BIG DOG: Polish sausage is the centerpiece of a combo plate. - IMAGE: Mike Grippi
What do Poles eat during the summer? The
Polish fare familiar stateside is heavily skewed toward cured meats and
root vegetables—foods that are hard to imagine enjoying on Baltic
beaches. I can’t speak about a warm day in Warsaw, but the pierogi at
the Polish Kitchen cart at the Q-19 pod tasted great on a shockingly
bright and balmy Groundhog Day. Fat, pan-cooked kielbasa with mildly
spicy brown mustard is the cart’s main protein option, either as a big
sandwich on a hoagie roll ($4.75) or as the centerpiece of the combo
plates. Go for one of the plates with pierogi, as this cart’s impressive
potato-and-onion and vegetable-stuffed versions topped with a dollop of
sour cream and a few slices of cucumber are the sort of thing you might
want to order as a plate. And you can—nine for $6.50. The stuffed
cabbage ($3.50), filled with rice and ground beef and topped with a thin
tomato sauce, is also respectable if not deliriously good. Ditto the
Hunter’s Stew, a sauerkraut dish with big hunks of sausage cooked until
it was a little too soupy for my taste. Cabbage tastes better with a
little crispness, especially on a warm day—it might be worth returning
to on a gray, drizzly afternoon. Portland will surely have a few to
come, if Phil was right.
- Order this: Combo plate No. 1 ($7).
- Best deal: Kielbasa sandwich ($4.75).
- I’ll pass: Beef-stuffed cabbage ($3.50).
EAT: Polish Kitchen, Q-19 cart pod, Northwest Quimby Street and 19th Avenue. 11 am-3 pm, Monday-Friday. $.
