If you live in the Roger's Park area, you need to visit Zimi's. If you've lived in Chicago long enough, you know that this city is good for most food but genuine, quality Balkan food is hard to come by. There's a handful of places that offer the delicacies of the Balkans using ground beef and Zimi's is one of them. Located on Western St. and Lunt, you can't miss their metal Zimi's sign or the outdoor seating area. It's a bonus that there's street parking (it's Chicago so yes, you'll have to pay) and for those that are car-less, the 49B bus connects you from the south and north so very public transportation friendly.
The atmosphere inside is very welcoming and cozy. Be warned that if you visit on the weekends, chances are you mind find large tables filled with families. They aren't arguing1 that's how they talk. It can be a little loud on the weekends but what establishment isn't when it's that full? The establishment is very clean, waiters are attentive and kind and there's many food options to choose from. My family always orders cevape here because it's really hard to find all beef cevape. Cevape are a grilled dish of minced meat found traditionally in the Balkans. The meal is served with 10 pieces of cevape (shaped like sausages), homemade bread that is called lepinje, onions, kajmak (I don't even know how to describe this aside from dairy cream food, don't skip out on this) and ajvar. I love Zimi's cevape because they are juicy and tender- it is super easy to overcook them which causes them to dry out and lose all of the juices. They are seasoned well (balkans have a tendency to overdo it so the fact that this wasn't, major win) and the food is fresh- fresh. My children who could normally live off of chicken nuggets and fries absolutely devoured the cevape from Zimi's and have proudly asked for it randomly instead of Chick-a-fil. That just speaks to the quality and taste of Zimi's- there's a reason it's a family favorite. It's SO good. My family also loves the pizza here- true Balkan pizza not the American one that overwhelms your taste buds with tomato sauce and cheese. All their pizzas have so much flavor, you can't go wrong with any of the choices. My personal favorite is pljeskavica- which is stuffed meat. I won't do justice explaining it as much as you will experience it trying it so try it. Everything on Zimi's menu is genuine and quality Balkan food and I highly recommend visiting it.
The food is great- the price of the food is great too. Balkan people can eat so it comes at no surprise that the portions here are more than generous. So generous that it wouldn't surprise any audience if Zimi increased its prices on some food items in the future because the food that they offer on the Northside are hard to come by.
Check this place out for yourself- you'll see it's worth the hype and more. Highly- HIGHLY- recommend! read more