells for takeout are a bit undercooked - they're intended to be baked a little more, to heat them and crisp them up. I hope no one got the wrong impression from them.

Deta didn't have that much food on hand ready to go - which was a blessing, because when she's told ahead of time that someone's coming in, she really starts cooking, and you come out stuffed. Friday, we had a fresh salad featuring the excellent Bulgarian feta she offers, along with her rich chicken soup, and a meat and spinach burek. That was a full meal.

But of course the best part was chatting with Deta herself - the perfect hostess. As is usual, we were the only ones there, other than her usual Montenegrin friends.

I'm hoping more people will enjoy Deta's outdoor sidewalk patio for the remaining few weeks it lasts.

Though Deta's Cafe has been awarded GNR designation, other than the thread(s) mentioning it in reports of the Evanston Lunch Group and another in the August 2007 GNR nomination/award forum of the website, I've found no stand-alone discussion of the restaurant here in "Eating Out in Chicagoland." If I've missed such a thread, I ask the moderators to please move this appropriately.

Here is a link to the GNR nomination/award discussion, which includes links to the Evanston Lunch Group discussions here on Eating Out in Chicagoland: viewtopic.php?t=15066

I've been following mention of the restaurant since it first appeared here but, though I don't live far from its location, I'd not made it there for a meal until this afternoon. A friend and I arrived at the restaurant at about 12:30 p.m. and were the only diners. We were informed that Deta doesn't work on Sunday and a friend was handling the chores. The small dining room was comfortable, an "at home" feeling - a generation removed from much of the rest of Chicago. We sat at the table in the front window. There was a chill in the room, but a small and effective space heater was positioned nearby and it was comfortable - wearing a sweater.


Chicken Soup

Cool/cold and gloomy as the weather was this afternoon, we opted to start our meal with a bowl of hearty chicken soup. The soup was full of chicken and just enough fat floated on the surface. The noodles were thin - reminding me of the type used in the Mrs. Grass chicken soup mix. The soup wasn't from a pot on the stove, but from the refrigerator - warmed in the microwave. Though it could have been hotter, the rich taste caused us to overlook the temperature issue.

The Montenegro-style house-baked bread seemed complex and was good - sort of like a large pita, air-filled. My dining companion liked the bread so much she purchased a loaf (made to order) to take home with her.


Meat Burek


Meat Burek

My friend chose a Meat Burek for her lunch - and it lived-up to the advance billing from prior reviews posted here on LTH. The phyllo dough ranks among the best I've tasted - a melt-in-your-mouth buttery flavoring that enhanced the subtle flavor of the meat and diced potato filling. The burek seemed large enough to feed two or three people, if you're having soup or salad with it. A third of the burek remained uneaten and we packed it up to take home - along with an order of a Cheese Burek which my friend drove to the home of another friend of hers (after we left the restaurant) who'd not before heard of or visited Deta's (and this woman loves burek).


Veal with Rice

For my entrée I chose the house special of the day: veal, cooked stovetop - and served with white rice and several pieces of what tasted like feta cheese. The hunk of veal was so tender I didn't need a knife to cut it; using my fork was sufficient. The meat was well-seasoned and needed no help. The broth from the veal soaked the rice and added flavor.

For dessert we shared an order of the rich, honey-soaked baklava. The rendition was different than what I've had before, with a major distinction, in addition to the larger quantity of honey, being the more finely ground nuts (as contrasted to being chopped). My photo of the baklava didn't turn out well so I chose not to include it in this report.

We spent a couple of hours consuming our meal. As has been pointed-out before in the discussion of the restaurant - it's a one person operation. Service was good, but people were coming in and going out - some with take-out orders, some folks arriving for just a bowl of soup, others for just a burek. We also waited for the woman to kindly bake a loaf of the bread so that we could take it with us. My friend and I enjoyed our conversation and the comfortable environment, and were in no hurry to leave.

The journey to Deta's Cafe was surprising pleasant for the both of us, and we'll return in the future and also recommend it to friends.

Deta’s Cafe
7555 North Ridge Road (SE corner of Ridge at Howard St., in Rogers Park)
Chicago, IL 60686
(773) 973-1505
Hours: 7 days a week, 10 a.m. - 10 p.m. (Though I've seen mention elsewhere the restaurant doesn't open until 3 p.m. Monday, but I don't know if that's accurate. The woman running the place today told us 10 to 10, daily.)

When driving home from Furama this evening (it was my mother-in-law's idea... that's all I'll say) I peered inside of Deta's and it appears that they've expanded and broke through the wall into the space directly north. It looked like the seating had been moved into the new space. I couldn't tell much else because the front window of the new space was still covered with newspapers. But it does look like Deta's is getting bigger.

I was anxious to see what's been going on at Deta's, now that she's effectively doubled the size of her tiny restaurant. So last night, I made it down to the corner of Howard and Ridge.

