How many bars does one Yuppie need?

[janradder]

At the beginning of each December for the last few years, I've travelled up to Nordeast Minneapolis -- the Polish neighborhood in Minneapolis -- to Eva's Delicatessen to buy many of the things I'll use to make our Christmas Eve dinner. Aside from the fact that I can find herring, mushrooms, horseradish, pickled beets, mustard and sauerkraut imported from Poland, each time I walked into the store it felt like I'd stepped into my grandmother's kitchen when I was a kid. As the door opened I'd be greeted by the delicious aromas of kielbasa and cabbage. I could taste the delicious golabkis my grandmother made, the soups, the sauerkraut and the sausages, all of them cooked to perfection so that they melted on your tongue.

Today I took my annual trip to Eva's to find the store blinds drawn, brown paper covering the bottom of the windows. Plastered to the door were a half-dozen notices announcing permits for remodeling and sign declaring that this was the future sight of yet another yuppie bar -- the NE Social Club.

Goddamn, fucking yuppies.

Comments

[dryadjuna.livejournal.com]

Shit!

[janradder.livejournal.com]

Ditto.

[pierogi-queen.livejournal.com]

Have they moved or simply gone out of business?

Grandma would be so happy to know how much you enjoyed her cooking. (even though now she declares she can't cook for you because all you eat is "vegetables". )

Let me know if I can send you anything from here that you might need. (btw, your grandmother always used Silver Floss sauerkraut - made in the USA. Except of course, when I was little she used to make her own in a crock in the cellar.) Now she uses whatever kind of sauerkraut she can find on sale.

[janradder.livejournal.com]

No, they definitely closed. Even their phone is disconnected. I can probably get the sauerkraut at Kramarczuk's (a Russian deli) and maybe the mustard but I can't get the really good herring, unfortunately (or the mushroom bullion but I have a mushroom soup base that I can use instead). I just really liked to go in to the store. The owner's were Poles and in addition to the delicious smells, I'd listen to them talk to each other in Polish which was kind of neat.

[timalyne.livejournal.com]

I know it doesn't fix the shopping trip, the experience or the new yukkie bar, but what about an on-line shop to fill in the blanks?

http://foodfrompoland.com/index.php
http://www.polana.com/
http://polisheats.com/
http://www.igourmet.com/polishfood.asp

[janradder.livejournal.com]

Wow! That's awesome -- thanks! I can definitely use these for some of the items I can't get at the Russian deli.

[(Anonymous)]

Quit your crying. Eva provided a great little store full of wonderful imported items. Nobody came. I live around the corner and was often her only customer. A business cannot live on Christmas alone. Where were you the rest of the year? I welcome the "yuppie" bar because a vacant store front does no one good.
M

[janradder.livejournal.com]

Enjoy the yuppies, then, M, whoever you are.