Polish Pączki Cafe makes Polish delicacy the old-fashioned way
It is 10 a.m. on a recent Saturday, and at Polish Pączki Cafe on the Northwest Side, a line starts to form at the counter. Polish TV plays in the background. Customers just say “10,” “six,” “12,” and there’s no need for further explanation. Although the unassuming place, located in a strip mall, serves a variety of savory dishes, the namesake pączki are the star here.
Poles in Chicago and in Poland eat pączki throughout the year, with many bakeries, delis and supermarkets offering a variety of fillings and glazes. But the real celebration is on Tłusty Czwartek (Fat Thursday), which precedes America’s Pączki Day (Fat Tuesday), and is traditionally a time to consume all fats and sugar before Lent.
“Last year [the line] stretched all the way to Harlem [Avenue],” one customer, Michał Kąsek, said of Fat Thursday.
At Polish Pączki Cafe, 7210 W. Foster Ave., every now and then, a customer unfamiliar with the classic Polish delicacy walks in, lured by the activity inside and the boxes others carry out. If co-owner Anna Niziołek is around, she will educate newcomers on the pronunciation (“two PAWNCH-key but one PAWN-chek”), the origins and the process of making pączki.
She will gently correct those who call her pączki doughnuts and is quick to explain that they don't sell them with custard, chocolate or other fillings. The original filling — a mix of plum, rose and raspberry marmalades imported from Poland — is hand-folded into the dough before frying, rather than injected afterward.
“Our pączki are special because we make them fresh every day from scratch by hand, using a very old Polish recipe,” Niziołek said.
In the kitchen, workers spill the dough from a mixer bowl onto a large countertop dusted with flour. The aroma of sweet rising yeast fills the air. The dough looks light, soft and plump, but also rich and yellow. One woman quickly and skillfully cuts chunks of dough with a round, cup-like cutter, while another rapidly pipes the brownish marmalade onto the pieces. Several others deftly fold the dough around the jam, shaping it into medium buns, and place them seam-side down on a baking sheet to rise.
How many pączki are fried, and when, depends on the length of the line in the store. Here pączki never sit on display. Still warm, they are glazed with a mixture of lemon juice and powdered sugar, topped with orange zest, packed in boxes and taken straight to the customer.
The recipe comes from Niziołek’s mother. Niziołek first introduced it at Old Warsaw Buffet in Harwood Heights, where she started working in 1980.
Polish Pączki Cafe’s recipe calls for a few ingredients — sugar, yeast, milk, eggs, butter and flour, and a pinch of salt — But the details matter. Butter is imported from Poland, flour is sifted, yeast is fresh, only egg yolks are used and a splash of alcohol (preferably Polish spirytus) is added to “cut the grease.”
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
There she met her now-friend and business partner Bożena Zakrzewski. When a longtime Polish restaurant closed in 2018, the two decided they “had to do something” and opened Polish Pączki Cafe.
The 77-year-old still remembers watching her mother mix dough in a giant bowl in a village in Poland’s Podlasie region as a child. Decades later, Niziołek recalled, when her mother, Janina, visited her at the Old Warsaw, she would inspect her pączki and give suggestions on how to refine the formula.
The recipe is surprisingly simple. It calls for sugar, yeast, milk, eggs, butter and flour, and a pinch of salt. But the details matter. Butter is imported from Poland, flour is sifted, yeast is fresh, only egg yolks are used and a splash of alcohol (preferably Polish spirytus) is added to “cut the grease.”
How many pączki are fried, and when, depends on the length of the line in the store. At Polish Pączki Cafe never sit on display. Still warm, they are glazed with a mixture of lemon juice and powdered sugar, topped with orange zest, packed in boxes and taken straight to the customer.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Fresh and imported ingredients, along with the laborious process, are reflected in the pączki price: one is $3.25 with tax. The owners said they haven’t raised it this year, but they may be forced to do so at any moment due to the rising cost of ingredients. They also vow not to change their recipe, their handmade process or to introduce other fillings.
“They won’t be our pączki anymore,” Zakrzewski said. “They will be just like everyone else’s.”
Preparation for Fat Thursday starts the morning the day before, when the restaurant pauses regular service and makes a few thousand handmade pączki over 36 hours straight. Overnight, up to two dozen women make pączki at a few stations, while several others focus on frying, glazing and packing. The cafe will be open from 10 a.m. Wednesday through 7 p.m. Thursday, including overnight.
Owners Anna Niziolek (left) and Bozena Zakrzewski (second from left) shape paczki dough with their employees at Polish Pączki Cafe. The filling — a mix of plum, rose and raspberry marmalades imported from Poland — is hand-folded into the dough before frying, rather than injected afterward.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
“We need all hands on deck,” said Zakrzewski, who is in the kitchen the whole time overseeing the production.
Half of the pączki fulfills preorders from companies, factories and large groups, including from Wisconsin and Indiana. The other half go to the customers in line.
Kąsek, a regular at the cafe, vows he will wait in line no matter how long it is.
But how many can one eat?
“As many as the doctor allows,” he said with a laugh. For those trying to cut on calories, there’s always a baked option, also offered at the Polish Pączki Cafe, along with other pastries. But original pączki are a must here.