Bosnian sausage sandwiches on Central

Tom Hanchett
“Back in Bosnia, there’s a cevapi place on every corner,” says Dino Mehic. proprietor of the new Euro Grill & Café on Central Avenue in east Charlotte. “It’s the traditional number one Bosnian food. “

What’s cevapi? Half a dozen chubby little sausages are nestled into warm lepinje, a fluffier cousin of pita bread. Add some chopped onions or a dab of sour cream if you like. “McDonalds tried for years to go into Bosnia, but people like cevapi better,” chuckles Dino.

Dino and his wife Amela started Bosna Market on Central Avenue in 2003, refugees from war in the former Yugoslavia. Amela worked long hours in a warehouse job. Running the store gave Dino family time. “Better to spend more time with the kids than more money,” he says.

Today son Mehmed and daughter Minela are in their early teens. They help grocery customers find specialties like fig jam, cherry compote, smoked sausages and frozen burek, the meat-and-filo-dough dish that is a Bosnian mainstay.

When Bosna Market moved to larger quarters recently, the Mehics added the tiny eatery. Slip through the side door of the grocery and you are in the Café, where burek and a variety of other traditional dishes are on the extensive menu alongside the cevapi.

Friends help out on busy weekends. Lole Jelkic trained as a chef back in Bosnia, now works for a Charlotte caterer, but Sunday afternoons find him behind the counter at Euro Grill & Café. “This is for our community,” he says simply.

Euro Grill & Café
Tuesday – Sunday 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.

2719 Central Avenue
Charlotte, NC 28205
(704) 343 – 9828
(704) 258 – 3812