Why are Polish restaurants not successful in the USA?

Wrocław, what is Polish food to you? Just curious.

Its not popular, as it is absolute garbage. Peasant food.

Well, that's your opinion. Not everyone is upper crust in life. Much of it comes from historical resourcefulness/ruggedness. Poles make very good use of what is around them.

You know several, which I doubt, and so you claim that this proves that no elite Polish cooks cook Polish food and you once again demonstrate your penchance for idiotic inductive reasoning. Warszawa Restaurant is a successful Polish restaurant.

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DE, what is Polish food to you? Just so we can narrow the parameters to qualify the argument a bit.

anything that comes from biedronka, which is across the street.

in this house we have a sort of mixed european style, and it was like that before i arrived here.

Polish food is simple and bland. pierogi are an emergency/convenience meal, carp is for christmas and bigos is for any and all festive occassions. soup for me is a starter, not a main meal, so i hardly ever bother with it.

so long as Poles keep going on about pierogi then any restaurant is doomed to failure.

Polish food is food prepared according to recipes developed by Poles that uses ingredients found in Poland. Polish recipes have been heavily influenced by recipes from other countries. Most notably France. Long ago in Poland when a nobleman would invite a fellow to dine he would say the Polish equivalent of "Let's have some boiled beef" but that changed as the kingdom of Poland expanded and its people were introduced to more sophisticated modes of cooking. Polish food thus runs the gamut from simple to sophisticated and it is not to be narrowly defined. Those of you claiming that the menu from Warszawa Restaurant in Santa Monica, which is available for reading online, is not Polish are merely being petulant losers and you are akin to idiots that would go to a Thai restaurant and claim that its menu isn't Thai because curry is from India and noodles are from China.

Then instead of sitting around in America, come to Poland and I'll introduce you to them.

You can ask them why they don't cook Polish food - though the answer will be much the same - because it's not sophisticated or sexy enough.


I mean, I watch Polish TV and read Polish newspapers - and you simply don't see top chefs talking about Polish food. Right now, Asian food is what's what in Poland. Then again, you've never been here, so I don't expect you to know anything about what Polish people actually eat.


It might claim to be Polish, but it certainly bears no relation to anything eaten in modern Poland.


Really? That means that the "Warszawa" place that you talk about definitely isn't Polish - the recipes aren't Polish.

Then again, as you've never been here, you wouldn't know what Polish was. All you're going on is the rantings of a deranged "busha" who is probably the product of an mixed Ukrainian/Polish relationship.


You just don't give up, do you?

When you've visited Poland, perhaps you can talk about the food. Till then? Cicho.

Scottish cheddar is in Biedronka. Is that Polish too? ;) Polish tuna from Mauritius or Thailand, LOL I see where you are going with this ;) ;)

Carp is found in many places and bigos, well you know my opinion on where that comes from.

The pierogi in Gazdówka are good :)

Delphiandomine by writing such an obnoxious sentence you have once again demonstrated your utter lack of any nobility and shown the forum what disgusting pathetic hate-filled person you are. You really should receive the year long ban that the administration has threatened you with. You have absolutely no honor and you are an embarrassment to this forum.

And...reported again.

Now, if we want to talk about a real Polish restaurant - polkacatering.com

The reviews on Yelp are interesting - yelp.com/biz/polka-polish-restaurant-los-angeles

*that* is Polish food. It's low-end, filling and greasy and tasty - exactly as it is in Poland.

The reviews..



And so on..

Des Essientes wrote:


I never said that. Get your facts straight.

wroclaw wrote:


how many more people need to write this before we can finally all agree on it.

BRAVO ! Well said DesEss !

And don't mind fuzz he is thick.

This review is perhaps the best -


Or perhaps..


The menu is certainly Polish.

Warszawa Restaurant in Santa Monica offers five kinds or pierogi, numerous Polish salads and soups and other Polish specialties. It is indeed real Polish food although somewhat expensive, but there are numerous wealthy Polish-Americans, and other people in Southern Califoria, that can afford it and they have made it an extremely successful restaurant. People claiming Polish food must be cheap and simple are quite simply wrong. It is true that decades of Soviet domination left Poland poor but that doesn't mean that the rich culinary traditions of previous Polish history are no longer Polish. I suspect that those on the thread saying otherwise do so because they themselves are rather lowbrow and they feel intimidated by refined Poles and so they foolishly pretend that all Poles are as uncultured as themselves. This is wrong as Polish, and Polonian, posters demonstrate on this forum everyday. Here is a link to Warszawa Restaurant's menu: warszawarestaurant.com/menu.html

Perhaps a Polish reader of this thread could examine it and tell us if the dishes offered are Polish or not.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plum

China is the main producer of plums in the world. Poland isn't in the top 10 producers. Walnuts are known as Italian nut in Polish.

