Syrenka, a Polish cafeteria in Port Richmond, makes some of the best potato pancakes ever. I brought some friends to check them out. We had repeats of other favorites as well; the bigos and the stuffed cabbage. But I needed to expand my horizons and consume some of the other menu items.
Welcome Back, Happy 2013! Recently, while exploring in Port Richmond I passed a kind of seedy looking bar. But with the old school sign announcing “Fine Homemade Polish Food” I had to try it out.
Inside, we found a colorful medley of older folk enjoying a mid day beer. Speaking of, there are many Polish beer varieties like Zyweic, which I liked. If you can withstand the cigarette smoke, yes they allow that here, you should stick around for a snack.
This week I contributed my 2 cents to Zagat with a list of 6 global lunches that are not visible from the street. Check it out! Full reviews for each spot are on Midtown Lunch, so check back here for the full report.
When my girl Steph sent me a picture of a sign advertising Polish food at the Polish American Cultural Center, I ran to Old City at the first possible opportunity. Starting this month, the Center is serving lunch between the hours of 12 and 3 on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. The Center isn’t quite sure how long they will keep up this new lunch service, but it will continue for at least 2 more months, so you have some time to get down there. The menu (after the jump) has the Polish basics. Finally we don’t have to go all the way to Port Richmond for some Polish Food!
It’s Wednesday, meaning time to explore lunches outside my guarded Center City purview. I started with New Wave Cafe, but there is another spot to get the real deal Polish food experience- Syreka.
Syrenka is one of the realest places I have lunched at; simple tables to eat at, a counter with hot food to pick from in the front, and a kitchen in the back to make all the rest. The well-used phrases “honest, home cooking” can’t help but come to mind. If you had a Polish grandmother who loved you very much, she would make you the exact meal that I had.
Posted at 10:23 am, July 20th, 2011 under BYOB, North East, Polish.
My main goal of the summer was to explore a part of the city that I had never even been to before. I’ve been South, West, East, semi North, and even to Manayunk. But I know nothing about the very Northeast, a really interesting part of the city. So for the next few Wednesdays, I am checking out different lunch spots up and over yonder, starting with the New Wave Cafe in Port Richmond.
The New Wave Cafe purports to be a restaurant, bar, and disco, basically all the things you could ever want it to be. Inside the slightly dark space there is a bar and a few tables, space art on the walls, and a dance floor, you know, for the disco-ing.
The Cafe is a family owned Polish establishment and the menu reflects that in all the best ways. I really really love Polish food, and the picking are slim to none around Center City (fancy hipster peirogies don’t count), so I was psyched to get that home cooking.
Posted at 9:42 am, June 29th, 2011 under North East, Polish, Wandering Wednesdays.
