(Finally) Checking Out the Bureks at Djerdan

Djerdan Burek

This week my lunchtime errands took me to a part of midtown I rarely visit: the garment district. I’ve seen Djerdan get some props in several Luncher profiles, so when I found myself within striking distance I had to check it out.

Djerdan’s lunch menu tends toward the pricey side of the ML spectrum. They have a selection of pita sandwiches from $7.95 to $8.95, but it was their much lauded bureks that caught my eye. These hand stretched, flakey phyllo pies come stuffed with meat, cheese or spinach (with a touch of cheese). I’m a big spanokopita fan, so I decided to try the spinach and cheese burek ($4.95 plus tax for a slice). Within minutes I had a sizable hunk and I was on my way.

Djerdan Burek

When I got outside and found myself somewhere to sit for lunch, I was impressed to discover that the burek slice was piping hot. It must have just come out of the oven, very fortunate timing on my part, because I’ve heard the bureks aren’t nearly as good when they’ve been sitting awhile, so it may be worthwhile to ask which pies are fresh. With the fresh slice, the phyllo layers were crisp and buttery it had a decent amount of filling inside. Very tasty. Very tasty indeed.

What should I try next time I visit Djerdan?

Djerdan, 221 W 38th St. (btw. 7+8th)

10 Comments

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    That looks delicious. Did you get there on the earlier side of lunch?

  • They keep pulling them from the oven throughout the day. I used to work close by, and the bureks are VERY tasty! Alas, I never ventured further into the menu, but the meat ones are also very good (it’s a mild ground-up meat), as are the cheese ones. (I used to get a meat and either spinach or cheese, to go.)

  • OH MY GOD. I wish this were just a tiny bit closer to my office. That is totally calling my name right now.

  • Love that place. So poorly lit and kinda creepy, but it’s cheap and the Kebab sandwiches are massive.

  • You should get the cevapi next time. To call lepinja a pita does it a disservice.

  • I always got the Cevapi sandwich, though I usually split it with a friend (thereby keeping me in Midtown Lunch price territory) because its so huge. It’s basically a loaf of bread with some really tasty minced beef “sausages”, onions and roasted red peppers. Excellent stuff.

  • Their homemade yogurt is tart and yummy. The stuffed cabbage is also good, but over $10.

  • Wow cool! This is right around the corner from my office. Thanks!

  • spinach was actually one of the better ones so good choice! the beef is usually under seasoned. i like their desserts too. had the stuffed apple and the hurmasica, which was some kind of nut cake. i went like years ago though.

    (i *genuinely* hate doing self plugs but here: http://nommables.com/?s=djerdan for pix.) feel like this place doesn’t have a good enough turnover to guarantee the freshness of the product.

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