A Foodie Adventure
Yesterday my husband and I went out on a adventure to find some Polish sausage for Easter. Last year we bought some Bobak's sausage at Jewel, but this year they didn't have any. So we asked a person who worked at Jewel for a suggestion, and she sent up to Rich's Foods, on Harlem Ave and Lawrence in Chicago. This was a little bit of a drive, and we never expected to end up in Poland.
Rich's is a deli and grocery store which caters to immigrants from Eastern Europe. Yes, they had sausage, but you had to wait for at least an hour to get the the deli counter. They had quite a few varieties of sausage, most of which were totally unknown to us. I know that what I wanted was Krakowska sausage, which has a lot of garlic. That was not available in the prepackaged section, so we bought some smoked and unsmoked sausage, not knowing what we were getting. We also bought some coleslaw, perogies, a babka and a poppy seed cake, which was labeled makowiec. We bought some pickles from a barrel. They had so much imported food, like butter and bottled water from Poland, as well as canned and packed goods, candy and liquor. It seemed like no one spoke English there.
Then we went to the bakery in the mall, Oak Mill Bakery. They had a lovely selection of fancy cookies and tarts, of the usual varieties as well as apple cake, cheese cake and babka of every kind. Polish was the language of choice there too. We bought some petit fours and pastries and a cheese cake.
So when we got home, we decided to some of the foods out. The suasage was very good, but not garlicy like I was used to, but it wasn't Krakowska. The poppy seedcake was excellent and so were the perogies. So, everything will be served on Sunday. My mother is already excited about the pickles, which she hopes will taste like the ones her uncle Kost Rychly made year ago in Minneapolis.
This was a good adventure for a foodie, as well as a cultural experience.
Rich's is a deli and grocery store which caters to immigrants from Eastern Europe. Yes, they had sausage, but you had to wait for at least an hour to get the the deli counter. They had quite a few varieties of sausage, most of which were totally unknown to us. I know that what I wanted was Krakowska sausage, which has a lot of garlic. That was not available in the prepackaged section, so we bought some smoked and unsmoked sausage, not knowing what we were getting. We also bought some coleslaw, perogies, a babka and a poppy seed cake, which was labeled makowiec. We bought some pickles from a barrel. They had so much imported food, like butter and bottled water from Poland, as well as canned and packed goods, candy and liquor. It seemed like no one spoke English there.
Then we went to the bakery in the mall, Oak Mill Bakery. They had a lovely selection of fancy cookies and tarts, of the usual varieties as well as apple cake, cheese cake and babka of every kind. Polish was the language of choice there too. We bought some petit fours and pastries and a cheese cake.
So when we got home, we decided to some of the foods out. The suasage was very good, but not garlicy like I was used to, but it wasn't Krakowska. The poppy seedcake was excellent and so were the perogies. So, everything will be served on Sunday. My mother is already excited about the pickles, which she hopes will taste like the ones her uncle Kost Rychly made year ago in Minneapolis.
This was a good adventure for a foodie, as well as a cultural experience.
posted by eeroots at 11:20 AM
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