Hot and new can steal the spotlight, but what about longstanding local favorites? Each month, we’ll visit a Richmond-area restaurant that has been in business 15 years or longer.
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The Balkan Restaurant family (from left), Daniel Barrios, Maria Chourio, Plamena Dimitrova, Daria Lipovac, Boryana Dineva and Tommy Lipovac
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Mixed grill platter with beef and chicken kebab, cevapi, and veal
Boryana Dineva arrived in the U.S. from a small town outside Sofia, Bulgaria, on a student exchange program in 2011. Shortly after, she landed a job as a server at Balkan Restaurant — the cozy eatery tucked into Maybeury South Shopping Center at 8905 Patterson Ave. After nearly a decade on staff, she took over the restaurant in 2019.
Originally opened in 2010 by Bosnian founder Emir Vejzovic, Balkan Restaurant soon faced a new test under Dineva’s ownership: the COVID-19 pandemic. Regulars helped keep the goulash flowing, and today, she cultivates a homey, intimate atmosphere where Old World flavors shine through a tight menu of Balkan comfort food.
The from-scratch selections feature hits including čevapi sausages served with sour cream, chopped onion and grilled lepinja bread. That pillowy housemade flatbread also carries urnebes, a spread of roasted red peppers and briny feta. Balkan potatoes — tender slices folded into silky cream sauce — are made to order, so the textures remain just right. A mixed grill of kebabs, sausages and hearty beef goulash rounds out the mainstays. Chicken paprikash, Dineva’s favorite, conjures comforting childhood memories she hopes to re-create for guests.
Behind the bar, find Balkan wines such as the smooth red Melnik 55, made from a grape grown only in Bulgaria. Wine flights encourage exploration, and a colorful meze board piled with Eastern European pickles, spreads, cheese and sausages makes a perfect accompaniment.
The magic of Balkan Restaurant lies in the scale: one small room, a tiny staff and food that feels like it came straight from a loving baba’s kitchen. Much of the crowd is neighborhood regulars alongside adventurous eaters and Eastern European expats seeking flavors of home. “When I’m here, I’m serving, cooking, washing dishes — whatever needs to be done,” Dineva says. “It’s a lot of work, but seeing people’s faces when they enjoy it makes it worth it.”
