016 Restaurant - Serbian in Lincoln Square

Open since late 2019, it appears that 016 has flown under our collective radar. Based on my first experience, that's a mistake. Billed as "a Serbian-American restaurant focused on classic dishes from the city of Leskovac, Serbia with emphasis on Midwest seasonality," the restaurant features a selection of sandwiches, charcuterie, baked goods, and more. Get the back story courtesy of the Reader.

My visit was for lunch, when the menu is much more sandwich focused. We tried two winners.



The Lincoln Square Muffaletta comes with Mortadella Capicola, Smoked Lonza, Kajmak, LTO, and Giardiniera Ajvar Aioli.


The South Rail features house smoked sausage (unsure of the type), cole slaw, whole grain mustard, and pickled onions.

Both sandwiches were super flavorful. I'd give a slight edge to the South Rail thanks to the extra snappy sausages but I would and will eat the muffaletta again. Not pictured was the loaf of bread (not always available) and some really good housemade chicken liver pate.

This place is a winner and I'd definitely encourage people to check it out.

016 Restaurant
5077 N. Lincoln Ave.
016restaurant.com
(773) 271 7006

Thank you for starting this thread! We thoroughly enjoyed a carryout lunch from 016 in January. In my head I started to post about it, but obviously like many goals in the past year, that never happened. Checking my email receipt and the online menu, we ordered the fried bologna sandwich (Tempesta Market Mortadella, Ajvar Pimiento Cheese, B&B Pickles, Mustard BBQ, Brioche bun), and the 016 hamburger (Beef Patty, Bacon Cheese Mix, LTO, Kajmak, House Bun), both with fries, a shopska salad (Tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, feta, herb vinaigrette), and a 4 oz. vacuum-sealed package of Hook's 2-year cheddar. We loved it all. Thanks for the catalyst for a return trip! Now the challenge will be whether to repeat items because they were so good, or try new things. To be continued....

We have eaten outside on their awesome Carmen side street patio during Covid and picked up food, including from the new sandwich menu numerous times. Menu highlights for us have been the beet salad, house salad as well as the stuffed cabbage rolls and a great roasted chicken dinner. Burek is also great but my experience there is limited. The carnivore sampler platter is embarassingly large and if ordered, is a gut buster that will leave you with no room to order anything else. They are great with the grill and all of the meat selections we have had have been fantastic. Definitely a place to go if you have not been before.

smokinjoe wrote:The carnivore sampler platter is embarassingly large and if ordered, is a gut buster that will leave you with no room to order anything else.

Was that a special? or is that the charcuterie board (meze) on the menu?

Also, I noticed the cheese burek is described as feta. Was it fairly salty? Some other places use farmer's cheese or something akin to brick cheese to fill bureks. Maybe that's not how they roll in Leskovac, though.

Hi,

The carnivore sampler platter I was referring to is the grilled meat selection...

Sample Platter - Mešano meso . . . . . . . . . . . . $30
Chievapi, pork sausages, grilled meatballs, marinated
chicken thighs, pork chop

And the lone burek we ordered was ground beef. While they have a deft hand at grilled meats, they also excel at baked goods. The bread they provide is unbelievably great too.

Need a Cevapi fix? Try 016

Keywords: Serbian; scrumptious; setting; service; slivovitz

On our first-time visit, it was déjà vu all over again as we approached 016 with the nagging suspicion that we had been here before. The name “KIKI”, scratched into the concrete steps of the side entrance confirmed the half-truth: we HAD been here, but it was not 016 at that time.

Our evening at KIKI was early in our Chicago Cevapi Quest and we were underwhelmed with the result. Not so, this time.

016 has assumed a high place on our list of Eat-the Entire-Menu restaurants. From their website: “Some of these items include charcoal grilled and smoked meats, savory pastries (a.k.a Burek) and very popular Cevapi (grilled beef sausage). Our beverages stand out too, from Serbian imported beers, wines and brandies (a.k.a Rakia).”

The Roasted Peppers in Garlic Vinaigrette were excellent (no vampires here); the Feta Fondue included some tasty toppings and was served with perfectly toasted bread (they bake it); the Cevapi (they make it) were fat and juicy (insert your own joke here); the Spinach & Cheese Burek was baked into a puff-pastry crust and proved to be a superb variation from the coiled-rope version; and the Custard Cake finish made us wish that we hadn’t stuffed ourselves silly before packing up the leftovers.

And if you have not yet tried Quince Slivovitz, you are in for a treat. They also offer versions of this maddening mind-bender made with the traditional plums or with pears, but try the Quince.

We shall return until the entire menu is tasted. You should, too.

016 Restaurant
5077 N. Lincoln
773-271-7006

Thanks to all for recommending 016. We went yesterday for our very first post vaccination restaurant meal (outdoors only for us for now). We had lunch on their large patio. The service was so friendly! At the end of the meal our waitress asked if this was our first time and how we heard about the place (I think we were the only non-Serbs there). I mentioned LTH and she seemed to have heard of it (I'm sure one of you others had mentioned it before). We really enjoyed what we had. I had the muffuletta which was huge. My husband had the cabbage rolls which were even better than my sandwich. And we split the beet salad. All excellent. We'll definitely be back to check out the rest of the menu. Our waitress mentioned that if the chef isn't too busy at lunch he will sometimes make dishes from the dinner menu if asked (so keep that in mind).

Enjoyed an O16 solo lunch, cevap and a house salad. Salad hit high notes, perfectly cooked hard boiled egg, gem lettuce, radish, cucumber, creamy dill dressing and a topknot of frizzled onions. Bread, which came with the cevap, terrific, kajmak rich without going over the top and a cruet of ajvar for an extra $1.50. Cevap themselves were tasty but right around halfway I was hit with noticeable salt buildup. By the time I got home I was quite thirsty.

Almost forgot the fries, which came with the cevap. I asked for crisp and got crisp, nothing special to look at, and they are most likely food service, but they were the perfect crunch and a surprising highlight.

The start of a nice lineup of bread, bureck and sausage in the connected room just South, plentiful outdoor dining, and a clean open dining room with friendly informed service.

I was slightly nibbled by $3.50 for a can of diet coke and the charge for ajvar without notice, but that's minor and a bit petty as we come out of C19.

I'll be back to explore the menu in detail.

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O16, count me a Fan!

I picked up carryout for lunch today, as I had an appointment a few blocks northwest. The shopska salad was as refreshing as I remembered (can't imagine how good it will be in tomato season), and the (golden) beet salad was also a hit. Truly enjoyed the everything spice burek (it seemed like za'atar or similar might have been added to the more familiar bagel spices, so I'm guessing a house-made blend), and threw in a Lincoln Square muffuletta, choosing the fries over the chips. Not bad for lunch for one!

Signs in windows say closing Monday, Oct. 18 through Tuesday, Nov. 2. Reopen Wednesday, Nov.3.

If there's a better restaurant for Eastern European food in Chicago (including GNRs Podhalanka, Smak-Tak and Laschet's), I'd love to know about it. Today's lunch:


Chievapi with kajmak and onions on a soft but hearty housemade bun


Sarma - sour cabbage stuffed with ground beef and ground pork belly (slightly disfigured due to transporting hanging from bike handlebars)

Two absolutely fantastic main courses. Not pictured are a delicious spinach and feta burek and some very good (heavy on the vinegar) pickled cauliflower. The only miss of the meal for me was the Ledena Kocka - a custard cake.

This place remains an absolute gem.