Ahmet Alisah cornered Tucson's Bosnian restaurant market when he opened Chef Alisah's Restaurant on Nov. 1.
In fact, his restaurant is likely the only one in the state that serves exclusively Bosnian and European cuisine, he said during a recent break between lunch and dinner service.
"There's another one in Phoenix, but they serve chicken Caesar salad and hamburgers. That's not Bosnian," he said, his accent thick and his mastery of English still a work in progress.
Actually, the Phoenix area has at least four Bosnian eateries that, like Alisah's, prepare traditional cevapi (spiced beef sausage that he charges $6.90 for 10 pieces, $9.90 for 15) and their own variations of grasak (a green bean or pea stew that's on his menu for $3.50). All pride themselves on their Turkish coffee.
Alisah brings to his kitchen a wealth of restaurant experience gained from travels around the globe, starting in his native Bosnia and including stretches at restaurants in Turkey, Italy and Germany.
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He came to Tucson in 1998 as a refugee from the war raging in the Balkans. He had spent six months as a war prisoner, cramped in a cell with nearly 100 others, he said last month.
In Tucson, he and his wife of 28 years, Halida, started a catering business, serving special events, lunches and dinners for groups of bankers, hospital workers and police officers — building a reputation and client base over six years.
Alisah spends 14 to 15 hours a day in the restaurant, prepping in the morning before the lunch service, then returning to the kitchen in midafternoon for dinner. He gets help from his wife and their 13-year-old son, Emir, as well as longtime Bosnian friends the Tesnjak family. It's hard work, he admitted, but it fulfills his lifelong dream.
"Always, my life for me has been a big dream to open a restaurant," the 51-year-old said. "All of my life I'm in a kitchen. I don't fix a car. This is for me."
In the first weeks since opening, Alisah said, he's averaged about 100 dinners a day, an enviable number in today's economy.
"It's crazy," he said of his initial success. "The food is something different. It's something new, and people like to try something new."
• 5931 N. Oracle Road. 887-5305.
• Hours: Daily from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 5:30 to 9:30 p.m.
