Cafe Polonia in the news

I have a soft spot for Polish food and search it out wherever I go. Lard spread with fried bacon bits on a slice of Polish rye bread is an excellent way to start a meal.

At Cafe Polonia on Dorchester Avenue in South Boston, the satisfying Polish plate comes with a bit of kielbasa, a small serving of bigos which is a hunter's stew with cabbage and beef, stuffed cabbage called golabki, and a selection of pierogis sauteed with onions. All of these hearty flavors represent comfort food at its finest.

For something more traditional, Cafe Polonia serves savory, hearty Polish dishes. Pierogi come boiled or fried, hefty little dumplings filled with cheese, potato and cheese, cabbage and mushroom, or meat. But the specialty here is pyzy, advertised on the counter by an adorable/terrifying statue of a jolly (perhaps crazy?) little man holding a sign advertising meat-stuffed potato dumplings. Pyzy are made with a combination of raw and cooked potatoes.

Just off the expressway on the Dorchester southy line sits a pretty cool ethnic neighbor you likely never heard of. Bordered by Boston Street, Dot Avenue, and Columbia Road, it's known for generations as the Polish Triangle. Even Poles who migrated to the suburbs still return often for the kielbasa, pierogis and old world charm. The folks that moved out, they still come back to this community, Sundays to go to mass and Saturday they bring their kids to the Polish school and come shopping at the Polish delis and buy tickets at the Polish travel agency. So the area still remains the heart of the Polish community in eastern Massachusetts.