Citrine Café

Citrine Café is a Mediterranean restaurant with Serbian and Balkan influences at 100 S Oak Park Ave, at Pleasant Street in Oak Park. Serbian-born owner Branko Palikuca built the place around a brick oven, where meats and vegetables braise in clay pots and house lepinja bread is finished before arriving with a roasted red pepper and eggplant spread. The eggplant gateau, paper-thin slices fried into something between eggplant parmesan and lasagna, has been on the menu for close to a decade. Candlelit tables make this a date-night pick.

What to know

• The restaurant opened in 2016 and turns ten in 2026.
• General manager Stefan Palikuca told Wednesday Journal in November 2025 that the gateau is “untouchable.”
• The Chicago Tribune named Citrine in a roundup of suburban wine spots, per Wednesday Journal.
• Reservations go through OpenTable or by phone.
• Sidewalk seating is available in summer, and weekend brunch is served.