USA, Canada / Why are Polish restaurants not successful in the USA? [698]

It's been a while since I commented on this board. It's already been covered that the Chicago market has the largest Polish population outside of Poland. There are plenty of Polish restaurants in the market, with some of them being buffets. Czervone Jabłuszko is in Chicago's Avondale & Forest Glen neighborhoods, & doing well. Jolly Inn in Chicago, & Sawa's Old Warsaw in Broadview also doing well. Warsaw Inn in Lynwood, IL has been open for 31 years. I recently got a chance to try Out Warsaw Inn, & I find the food great. Certain foods have already been incorporated into American Cuisine (part of the reason it's not as popular in most parts of the USA), but some foods are considered Polish, like Pierogi & Kielbasa. Warsaw Inn is not cheap, as they charge $12.95 on Tuesday - Thursday & $13.95 on Friday, Saturday, & Sunday, & only open for dinner. Almost all the food is made from scratch, which is the reason they charge more, but worth it. I find that I am full longer when I eat Polish food than when I eat most American food. Even Warsaw Inn's desserts are home made. Recently in Dyer Indiana, some Polish immigrants decided to open a deli in one store front, & a small buffet restaurant next door, & both are open 7 days a week. The deli is called Taste of Poland, selling various Polish foods, along with some packaged imported food. The buffet restaurant is simply called Polish Buffet. It's done well so far. If this place is successful, maybe other polish businesses might open, as Polish immigrants are rediscovering NW Indiana(another topic). Anyway, Polish Buffet has a smaller selection than Warsaw Inn, but open for lunch. From 11:30am - 4pm, the lunch buffet costs $10.99 (lunch is also available on Sunday) & from 4 - 8pm, dinner is $13.95 (beverage included in the price for both lunch & dinner). Carry out is $6.50 a pound, but certain foods like kielbasa & pierogi, they recommend the larger quantities be ordered from the deli, due to preparation times to make certain items. Pierogi (potato & cheddar, sauerkraut, & meat), potato pancakes, & blintzes are polish foods found at most Polish restaurants. Chicken, mashed potatoes, chicken noodle soup, & some other foods I don't remember off-hand are made Polish style. Polish Buffet has potential. Only time will tell if business will stay steady to keep it open. I hope that if they become profitable, that they look to expand the restaurant, & add more food to the buffet.

USA, Canada / Use of Polish language at work in the US [11]

When I worked at Andrews Products in Mount Prospect Illinois (thru then Express Personnel), 2/3 of the people were Polish who spoke Polish to each other, but also spoke English to those who didn't speak Polish. Spanish was also spoken there too among the few hispanics. Andrews requires their workers to speak, read, & write English. Knowing another language is a plus, but English comes first. My last employer, Ashland Hardware, also requires people to read, write, and speak English. Most people there speak English only. Spanish is the second most common language spoken there. There were only 3 Polish people there, and those 3 workers came over from Poland. Those 3 workers had last names where they were tied to gender. 1 guy had a last name ending in owski, and his wife (both work at the same place) had her last name ending in owska (though when they came to the US, she was made to have her last name changed to be the same as her husband, ending in owski). Both were married in Poland. The other worker is also a female, married in Poland, and her last name ends in an "a". I don't remember her last name, but she was allowed to keep it ending in "a", while her husband's last name ends in "y".

USA, Canada / American Polonia. Wisconsin - the most Polish state? [112]

I had no thought that Wisconsin had a lot of Polish people at anytime in its state history. I had always heard that Irish & Germans were big ethnic groups up there. Where I live at in Indiana, my area was built around a big Polish population, with Macedonian, Serbian, Croatian, Greek, Italian, Irish, & German. Eastern European groups were the largest in the early part of the 20th century. While those with Polish blood in them are still large in NW Indiana, most are 3rd & 4th generation Polish with a mixture of other ethnic groups, and only speak English. I have 2nd cousins who are part Polish (from their dad's side, with the last name Lewandowski), along with Irish & German from their mother's side.

I somehow escaped being part Polish. My mom's side is Irish, German, Slovakian, Welsh or English, and my maternal grandparents were 1st generation US born. My dad's side is Irish, German, Cherokee Indian, and somewhere in the family, Danish, as I have a Danish last name.

At least in the midwest, I find Chicago & the northern suburbs of Chicago having a lot of Polish, and hear the Polish language. Once I have enough money to travel, I'll have to look more into Wisconsin.

As for Polish festivals, Whiting Indiana has Perogi Fest, and it isn't what it used to be.

Life / Levi's Jean Size U.S. - Polish [20]

I have never understood womens sizes. I'm aware I'm a man, but still. Women have a different size chart from men, which is why I don't understand it. So if a woman were to tell me her size, I'd have no clue. Men's pants are in U.S. inches.

Language / WHY THE HELL CANT I LEARN POLISH?? [64]

In Chicago, from 8am - 10am; 8pm - 10pm , & again 12am - 2am, WCIU-DT 26.6 (or real channel 27.6), FBT airs Polvision, a Polish network based in Chicago, airing Polish programming. They air some programming from Poland, along with some programs produced in Chicagoland. I've been watching that to get an idea of how to comprehend the language. Spanish & Polish are 2 common languages in Chicago. Once I get some money, I'm gonna look online to see where I can buy some Polish language CD's to learn the language.

I saw a commercial for Czerwone Jabłuszko, and tried to listen to how it's pronounced. The person who speaks in the commercial doesn't speak clearly enough to understand the pronunciations. I'm aware Czerwone Jabłuszko means Red Apple, as I had a receipt for the place, and the receipt had the business name in English.