Cevap Truck Brings Balkan Sausage to the Flatiron

Every Friday our man UltraClay goes south of the ML boundaries in search of a delicious lunch. Sometimes it’s Murray Hill south or the Flatiron District, sometimes Gramercy and everything in between- but we just like to call it Flatiron Lunch.

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I not a big fan of shilling in the forums, so I was a little bit put off by this post from “Luncher Khubird” promoting the new Cevap Truck in Flatiron. But that all went away when I ended up passing by the truck on the way to drop off some film. Shillers or not, the menu looked pretty tasty and I just couldn’t pass up trying it…

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Having never heard of cevapi before, I appreciated the quick tutorial posted on the side of the truck about what exactly it is. To summarize, possibly poorly, they amount to Balkan Souvlaki. The menu also offers burgers, beef and chicken kebabs and a collection of pastries stuffed with meat, veggies or cheese.

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I ordered a cevapi and a burek, one of said pastries and, rather foolishly, took them to eat in Madison Square Park. It was freezing, but I figured it best to eat them as fresh as possible before the arctic wind cooled it all down.

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The cevapi ($5), made up of five small sausage chunks, came stuffed into a pita with a variety of toppings on the side including a yogurty white sauce, crumbly cheese and a mild red pepper sauce.

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The meat is slightly sweet and the sauces worked well together. My only issue is that I felt it could have used a little spiciness to it. Next time, I’ll have to ask about hot sauce.

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I followed it up with a burek, which I assumed would be small because it’s only $3. Turns out, it could be a meal on its own. Flaky pastry bread envelopes ground meat in a swirl like the best danish ever. I got about half way through it before I couldn’t feel my fingers anymore and retreated to the office. As soon as I got back, I scarfed down the rest.

Given how cold it is, I have to admire anyone who would choose to start a food truck in December. This isn’t really the time that people are dying to go stand out in the cold ordering food, but as good as it is, I’ll definitely be heading back (and you should too!)

You can check out the menu for yourself on their website, or follow them on Twitter (although it seems like they’re always parked on 22nd and 5th Ave.)

8 Comments

  • User has not uploaded an avatar

    i will have to keep them in mind for next week, red pepper sauce sounds good and a cheap $3 quick meal is always welcome when i have to go out and eat later that night :D

    • User has not uploaded an avatar

      just went there today and got a cavapi, it was really good. and there was a guy online just raving about the food (i think he scared someone away, poor girl) but i could see why. it was a nice quick meal for a good price, but waiting on line in the cold blows

      will go there again, hopefully i can get more of that pepper sauce stuff

  • User has not uploaded an avatar

    NOT. A. SHILL. But that’s Ok! I’ve learned so much from this website it’s an honor to be able to give a little something back… PS. The Burek is good with yogurt or kayak.

  • Yes, you’re right, cevapi are hard to describe, but I would go with “grilled spiced caseless sausages from the Balkans,” which like a big bite of cevapi, is a bit of mouthful.

    Balkan souvlaki doesn’t really work. First off, souvlaki, being Greek, are already Balkan. Two, souvlaki aren’t ground meat, and are more akin to the kebab pictures above. Which is funny, because the word cevap is itself probably a cognate of Turkish word kebab. Anyway, I’m really not trying to give you crap though (which cevapi kinda look like, when you think about it).

    Also, the pepper spread is ajvar. They make spicier versions, which might be worth asking about. Also, it’s worth noting the “burger” is probably pljeskavica, which is the same cevapi mix formed into a burger shape and grilled.

    You can also get these in midotwn proper at Djerdan, and their a dime a dozen in Astoria. Kafana, in the EV, does an awesome, more expensive, version too.
    Sorry for the long post, but I’ve been a cevapcici enthusiast since visitng Bosnia ten years ago.

  • User has not uploaded an avatar

    Great review and post ultraclay. Ever since moving from midtown to the flatiron for my job been looking for good places to eat. Fridays always gives me new places to try out for next week. Bravo. At a time i thought the flatiron/grammercy area was a dead zone for good food places and carts.

  • User has not uploaded an avatar

    Steveroller is absolutely right. I think that Ajvar is actually what they call it in Macedonia and it is Lutenica in Serbia, but it is usually the same hot pepper paste. I had pljeskavica at Question Mark Cafe (it has the same name as a famous old restaurant in Belgrade) on 1st Ave in the East Village….are they still there? I do hope so….everything they had there was absolutely freshly made.

    Now the big question….where is this truck? I went there on Wednesday and couldn’t find it anywhere near 21st and Bway, where ML said it was. I too have a hankerin’ for cevapcici (please note….this is the first time those two words have ever appeared in the same sentence).
    Thanks/hvala puno

  • User has not uploaded an avatar

    did their prices double?!

  • User has not uploaded an avatar

    Yes, that Cevapi is now $10 (from $5 in this post) and the meat roll is $5 (from $3). No clue if the contents changed, but this truck showed up on 46th bt 5/6 today so I checked here after seeing it.

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