Zimi’s Pizza and Grill – Balkan meats, pizza & more!

I’ve been remiss in not writing Zimi’s up earlier. They opened a few months ago in the former RUB space on Western, just south of Lunt. The restaurant is run by a warm and welcoming Albanian family and features a mix of foods. So far we’ve tried the Balkan dishes with an occasional pizza. The qebapa (pronounced che-bopah) and qofte are juicy with a bit of heat and spice. The mixed meat platter (menu states it serves 2-3 people, and it does) is a good deal at $30 for five kinds of meat served with their excellent oil and vinegar cabbage slaw, kajmak, raw onions, and tomatoes. Everything on the platter is great except for the grilled chicken, which consists of little strips of chicken and is rather dull. It isn’t the Golden Shell’s (RIP) “Gypsy tower” with piles of meat and a flame in the middle, but it scratches the same itch. Zimi’s serves two kinds of pizza, both homemade and quite good, although we prefer the meat dishes. They use good quality toppings but no pork in any dish. Grandma’s pizza is thicker, focaccia style, and the other pizza type is a thinner crust. Their bread is very good too—thick and soft rounds served warm. The two Balkan salads are good too. There’s more on the mixed-bag menu we haven’t tried because we haven’t been able to get past the meat and salads at a place so close to home. They have a table outside and do take-out. We are glad to have them in the neighborhood! Note that their website is pretty basic.

Zimi’s Pizza and Grill
6954 N. Western Ave.
Chicago, IL 60645
773.856.0702

Thanks for the recommendation. I greatly enjoyed the Shepard's Salad (lettuce-less balkan style with feta) and Qebapa for dinner last night. I won't hesitate to return. The fresh (in-house made?) bread that comes with the qebapa really seals the deal. Bonus points for being open until 10pm since I'm usually not ready to eat until around 9pm and my options are severely limited as a result.

bweiny wrote:Thanks for the recommendation. I greatly enjoyed the Shepard's Salad (lettuce-less balkan style with feta) and Qebapa for dinner last night. I won't hesitate to return. The fresh (in-house made?) bread that comes with the qebapa really seals the deal. Bonus points for being open until 10pm since I'm usually not ready to eat until around 9pm and my options are severely limited as a result.

Glad you enjoyed it. One mistake in my review above. Grandma's pizza is thin crust (but good).

Bumping to remind everyone of this gem. I can't attest to depth of the menu because the qebapa is so good there's been no reason to stray (I did get a chicken kabob entree for my mom, and it was rather plain). I've been going just about bi-weekly since the fall. Hopefully they pop up on one of the lunch groups radar and then the momentum will really pick up.

bweiny wrote:Bumping to remind everyone of this gem. I can't attest to depth of the menu because the qebapa is so good there's been no reason to stray (I did get a chicken kabob entree for my mom, and it was rather plain). I've been going just about bi-weekly since the fall. Hopefully they pop up on one of the lunch groups radar and then the momentum will really pick up.

We too stick with the qebapa and grilled red meat. Good food and nice people. Hope others check them out!

Anybody tried their burek?

Does Zimi's serve burek?

https://storage.googleapis.com/mydev-st ... nu_491.pdf

Bresaola pizza looks interesting.

Jamie wrote:Anybody tried their burek?

I never thought of it because I used the same menu from their website that tjr just posted a link to (download). But I understand the question since I see burek on an online ordering system. Beware of that online menu because it had higher prices ($15 not $12 for 10 piece qebapa), but there's a good chance they offer the dish since it's on there.

Last night's dinner was on point as always.

Yeah, DoorDash, UberEats and GrubHub all show cheese, spinach or meat burek @ $10. Slice and the Zimi's native platform do not.

They do have burek, and we've tried it. It's good, but not great, I'd say. But to be fair, we've only had it take-out, and I think it's one of those dishes that is best right out of the oven. Their grilled items, bread, and salad really shine, so we stick to those, with an occasional pizza.

Thanks again to EvA and Cabbagehead for introducing the group to Zimi’s — ostensibly a neighborhood pizza place, but with an Albanian restaurant hiding inside.

What we ordered:


We ordered quite a bit of the Cabbage Salad — simply shredded cabbage in a vinaigrette.


One other salad — Shepherd’s Salad. Tomatoes, Onions, Bell Peppers, Cucumbers, Feta Cheese, Oil and Vinegar


For what some might consider a neighborhood pizza place, The bread was surprisingly good.


The star of the show. The generous plate of grilled meats reminded of meals I had at Lake Ohrid — not quite Albania, but within sight of the border. The Mixed Meat Platter included Chicken, Qebapa, Qofte, Skirt Steak, and Beef Franks, served with more Cabbage Salad, Onions, Kajmak, and Sliced Tomatoes.


Bureks that I’ve seen in the past have been served as a spiral, here the bureks come sliced. We had three varieties (which all essentially looked the same, hence only one photo). We got Meat Burek (Phyllo Dough stuffed with ground beef and onions), Cheese Burek (with feta cheese and eggs), and Spinach Burek (spinach, feta and egg). Nicely crisp when fresh out of the kitchen.

