Old Krakow

Scott came out of the bathroom this morning in a towel and asked if I was excited to go to Old Krakow. He, apparently, was excited.

We met up later in the evening at the house, where he chatted with Ralph about sex and I about mice, and waited for Scott’s friend Jona who was going to join us for dinner. We hopped on the train and got off at West Portal, a part of town I’d never been to and didn’t even know where it was located.

We stepped out of the train station, and it felt like we were in a foreign land. Perhaps our ride on the K train really did take us to Old Krakow. We walked along West Portal in search of this Polish restaurant and found it at the end of row of restaurants and shops under a red awning.

The inside wasn’t as I expected. I was expecting something drab and romantically sad in its bareness. But it wasn’t. The walls were painted a stately red and the patrons looked three times my age and well-to-do in their pearls. Paintings of generals and what looked liked baronesses lined the walls.

I ordered the Zrazy, which was described as onions and bacon wrapped in beef and smothered in rich gravy. How could I pass up bacon wrapped in beef and then topped off with gravy? There was no way. Potato dumplings and a beet salad were the accompaniments, and I love beet salad.

A large white plate was placed in front of me and in the sea of gravy were two beef rolls that looked deceptively small. Three white mounds of potato dumplings surrounded the gravy ocean.

The Zrazy was good. I didn’t know quite what to expect with Polish food. This was my first. The beef didn’t taste as much as bacon as I had been hoping it would. But it was tender and the rich gravy smothered over everything fun. The dumplings, which looked liked Hostess Snowballs, were starchier and chewier than I was expecting too and a bit bland, but the gravy took care of the bland part. We ended dinner with a chocolate mousse flavored with almond and their version of apple pie. I was about to burst.

We slowly waddled our way out of Old Krakow and dreary-looking West Portal, promising to return the next day but knowing we wouldn’t. Maybe when summer finally comes.