A Rare Taste of Bosnia Out in the Desert

Yugoslavia dominated the news in 1999, while Bosnia, a beleaguered former province of that country, faded from our minds.

But not from Miro Terzic’s. He’s a native of Mostar, Bosnia, and owns a restaurant named Miro’s in, of all places, Palm Springs. Although he downplays his ethnic origins when you meet him, you can bet he isn’t forgetting them for a second.

The season is just getting into full swing in the desert, and Terzic is gearing up for his best one ever. But it’s unlikely that the Palm Springs locals, the RV set from out around Palm Desert and casual tourists looking for an elegant, inexpensive place to dine are aware they’re eating in one of the few Bosnian restaurants in the United States--in fact, the only one I know of.

Miro’s refers to itself as a “European-style” restaurant, and you might not notice at first that it’s truly Balkan at heart. But the art in the dining room is by Balkan artists. The prints of Bosnian capital Sarajevo are by M.J. Bosner, and the cheery coastal scenes and watercolors are from Marinko Cetvei.

The food at Miro’s, simple though it tends to be, is what really leads us into the kaleidoscope that is the Balkans, an area exposed to cultural influences from much of Europe and simultaneously the Middle East. Miro’s mother, Tija, cooks most of the Balkan specialties, and they’re things like fragrant, meaty stuffed cabbage rolls (of Turkish origin), Hungarian-influenced chicken paprikash and a homey Germanic apple strudel.

Sitting out on the patio, with the lights of downtown Palm Springs aglow in the distance and a desert breeze blowing, you’re not really prepared for a flat-out ethnic dinner. But then the homemade bread arrives, and soon after that a rustic chicken soup, and you’re completely won over. The rich chicken broth, laden with chicken meat, carrots, celery and practically transparent shreds of onion, makes you wonder why every chicken soup doesn’t taste like this. The reason is simple: Mom doesn’t cook in most restaurants.

The menu is small and to the point. You can get a fairly generic Caesar salad a la carte, but don’t bother to order the deliciously garlicky raw cabbage and vinegar salad because you can get it with any entree. The best salad, though, does have to be ordered a la carte. It’s the Austrian potato salad, a huge platter of large slices of tender boiled potato dressed with vinegar, black pepper and good quality olive oil, garnished with hard-boiled eggs and a few Kalamata olives.

Now you’re ready for the main courses, which read like a list of the former client states of the Austro-Hungarian empire. From Vienna, there’s a lightly breaded, almost greaseless Wiener schnitzel, on the thick side but tender and juicy. From eastern Italy comes osso buco, the classic veal shank braised with wine and garlic. Don’t forget to slurp up the marrow from the bone.

From provinces farther east comes the chicken paprikash, served on egg noodles, but I must say any red-blooded Hungarian would want to add sour cream and more paprika to this bland stewed chicken. There’s also an equally tame version of Hungarian goulash, although it’s Balkanized by the addition of lamb to the usual beef.

Tija’s stuffed cabbage is light and (curiously) made without smoked meat, which is how you ordinarily get the dish in the Balkans. But it’s a delicious variation, the stuffing a fragrant mixture of ground meat, rice and spices, the whole thing gently embellished by a light tomato sauce. Miro’s also serves nice linguine with meat sauce, a tender pounded calamari steak and several fish dishes. This must be the only place in the desert where you can get a real truite au bleu, barely poached mountain trout served with beurre blanc.

The two best desserts, both made by Mom, also show off the Balkan cultural melange. One is a flaky apple strudel, served hot, and the other is a superb baklava, crunchy and not too sweet. It’s a giant mass of crushed walnuts and honey sandwiched between layers of filo pastry.

Miro’s may not be an ambitious restaurant, but it is a competent one on almost every level. It also, perhaps without trying, serves as an example of what this country has to offer to new Americans, and what they, in turn, can offer to us.

BE THERE

Miro’s, 1555 S. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs. (760) 323-5199. Lunch, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday; dinner, 5:30 to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Full bar. Parking lot. MasterCard and Visa. Dinner for two, $27 to $45.

What to Get: chicken soup; Austrian potato salad; Wiener schnitzel; stuffed cabbage; baklava.