CHEAP EATS
Plenty of Polish favorites at Potts
There are certain ethnic cuisines that imply “hearty,” and Polish is one of them. When I think of homemade Polish food, I think of big guys with hands the size of hams sitting down to generous plates. On a recent visit, John, Pat, John and I discovered that Potts Deli and Grille is pretty much on the same wavelength.
This place, in the Family Dollar Plaza just north of Dingens Street, is plain-looking from the outside, but inside it’s cute, with windows painted on the wall that frame pastoral views.
Potts offers the familiar Polish dishes, from smoked sausage and the stuffed-cabbage golombki to czarnina. The owners are particularly proud of the homemade pierogi—the menu notes: “Not only is their taste fulfilling ... their size is too!”
The chicken noodle soup is called “a meal in itself, loaded with fresh chicken and vegetables accompanied by oodles of noodles.” Conversation stopped when a bowl ($2.50, $2 for a cup) was served. The bowl held a mound of celery, carrots, chicken and noodles, with rich broth forming a kind of sea around it. I made a note to order a quart ($5) the next time I have a cold.
But that was just the start. Three pierogi ($6), stuffed with potato, farmers’ cheese or sauerkraut, were bigger than the palm of my hand. The cheese and potato fillings were smooth and delicious, the dough wrappers tender and moist, fried to perfection.
The smoked Polish sausage, ordered on a sandwich ($4.75), had a nice balance of spice and smoky-tasting meat and was generously portioned, with no snappiness or hard bits in it.
A beef on weck ($4.50), made on a long weck roll that was abundantly salted. The beef was tender and meaty-tasting.
The Saturday special is the Polish platter at $9.99, which includes a sausage, a pierogi, a golombki, sweet and sour cabbage, fries and a roll of zrazy, which is thin-sliced beef rolled around stuffing and doused with gravy. The zrazy was tender enough to eat with a spoon, and the platter itself could feed two people with normal appetites.
The specials here start with a $2.99 one on Monday for spaghetti and meatballs or stuffed shells and rise as the week goes on— $3.99 for meatloaf dinner or goulash on Tuesday, $4.99 for a half roasted chicken or boneless breast of chicken dinner on Wednesday, $5.99 on Thursday for a breaded pork chop or liver and onions dinner and $9.99 for the Polish platter on Saturday. If the Polish platter is any indication, these are all super deals.
—Anne Neville
Potts Deli and Grille is open from 11 a. m. to 8 p. m. Monday through Saturday, closed on Sunday. It is handicapped-accessible.
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