Dinner Time!

Moose-AKa’s is one of the restaurants at the Boardwalk Mall in the Denali Park Commercial Area. The name is a play on words ... pronounced like moussaka ... an eggplant dish that is popular in the Balkans and the Middle East.

Seeing the “Open” sign, we decided to have dinner there tonight. Reservations were requested, so we called in to make one, but they likely would have been able to seat us had we walked in since we dined early.

It’s an interesting place with a menu based on Serbian dishes. As Mike, the chef/owner, said when we queried him on his choice of cuisine, “There are seafood, burger, and pizza joints all over the area, this is something out of the ordinary.”

Interestingly, Mike is an Air Force brat who is from Guam. The only waiter, Zac, is from Alabama. The only Serbian in the place is the hostess, Maja. Together, they make a great team. We were as pleased with the service as we were with the tasty food.

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For those interested in such things, we started out by sharing the Meze Platter ... consisting of Mekice (Serbian fry bread ... served with cream cheese and a traditional red pepper spread called Ajvar); Schnitzel fingers; Crêpadilla (a cross between a quesadilla and a crêpe ... served with a mildly spicy sauce); and Russian Salad (sort of a potato salad with sweet peas, carrots, chicken, boiled egg and pickles).

Since the meze platter was filling enough, we each opted for a single fried crêpe sautéed with Serbian seasonings ... mine was filled with ground beef and bacon and came with a carrot chutney that our Serbian hostess said was a 200 year old family recipe) ... Mui opted for the one that was filled with pepperoni, Mozzarella, and marinara sauce. We found them to be not unlike empanadas, but the seasoning made the taste quite different.

All of the desserts are made with crêpes except for the one described as the Special Dessert ... Serbian style cotton soft cheesecake with fresh strawberries, bananas, whipped cream, and caramel sauce ... and dusted with cinnamon. The “cheesecake” reminded us of a custard filling.Read more