Poland stars at Polska Chata
by Karen MILTNER, Democrat & Chronicle
- WHAT:
- Polska Chata European Delicatessen
- WHERE:
- 32 Vinedale Ave, Rochester, NY 14622
- PHONE:
- (585) 266-4480
- PRICE RANGE:
- $1.99 for a jar of apple horseradish to %5.99 for a pound of boczek mysliwski (hunter's bacon). $1.19 for a Polish greeting card.
- COMFORT:
- Handicapped-accessible. Credit cards accepted. Ukrainian and Polish take-out.
Polska Chata must be the only place around where you can shop for Polish greeting cards, order half-pound of of smoked liverwurst and watch Polish television. Those are all fine reasons to come to this spiffy new specialty shop, especially if you're fluent in Polish.
Luckily, you don't have to know the language to get a meal.It's a take-out menu, but there is a communal wood table (with a lighted candle, a salt shaker and pepper grinder and a TV remote control) where owners Joe POTOCKI and Margaret GORNIAK graciously serve about a dozen Eastern European classics in colorful stoneware.
The Polish platter offers an abbreviated taster's tour. Clockwise, my plate ticked from 6 to 10 with galabki (cabbage stuffed with rice and meat). From 10 to noon I worked on bigos, a stew of sour cabbage with a few small chunks of sausage. A scoop of mashed potatoes marked the plate's bull's eye. Noon to 2 was a chewy, spicy, ropy hunk of kielbasa. The rest of the time I savored buttery cheese- and potato-filled pierogi.
Soups change daily, and mine was a chicken broth-based vegetable affair with potatoes and green beans. Two gentlemen sitting next to me chatted in Polish over bowls of flaczki, an herby tripe soup. When asked whether I liked tripe, I mentioned that I liked menudo small quantities as a hangover remedy. I was told that the flaczki had more of an aphrodisiac effect. No wonder Polska Chata serves it only on Fridays.
P.S. For those who want to keep holiday tradition without cooking, Polska Chata does all the fussy fixings for Wigilia (Christmas Eve).
P.P.S. Parking is limited and there is no public restroom.
The damage: $5.99 for Polish platter, $1.99 for soup, $1.39 for a bottle of black currant juice.