No one could figure out why one wall was dominated by a map of the world filled with coffee beans.

Wow, that looks great, especially the meat platter and the burek. Shortlisting this place. Thanks!

=R=

I'm happy the ELG had such a successful outing to Zimi's. I've praised their grilled meats before and have little to add to the above. Also: Don't pass up the bread! I do want to note that the waitress asked me if she should cut up the burek for our table, and I told her to go ahead. It normally would come as a spiral. I thought the burek we had was better than my last taste, probably because it was fresh out of the oven and not carried out.

Cabbagehead and I are glad to have the spot in our neighborhood. If you're planning a meal here, let us know and we'll try to join you!

nr706 wrote:
Bureks that I’ve seen in the past have been served as a spiral, here the bureks come sliced. We had three varieties (which all essentially looked the same, hence only one photo). We got Meat Burek (Phyllo Dough stuffed with ground beef and onions), Cheese Burek (with feta cheese and eggs), and Spinach Burek (spinach, feta and egg). Nicely crisp when fresh out of the kitchen.

The browning and blisters on that burek makes it one of the sexier baked goods I've seen in a long time. While there's plenty of Balkan and middle-eastern out here in the NW burbs, this alone moves the place to a must-try.

nr706 wrote:No one could figure out why one wall was dominated by a map of the world filled with coffee beans.

Nor could we figure out why one of the 4 TV's was playing some show that did nothing the entire time we were there except play 5-10 second clips of people 'failing' - falling or running into things or destroying things when they didn't mean to.

JoelF wrote:The browning and blisters on that burek makes it one of the sexier baked goods I've seen in a long time. While there's plenty of Balkan and middle-eastern out here in the NW burbs, this alone moves the place to a must-try.

The bread also had browning and blisters with a surprisingly light inside chew and fantastic flavor.

I agree with everything above. The bread certainly deserves mention.

There was one piece of bread left over from the luncheon and gladly I took it. That evening I had pot roast and the bread from Zimi's was perfect for soaking up the juices.

SueF and I stopped in on the way to a performance of Cat's Cradle at Lifeline Theater.
Nobody mentioned what a great deal this place is: The Burek is huge for the price too (it's not listed on the online menu), and served with house-made yogurt. The qebapa are $8 for 5, $12 for 10, including bread, cabbage, onions and cheese called kajmak. But for $2 more, they'll bake the qebapa or qofte in the cheese.



The cheese is salty, a little sweet, and creamy... and hotter than heck when it comes out. It's great scooped up with the bread -- it doesn't really stick to the qebapa.

JoelF wrote:But for $2 more, they'll bake the qebapa or qofte in the cheese.

I'm a fan of qebapa, which I am assuming (always a danger) are the Albanian version of cevapi. I've never seen cevapi offered baked in cheese, which I'm also assuming is kajmak. JoelF's picture hit my ~must-have~ button hard. Bread and burek look great.

I see a visit to Zimi's in my very near future.

Cheese burek

Qofte


Pleskavica

Bread


Qebapa in Kajmak

Short recap: Balkan food isn't my favorite so feel free to disregard everything in this post but the pictures. Grading this on a Balkan food scale, I'd give Zimi good scores. Not a ton of variation in the flavors of our entrees, though there were different levels of spice. I thought the Qebapa in Kajmak was the clear winner among the three. The bread was solid and the burek was better. I wouldn't mind going back at all, but I only eat this type of food a couple times a year and I can't fathom going here over 016, which I think is better in every way.

The place was packed when we got there just before 6:00 on a Thursday. It wasn't close to full by the time we left.

MarlaCollins'Husband wrote:Short recap: Balkan food isn't my favorite so feel free to disregard everything in this post but the pictures. Grading this on a Balkan food scale, I'd give Zimi good scores. Not a ton of variation in the flavors of our entrees, though there were different levels of spice. I thought the Qebapa in Kajmak was the clear winner among the three. The bread was solid and the burek was better. I wouldn't mind going back at all, but I only eat this type of food a couple times a year and I can't fathom going here over 016, which I think is better in every way.

The place was packed when we got there just before 6:00 on a Thursday. It wasn't close to full by the time we left.

Nice shots. Thanks, for posting them. I enjoyed our meal. Perhaps it was just a function of the way we ordered, but the trio of meats was more or less a one-note affair, albeit a note nicely played three times. As you pointed out, there were some differences between them but for me, they were subtle and not material.

I enjoyed the burek and appreciated the pastry/shell, which was harder and crispier than most of the flakier versions I'm used to. The bread (lepinje?) was definitely a highlight. I was hoping for some sort of ajvar-type condiment or other pepper spread but I never saw it on any other tables and we were never offered any. All I could see behind the counter was mayo and sriracha being transferred into portion cups.

I also agree about 016 probably being a better choice in this category. Certainly a more diverse line-up on the meat side of the menu.

=R=