Czerw's Kielbasa in Port Richmond..

[jarona]

Has anyone been there? I saw this place on TV last night and my interest was highly piqued.

Backstory--my ex-husband's parents owned a Kielbasa store in Meriden, CT. They owned the store itself but some other guy hand-made the kielbasa. Now-I'm not a fan of smoked kielbasa but I love fresh kielbasa and this Czerw's store sells the fresh. They also sell pierogis! Yum.

Since Easter is just around the corner, I thought I would do a "Polish" easter meal for my kids, who will be spending Easter with me. They are older now, but I wanted to give them some memories of Easters gone by.

I'm hoping they sell babka too. Cheese babka.

So..any input on Czerw's? It'll be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance!

[Boognish]

Czerw's is fantastic. Try to hit it on a weekday if possible or very early on a Saturday.

Also, I concur that you'll have lots of luck cruising around PR looking for Polish specialties. I can't imagine you'll have much trouble finding the ingredients for a Polish Easter dinner.

[gakski]

Bob Lachowicz's at Almond & Orthodox (2582 E. Orthodox St.) in Bridesburg is my spot for pierogi & kielbasa. Port Richmond has Baltic Bakery at Almond & Allegheny (2566 E. Allegheny Ave.) which is great for cheese babka, packzis & crushciki; Super Deli (2625 E. Allegheny Ave.) & Krakus Market (3150 Richmond St.) are good for Old World meats & products. Krakus even has a small restaurant.

http://www.krakusmarket.com/index.html

[PattiCakes]

You might want to browse througn this thread from just about a year ago:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/693314

[94Bravo]

I grew up eating Lachowitz's kielbasa in Bridesburg as that was my grandmother's neighborhood, but according to my aunt who still lives there, they have been taken over by Korean owners and the kielbasa just isn't the same anymore. :(

[monavano]

I was going to ask who runs the business now, as my (paternal) grandparents lived in Bridesburg, and I grew up in the same NE neighborhood as the Lachowitz's. I always wondered if it passed down to the kids.

[gakski]

There are 2 Lachowicz's. Bob Lachowicz is at Almond & Orthodox & the store has been owned by his family for well over 60 years. His kielbasa is my favorite. The other store was Dave Lachowicz at Thompson & Lefevre and is no longer owned by a family member.

[monavano]

I believe it's B. Lachowicz on Orthodox (my grandparents were at Richmond & Orthodox). I'm glad they've still got the store and have a strong following.

[gakski]

Bob, his wife & his team are there 6 days a week grinding it out. He is also one of the last remaining real corner store butchers. Try his breakfast sausages which are the favorites of the ever-finicky Senior Management. Meats & lunch meats always fresh. You can even call your meat orders in ahead of time for pick-up. Prices are competitive with the local supermarkets with specials advertised in his Orthodox St. window. His store is, indeed, a special place in Bridesburg.

[94Bravo]

I did not realize there were two of them! I'll have to get down there and stock up then. Yes, the one I remember was at Thompson & Lefevre, my grandmom lived on Lefevre St.

[monavano]

Czerw's is some of the best kielbasa around. I think that they particularly excel in fresh kielbasa. For babka, go south of Allegheny to Szypula Baker. I recently bought a cherry cheese babka there for the Christmas holiday and found it to be amazing.
ps....use a GPS to navigate the one-way streets in Port Richmond. It will make you life a lot easier ;-) You can get your full Polish Easter meal in PR, from rye bread to lamb butter.

[jarona]

Thanks for the heads up on using the GPS. I'll be traveling from Wayne and I don't think I've ever been in Port Richmond before. I'm lickin' my chops over the cherry cheese babka. One of my sons will be visiting from NY this weekend and I'm soooooooooooooo tempted to drive to PR after work to get some kielbasa and babka!
I'm so happy--thank you!

[monavano]

Czerw's in on Tillman?, which is one-way and not intuitively accessible in the whole city-grid design.
I'm sure you can look up other places to hit up in PR-people have their favorites and heck, you pretty much can't find any place that doesn't do what they do and do it well.
As for me- I hit up Krakus Market, some of the small deli-like places on Allegheny Ave and Syrenka's luncheonette for a kiebasa sandwich, pierogies and stuffed cabbage. Krakus has a luncheonette too.
When you go, plan your visit out and you'll enjoy a lovely couple hours there. Call to be sure that places will be open when you go.
Easter is the zenith of the Polish food season in PR.
And Bridesburg, if you want to go beyond PR to Lachowitz's, for example.
http://maps.google.com/maps/place?cli...

[jarona]

I'm so excited about this that I'm gonna buy my ex-husband a kielbasa from Czerw's and bring it to him next time I'm in NY. Maybe I'll bring him some golomki's too.

[caga tio]

Czerw's is on Tilton.

[monavano]

Ah, right! TY.

[cwdonald]

And you can also usher in the Lenten season with Paczkis... the polish doughnut for Fat Tuesday. In addition to Szpula Bakery, you have Marian's and Baltic Bakery on Allegheny Ave.

The wonderful Holly Moore has a great write up on Baltic Bakery. http://www.hollyeats.com/BalticBakery... Worth looking for the pictures alone.