Poland

After a couple of weeks off due to holidays and the snowstorm that wasn’t, it was time to grab the passport and head out.  Destination this week was Taste of Europe in Matthews, NC that specializes in Polish cuisine.  The restaurant is kind of small and has a split seating area.  The front has 4 tables and there is another area in the back that I didn’t venture into but it wasn’t huge either so it doesn’t take long to fill up.  I don’t know about the back but the front was noisy even with so few tables so if you want a quiet meal keep driving but if you just want some good food park and head in.

I didn’t see anything on the menu I wouldn’t have tried but in the interest of my waistline and wallet I just went with the Polish Sampler that came with a cabbage roll, a piece of grilled kielbasa, and a few pierogis in your flavor choice.  My choice was sweet farmer’s cheese.

The cabbage roll was stuffed with seasoned meat and rice and had a nice mild tomato sauce over it and was quite tasty.  The polish sausage was pretty much the same you could find in any grocery store.  I’d never had sweet farmer’s cheese pierogis before but now that I have I would recommend them.  The farmer’s cheese is a soft white cheese as you can see from the second photo.  It has a consistency that reminded me of ricotta cheese, is really mild and they added a bit of sugar to sweeten it.  You can get the pierogis either boiled or pan fried.  I opted for boiled as that is the more traditional. Interestingly, according to the lady who was the lone server talking to another patron, most Americans prefer the fried.  That might just be a southern thing but I’m sure they would have been good fried too.

I was disappointed they didn’t have potato pancakes but that was probably for the best anyway since the sampler plate was enough to fill me up but not leave me stuffed.  Overall I’d rate this a great comfort food kind of meal that felt like authentic Polish.  I think I’ll be going back at some point to try the hunter’s stew and pork cutlet.

If you like cabbage rolls, Polish music or random trivia stop by the Tell Me More page.

A final note, the one year anniversary of the blog is coming up in a couple of weeks and there will be a giveaway to celebrate so stay tuned for details.