As Deta's regulars know, you don't go in expecting a menu - you just ask what she has (or call ahead). We had her Grecian salad with hard boiled egg and Bulgarian Feta, the amazingly rich chicken soup, and a meat burek (Deta told me the way she eats the burek is to pull it apart, and eat it with your fingers). But it's Deta herself that makes the experience special. She gently chided me for not coming by in a number of months, but was very welcoming. The new room is a work in progress, but there's a nice alcove in the back for bigger parties than she's been able to accommodate in the past.

There's also a raised platform with a table in the window; she said that on some nights (including this Saturday) she may use the area as a stage for live music.

She had some family in from Montenegro - they spoke almost no English, and I remember only a few words of Serbo-Croatian - yet they were very friendly and fun.

Deta also noted that Moetchandon hadn't ever seen her burek-making in action, so she offered a demo. Even though I'd seen it before, it's still amazing how she can take a mound of dough, roll it out and stretch it paper-thin, add the stuffing, roll it and cut so it's ready to bake - in under 60 seconds.

Deta, with grandson Dzenan Alen, and a freshly-made potato-onion burek

As the GNR certificate states, Deta's really isn't like going to restaurant so much as it's like going into someone's home. I don't know why she isn't busier - she deserves to be.

Hi,

Deta makes Burek on youtube.com now has over 23,500 hits.

I like their insight feature to learn which countries/states view it. Nor surprisingly the Balkans are well represented:
Macedonia 0.82
Slovenia 0.76
Serbia 0.47
Croatia 0.42
Luxembourg 0.34
Australia 0.23
Bosnia and Herzegovina 0.22
Denmark 0.19
Switzerland 0.16
Austria 0.16

Regards,

Of course, that's a great video, but she was much faster last night.

We had our first dinner at Deta's tonight, and it was absolutely everything everyone says here. It was a last minute decision, and I somehow was unsure if she was open for dinner or just lunch, and so we were delighted to see the OPEN sign lit up-- but when we got there, we were greeted at the door by a man who seemed a little vague-- we couldn't quite understand him-- he darted out the door, we thought we had been told to wait-- and yes, Deta was visiting next door, and he had gone to get her, and she arrived and greeted us and got us to a table, and could tell we were first timers, so she began an explanation of what was available. Bourek, of course; and goulash -- sounded good to us. She suggested a salad with it. Sounded good. I was thinking perhaps my husband was not going to fully appreciate this place, it seemed a bit sketchy at that moment, was it really even open?

But very soon the salad arrived and it was clear we were in for an excellent meal. Tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, feta, with vinegar and oil-- fabulous tomatoes for February, excellent salad. With homemade bread, very tasty. The goulash arrived when we were done with the salad, and soon after the bourek we were sharing. All very delicious. More bread as soon as we ate up the first plate. And then Deta plopped down and began talking, and everything everyone said above about feeling like dinner at a friend's house is entirely true.

We finished up with tea and baklava, and more conversation. And an invitation to call a day in advance to be sure that we could try some of her cabbage rolls or stuffed peppers -- this is a definite must, these are some of our favorite foods. And to call a few hours ahead and ask for bourek to pick up and take home for dinner-- it seems that a lot of her business is take-out bourek. This is a fabulous idea, and I look forward to it.

I do worry a bit how she stays open. We were there Saturday night from 6:15 - 7:45, and there were no other customers, just a table of friends and/or family in the second room.

One interesting bit was that just as she started to tot up the check, she asked us what kind of work we did. Both of us wondered if the bill might be on a sliding scale... I guess there was a price on the menu for bourek, but we really didn't order off the menu, or see any prices. In any case, it was quite affordable (we're both in the nonprofit world, would she have charged more or less if it were otherwise?).

We'll be back most definitely. Oh yes, as someone says above, she sent us home with a meat bourek to heat up tomorrow (oven please not microwave).

I had wanted my cousin to try Deta's for some time ... and Friday was finally that time. I'd called a day ahead, and she put on her usual great spread - tomato-cucumber salad, chicken soup, goulash, and something I'd never seen before - mini-bureks, in spinach, cheese and meat. There was another, larger party, who also seemed to know Deta, who had also called ahead and was also having a great feast.

Calling a day ahead is definitely the way to go at Deta's.

nr706 wrote:Calling a day ahead is definitely the way to go at Deta's.

I'm embarrassed to say that I've never been to Deta's. If one were to drop in at the last moment for lunch without calling ahead, would there be food available?

stevez wrote:I'm embarrassed to say that I've never been to Deta's. If one were to drop in at the last moment for lunch without calling ahead, would there be food available?

Yes, definitely. At the very least there will be some bureks, although you may not get your first choice. I've never called ahead, personally.

One thing that needs to be added is that for such an unassuming hole-in-the-wall, Deta's is not particularly cheap. It's not expensive, either; the burek is up to something like $6.50 now, and quite filling. However, any of the meals mentioned above will run you around $15, I think. Add bread, salad, etc. and you're easily over $20. I only mention this because there are no menus and the place is cash-only, so be prepared.

