Tucked into the back corner of a Cheviot Hills strip mall on Overland Avenue, Aroma Café sits as it has for 20 years — bright and inviting. On any given day of the week, unhurried patrons delight in Turkish coffee served in small brass cezve pots, rounds of freshly baked flatbread, grilled sausages, and other sweet and savory dishes. As LA’s only Bosnian restaurant, Aroma Café specializes in cuisine that speaks broadly to former Yugoslavian countries like Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, and Slovenia, as well as surrounding regions in Turkey and Greece. For many Southeastern Europeans living in this city, the small restaurant has provided flavors and an experience that brings them closer to home.

“We started cooking how we were cooking at home,” says Amra Slipac, who opened the restaurant in 2004 with her late husband, Adem, who died in 2021.

Inside the orange stucco-walled interior of the self-anointed “Mediterranean delicatessen,” a small deli case stocked with imported cured meats and cheeses, along with a mini market dedicated to Balkan delicacies like tinned pate and giant wafer sheets, surround a handful of tables in the one-room dining area. Lunchtime can be quieter, whereas evenings are frequently busy with tables pushed together to accommodate larger, multigenerational gatherings. On the patio outside, the atmosphere is breezy and relaxed. Despite the hum of the surrounding city, patrons might savor an extended chess game or coffee break.

The Slipacs arrived in Los Angeles with their two children in 1996, following years of war and fracturing in their homeland of Bosnia. In 1992, as the forcibly unified republics of Yugoslavia were breaking apart along ethnic lines with the fall of communism, the ensuing Bosnian War displaced the Slipacs from their home in Banja Luka. They moved around the Balkan Peninsula and the Czech Republic as refugees in the years that followed before coming to Los Angeles following the President Clinton-brokered Dayton Accords that granted Bosnians refuge in the U.S. The local population of immigrants from Bosnia and Herzegovina numbers less than 1,500, according to U.S. Census data. Similar populations of Croatians and Serbians, who arrived after being displaced by war like the Silpacs, also call LA home.

Silpac says it was always Adem’s dream to open a restaurant, even before settling in LA. In opening Aroma Café, he envisioned a place where people of different cultures from across former Yugoslavia could enjoy food from the Balkans. Despite religious and political differences dividing the countries, the food of the Balkans is very similar across borders. “From north to south to east to west, sarma (stuffed cabbage) is sarma, ćevapi (sausage) is ćevapi,” says Silpac.

After working various jobs during their initial years in Los Angeles — cleaning houses, nannying, and providing delivery services — the couple eventually acquired the proper permits to cook and serve food out of their home. They had relied on their children, Senita and Eli, who had started learning English in school, to translate the various forms that the process required. The Silpacs operated the business from their home in Sawtelle for seven years, connecting with and serving the communities from former Yugoslavia that had grown across the Southland.

In 2004, after their children finished high school and college, opening a permanent location seemed like a natural next step for the Silpacs. The couple could prepare meals in the kitchen, while Senita and Eli could help work the front of the house. “We survived because the people from our country, from all of ex-Yugoslavia, started coming. And one by one, we had customers,” says Silpac.

Aroma Café’s menu is robust. Silpac learned how to make its freshly baked lepinja from an Albanian woman she met when the family were refugees in the Czech Republic. The round pockets, which resemble pita but are fluffier like ciabatta, are versatile vessels ready to hold and transport the many flavors of the dishes they accompany. The most popular is ćevapi, the national dish of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which consists of skinless grilled beef sausages. Whether served with ćevapi, comforting stews, or vegetable plates, the bread complements every savory dish and serves as a tangible expression of its baker’s journey.

In sharing their family recipes, the Slipacs forged a community of local Southeastern Europeans and introduced some Angelenos to Bosnian and Balkan cuisines for the first time. Their reach expanded when the beloved food critic Jonathan Gold wrote about the homey, hidden-in-plain-sight gem: Gold proclaimed its pljeskavica (Serbian burger) one of the 10 Best Dishes of 2005 and one of LA’s Top 10 Burgers in 2013. The burger is little more than a grilled beef patty seasoned lightly with salt and pepper. Contrary to the classic American burger, pljeskavica extends outward in diameter rather than height, and comes between lepinja with a tiny mound of diced raw onions; a “gourmet” version includes lettuce, tomato, and Greek cheese.

Diners often overlook the modestly named “veggie sandwich,” featuring a marinated melange of grilled broccoli, zucchini, onion, and peppers. The lemony charred vegetables arrive stuffed between a soft disk of toasted lepinja slathered in a whipped feta and sour cream spread. A simple plate of sliced tomatoes topped with olives, feta, herbs, and olive oil is available year-round but is most exceptional during the summer months. Garlicky grilled peppers tossed in vinegar and garnished with parsley are also popular. For dessert, tufahije — a poached apple filled with walnuts and topped with whipped cream — is a comforting and distinctly Bosnian specialty. Baklava and hurmašice, syrup-soaked pastries, are just as noteworthy.

After 20 years of serving the community, Aroma Café has built a fiercely loyal legion of customers. It continues to be a place where people from the Balkans can enjoy the food of their homelands, regardless of differing ideologies and identities. Though Adem’s family and the Aroma Cafe community still mourn his passing, Silpac and her staff carry on his dream. “I am so proud of my husband and my family,” she says. “We opened [Aroma], and people enjoy it with us.”

Aroma Café is located at 2530 Overland Avenue, Los Angeles, CA, 90064, and is open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.