I’ve been jonesing for some Polish food. So I drove down to Syrenka, the Polish cafeteria, and got myself some potato pancakes and a gołąbki (or galumpki, as we always called them). It’s a cabbage roll stuffed with ground beef and rice in a tomato sauce. For some reason I’ve never understand, Polish restaurants don’t have anything approaching a real tomato sauce — everything seems to be made with ketchup, even spaghetti and meatballs.
I know you’re jealous.
Yes, I am jealous.
So was it good, or did the ketchup overwhelm the taste?
In the entire San Jose metro region (more than 2 million population) there isn’t a single Polish restaurant to be found.
The last time I ordered holubki (the Czech and Slovak version of the word; means little pigeons), was in Moravia (SW Czech republic) a few years back. We were hanging out with a US expat, and he suggested that we go to Mikulov, a picturesque old hill town with a baroque castle at the top, for lunch.
Click on this ridiculously long link, it’s worth the trouble):
https://www.google.com/search?q=mikulov&tbm=isch&imgil=A5xw4Lgkj-JFuM%253A%253BX09MBMymWoGEbM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fen.wikipedia.org%25252Fwiki%25252FMikulov&source=iu&pf=m&fir=A5xw4Lgkj-JFuM%253A%252CX09MBMymWoGEbM%252C_&usg=__QXencuBaYv7Qig9Q4Ob2_CZCoqY%3D&biw=912&bih=467&ved=0CDAQyjc&ei=5HMtVYHHGsbvoATsnYCADw#tbm=isch&tbs=rimg%3ACQOccOC4JI_1iIjggQhi8IgsXM-ZmRs1xhMNiqRpMv1HU4N7Ilmg6EqiRduWAt28g0m0JxRwTKl_1KmiL4Tr9XXdyDVyoSCSBCGLwiCxczER0RijYeNg6WKhIJ5mZGzXGEw2IRvoWOYBNICxIqEgmpGky_1UdTg3hF567ZHCpU3iCoSCciWaDoSqJF2EWQaXShkLEmJKhIJ5YC3byDSbQkRyznqUb_1qPnQqEgnFHBMqX8qaIhF-Bhj1ajge6SoSCfhOv1dd3INXEby0jZ9RYZcc&q=mikulov&imgrc=MM2WuzPOZZzxJM%253A%3BOE_FndxRSTdptM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.penzionupekarny.cz%252Ffotky%252Fmikulov1.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.penzionupekarny.cz%252Fokoli-a-sport%3B500%3B333
He knew of a good restaurant there, so we parked the car and trudged up the steep twisty streets, past ancient pastel-painted houses to the charming little eatery.
As luck would have it, the daily special was holubky. How good is that? Of course I ordered it, only to learn that they had already sold out. Whatever I finally ordered was ordinary and unmemorable.
So yes, I am jealous, now that you ask.
Sometimes nothing else will do!
The ketchup wasn’t too overpowering. A nice meal!
One of the drawbacks of modern urban homogenization is the loss of neighborhoods and ethnic eateries (except Chinese, I think there’s at least one Chinese buffet in every city between Chinle and Tegucigalpa). I don’t know that there’s a ‘Polish’ restaurant in my entire western state.
And after this post, I’ve a serious jones on for some pierogi. Damn you Obama!