Mom Photographer and The Gang

…and I’m not trying to write a review in here, but it might look like it.

I’ll start from the fact that I’d been craving a real Polish food for a while. In addition to that particular craving I didn’t want to have to cook it myself. I wanted to feel like I’m in my childhood home. You know: my mom cooks and I just wait for her voice calling: dinner is ready!!! 

I thought that my b-day will be the perfect time to go and try out one (and the only one) Polish restaurant in the area This place is about 30 minutes drive (one way). My husband made a reservation a week before. When we got there we found out that we got lucky doing so. The place was packed, and more people were coming – no wonder, it was a Mother’s Day as well!

First of all when we got inside one particular thing hit me very hard! Yep it was almost like something slap me in the face! Very strong scent of women’s perfume. OMG it was strong! It was the woman’s perfumes who welcomed us! ugh!!! Ok, now I’m in Polish restaurant. That’s for sure!!!

This place is not spacial. It could seat about +/- 30 people. To be comfortable, to walk comfortable or to eat comfortable it should have 10 people less. All of their tables are “movable”. If you know what I mean. 1,5 by 2 feet little tables. If they have a party of two they use only one table. If they have party of 4 and more they rearrange them as they need. I understand that business is a business. The more people you serve the more money you earn. But I really wasn’t enjoying having had to move every time somebody tried to walk behind me.

Imagine when they served us the food everything was at the reach distance for our daughter [sigh]. As a free starter they serve bread that I really didn’t care about, because it wasn’t good. It didn’t taste like Polish bread. It tasted like a fresh beaked bread in a bakery near by from the basic bread recipe. Nothing special. Really. At least it kept our daughter occupied for the entire time we were there 🙂

Their menu was good I would say. Focused on the few main Polish dishes. I was happy to see on their list: Tripe Soup! That’s right TRIPE. If you want to have a real Polish cuisine experience you’ve got to try that soup. They have Barszcz, Mushroom Soup, Pickle Soup, and żurek. Maybe I’ll send you to the website if you want to see what they have. It doesn’t make sense for me to write about it.

BONA

My husband had Pierogi Ruskie (russian pierogi) :

I had Silesian Dumplings in mushroom sauce:

I like to eat my dumplings just with… hm.. my dumplings. When my mom would make them I ate them with ketchup or some meat sauce she had made for dinner. That’s it, but normally you use them as a substitute for mashed potatoes. The conclusion is that you eat your dumplings with some kind of meat. My point is that it looked like our dinner is not going to cost us an arm and leg but we won’t buy it for a song or our daughter’s cute dance either ($45!). So I skipped the meat (since I’m not meat-eater, and it would have cost us more) thinking about the dessert (a huge eater of that 😉 ).

Poppy Seed Cake:

and before I even had chance to snap a picture my husband was already trying it. I mean he has never seen or eaten a poppy-seed cake so he was very eager to try it. It was strange since he is not a big fan of new foods.

The dessert was the best part of my dinner. Normally I’m not a big fan of poppy-seed cake, but not eating it for years made me LOVE it! I have to admit that this cake was very tasty and fresh!

At the end I want to say that I didn’t mean to say anything bad about this restaurant because I’m planning to go there again, and I don’t want them not to let me in. It’s the only Polish restaurant in the area and actually I really liked the food. I tried my husband’s pierogi and they were surprisingly good. Very homemade like.

My husband really enjoyed that place. He thinks it original and he understands that they try to pack it as much as it’s possible. Most of the people eating there are Polish (from what I could hear around me) or have Polish heritage. People who, for some reason know Polish food. I think there is not that many of them around here. We are not in Chicago or New York. As much as I don’t want to live in Chicago or New York sometimes I wish I had bigger access to Polish products. It seems like what we have around here is very expensive.

Being honest: Polish food is not very elaborate. It’s simple, made from very cheap ingredients, so going to a Polish restaurant, ordering two dishes where:

– non of them includes meat,

– one of them is made from left over mashed potatoes and flour and mushroom sauce (a few mushrooms, milk and flour)

– one of them is made from flour, water, egg, mashed potatoes, fried onion, sprinkled with a bit of bacon

– a small dessert

We paid $45 for a food that in Poland you would get in Bar Mleczny! Don’t get me wrong. I had lived on food from Bar Mleczny for 5 years while I was a poor student 😉 in Poland, and I loved it. The food served there is actually really good, and the portions are generous. But if you want to represent Polish cuisine abroad you don’t pick that kind of restaurant. Maybe 30 or 20 years ago it would be accurate… but gosh… NOT TODAY!

I think I prefer to stick to cooking Polish food at home, and to visit this restaurant once in a blue moon.