Herring is more Dutch than it is Polish.

Duck liver pate is French. Filet mignon too.

Ravioli is Italian.

Potato pancakes are Belarussian.

The rest is a mix with a lot being Polish.

THEY AREN'T POLISH.

Get it into your head, will you? Those salads and soups bear NO relation to anything consumed in Poland, today or in yesteryear. They're invented to suit American tastes. I've linked you to an authentic Polish restaurant - but you just can't accept it, can you?


It bears no relation to Polish food as anyone actually living in Poland can attest to.

Seriously, are you on commission or something? The food there is modern Northern European, yes - but not Polish.


Wrong? When was the last time you visited Poland and visited an authentic Polish restaurant?


Plenty of people nowadays in Poland can eat whatever they like. They certainly aren't eating the faux-Polish food at "Warszawa".


Actually, we live in Poland. When was the last time you visited, again?


Just showed it to a Polish business owner from a upper-middle class family. It was laughed at.

To have success in USA you have to americanize the food a bit.For example they have a kind of italian pizza which is tasty but not the same as the original pizza made in Italy.

I'm Polish. I've been eating Polish food for my entire life, and I can tell you, most of the menu is NOT Polish food. I'm sorry, but the salads on that menu sound more like French food to me, and I've never had most of the stuff on that menu, and I've never heard of it either. The menu choices seem too fancy to be Polish food. Ricotta cheese, scallops, lamb and angel hair pasta with pesto is not Polish food. Real Polish food is bland, and lacks herbs and spices, and certainly isn't as fancy.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Polish food from time to time, but I can't eat it everyday. fact is, Polish food is not the best food in Europe. French, Italian, Spanish, Greek, and other mediterranean cuisine is miles ahead. They simply have more variety, herbs and spices, looks more appetizing, and tastes like heaven. Polish food is not bad, there are some good dishes. But like one poster said, most of it is just "ok", its too ordinary.

Even the 'Polish' menu you posted is debatable, delph. Sausage, yes. Hens, hehehe. Klopsy are pretty much Polish. Liver? European mostly. Gulasz is Hungarian. Gołąbki is the Polish version of a popular food in other countries. Salmon is more Scottish/Norwegian. Pork is also broader.

Its late so I'm not going into details but yes, the menu is Polish enough .....


some bloody upstart with family rood deep in KGB soil .....phew!

One dish is enough, I-S? ;)

Or perhaps someone who worked hard for a living?

Typical jealous remark.

Thank you for your confirmation Ironside. Sebastian, you underestimate the variety of your national cuisine. Seanus, herring, salmon, lambs, and pigs have no nationality they are animals that diverse nations use in their cuisine, but thank you for admitting that Warszawa's menu includes Polish dishes despite your rude Scottish compatriot's denials.

The menu does have a few Polish things, no doubt. But Des Essientes, most of the stuff isn't Polish, period. Ricotta cheese with roasted lamb, salmon with dijon sauce, scallops and pesto pasta is not Polish. It sounds more like French food. My mom had a massive Polish cookbook at home, and its included with recipes passed from from generation to generation. I have never had any of that stuff from the warszawa restaurant menu, with the exception of a few things, like potato pancakes, pierogi and borsch.

DE, I agree. I was just going by associations as many Poles do. Salmon is associated with Scotland and Norway, I'd say. That's where the best salmon comes from IMHO. It does include some Polish dishes, yes. You have to apply the test of sufficient originality before calling sth your own, I'd say. Otherwise, it should be the case that you say 'we say X in our country', 'oh, we say Y'.

For example, it is highly possible that some Poles have unknowingly dished up sth similar. It fits with foods commonly used in Poland.

Here's a link to a restaurant in Poland which specialises in traditional Polish specialties. Click on EN in the top right-hand corner if you can't read Polish: chlopskiejadlo.pl/menu.php?id=13

Again, Jon, much of that menu is international due to it being meat.