I stopped at Deta's for a Sunday afternoon snack of a bowl of chicken soup with vegetables and a meat burek - both of which were excellent.

The meal



The soup was rich and flavorful and though I would have preferred a bit more in the way of chicken meat, the broth was the star accompanied by a large amount of fresh vegetables.

Montenegren Baklava



I like baklava of all varieties and what Deta's serves is about as it gets for me - lots of honey, lots of finely chopped nuts.

The only cold beverage the restaurant had today was water, so I walked across the street to the Shell gas station for a bottle of Diet Coke.

The price for the meal: $13.00, plus tip.

Edit, to say: I'm having picture uploading difficulties tonight, and also working on a new computer, a laptop (my first), so just click on the photos above if you want to view a larger version.

LTH,

Whoever said eating at Deta's is like a meal in your Aunt's kitchen hit it right on the nose. Walked in around noon and Deta was drinking coffee and catching up with a friend, she asked if just me, when I said four she said, in her mild sweet fashion, "you didn't call" We pretty much ordered all that was available, three bureks, a Mediterranean salad she whipped up on the spot and veal meat she had chuckling away on the stove.

Deta



Beef and Potato Burek flaky, filling, a symphony in comfort food.

Beef and Potato Burek



Mediterranean Salad



Spinach and Cheese



Tender veal meat lightly sauced in its own juices and Aunt style beans, cooked past tender with a lightly sweet note, very satisfying.

Veal Meat w/beans





Baklava with four tiny forks for sharing rounded out our meal.

Baklava



Truthfully, there is a certain suspension of disbelief that is necessary for full enjoyment of Deta's. Once one embraces Deta's is not a restaurant in the traditional sense, which I fully have, the slight quirks become comfortable throw pillows for you to relax and enjoy the homey well prepared food and Deta's sweet easy going nature.

I should add the fact we knew nr706, a favored regular, increased our stature ten-fold with Deta.

Enjoy,
Gary

Deta's Cafe
7555 N. Ridge
Chicago, IL
773-973-1505

Aw gee, Bill and Gary! I've got work to do, and now your photos have me daydreaming about Deta's chicken soup and burek.... with a little Mediterranean salad on the side.... Now how am I supposed to get anything done?!?

I didn't feel like cooking yesterday, and had business along Howard St, so Sparky and I decided to head to Deta's for some warming chicken soup and a burek. Chicken soup was delightful as usual (Sparky said it was better than mine ) and the accompanying salad - just tomatoes and what I think was a sliced cubanelle pepper in a simple viniagrette - was delicious. The two of us were unable to finish even one half of one burek.

After dinner, Deta came by with this little cake - (the pictured one was sent home for the spouse, who was working last night)


She called it "Grandmother Cake," saying that first her grandmother made it, then her mother and now her - she told us fondly that this was what "poor people who had nothing but sugar, flour and eggs" ate in her country. The cake was a delicious little sponge cake soaked in honey water - it reminded me in some ways of Gulab Jamun, though much more delicate in both texture and flavor.

Now I have to go there! We're right next to St Francis, so shouldn't be too far away. I missed home-cooked meal - my husband will love it! He keeps telling me he wants Bosnian food and I am not much of a cook

The cake Deta made is what we in Bosnia call "patispanja" - basically just whipped up eggs, flour and sugar - you can add over it the mix that you get when you boil water and add sugar to make it juicier.

I was back at Deta's last night. I had called her the day before (773-973-1505) to let her know we were coming, and asked only for her standards - a Greek salad (with Bulgarian Feta), her ultra-rich chicken soup, and a spinach burek. When we got there, she supplemented those with a stuffed red pepper, and ended the meal with an apple cake.

It was all great comfort food - as has been said endlessly here, it's like you're visiting a kindly old aunt in her home. She brought out photos from her recent trip to her hometown, in Bar, Montenegro. We sat out on the sidewalk, chatting with Deta and some of her other Montenegrin friends (one was a musician, but he couldn't identify the old Croatian drinking song I vaguely remembered from my college days in Zagreb). Much of the conversation was unintelligible to me, but I got to use the few words of Serbo-Croatian that I still remember.

When we asked for the bill, she said "For you ... $XX." Deta knows me. She also knows I don't do that "for you ..." business. Suffice it to say Deta got a hefty tip. It was still a pretty cheap, satisfying, filling meal.

And I did get to use my "Laku noć" as we left.

Deta is going slightly upscale. She served us stuffed cabbage, meltingly tender goulash, and homemade noodles last night.

If you want to try some, get there reasonably soon. Deta's thinking of going back to her hometown of Bar, Montenegro in a couple of years. She came here eight years ago because war was waging in her region ... now that it's settled down, she wants to go back to her country and family.