Photo credit: Melissa Johnston
Old Town Serbian Gourmet House
For me, a Serbian salad is one of the most delicious items on any menu in the world. A luscious mound of shredded feta cheese, diced white onions and green peppers and chunks of red tomato, the Serbian salad is a symphony of flavors and colors. Best of all: There is not an ounce of lettuce in sight.
Milwaukee was fortunate for many years to be home to two long-running restaurants serving Serbian salad, Three Brothers and Old Town. Because of the pandemic, Three Brothers is too compact to accommodate in-house dining and can only offer curbside delivery. However, Old Town, housed in a hall as long as a bowling alley, is able to transition into a time of physical distance. The tables have been spread apart, the server wears a mask and the menus are paper throwaways. Otherwise, Old Town continues to afford the ambiance and cuisine that has characterized the South Side restaurant—located under the shadow of St. Josaphat Basilica—for nearly half a century.
Old Town is a family business. Natalia Radicevich gradually assumed responsibility for the restaurant over the past 15 years with the declining health and death of her parents, Alex and Rada, Old Town’s founders. Natalia has tended Old Town like an old-growth tree, deeply rooted yet gradually expanding in new circles. Recent years have seen her adding scrumptious schaum tortes along with wine and brandy pairing dinners and introducing traditional Serbian vegetarian dishes, as well as such nouvelle cuisine touches as a recent special, a salad of paper-thin watermelon slices and feta.
But the heart of Old Town’s menu remains grounded in the recipes her family brought to America. Serbia occupies the western point in a culinary zone that treks south through Greece and east through Turkey and Armenia, spreading south from there through the Levant and east again to Persia. Old Town’s honied walnut baclava could be served in fine homes in Beirut and Istanbul; the shish kabob could turn on grills in Cairo and Teheran, albeit the Serbian raznijic is a skewer of pork, a meat not served in many cultures. The demitasse of potent but sweetened black coffee—usually called “Turkish” in America—could be enjoyed as far away as Casablanca.
Fish, Poultry, Pork and Beef
Old Town’s fish special is worth trying when it appears for its cod prepared in a flavorful sauce of tomatoes and green peppers. Lamb is usually on the menu, as are pork, chicken and beef. The cabbage for sarma is specially prepared in casks of brine, and the sauerkraut is less sour than the familiar German version when served alongside an entrée. Chicken pilaf is fine, but why not step up to chicken paprikash with tender breasts simmered in a sauce amply spiced with paprika? It’s attractively served with an array of vegetables that change week by week with availability.
Natalia prizes fresh produce and—let’s not forget—all traditional cuisine was local and farm-to-table. The Serbian variant of burek, a dish of layered phyllo dough filled with spinach, cheese or beef, is the size of a pie and can last for two meals. The Beograd burger is a tasty patty compounded from beef, pork and spices, served in a grilled pita pocket and with—on a recent visit—tender slices of lightly breaded eggplant. Many entrées are $20 or less.
A full bar is available with many unique libations, starting with Eastern European beers, powerful shots of slivovitz (plum brandy), a robust Dalmatian wine and—in the cold season—a hot toddy called Serbian tea.
Old Town’s 1912 building is integral to the charm; a bar room leads into a softly lit, cavernous Mediterranean-plastered hall covered in paintings, objets d’art and artifacts from the Balkans. It’s a step back into memories of an Old World café complete with performing troubadours. Guitarist Jim Waller and multi-string instrumentalist Mike Radicevich, Natalia’s brother, dip into a repertoire of familiar movie themes and melodies spanning the globe from Latin America to the shtetls of Eastern Europe. The crowd claps appreciatively after each number.
To cope with the pandemic, Natalia added curbside delivery while limiting dining-in to Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. She hopes to open a sidewalk café in September.
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