Biscuits Restaurant in Longwood, FL

I had dinner at Biscuits in Longwood. They are located in the strip mall behind where Polenia used to be. I had heard that Biscuits has the same owners as Polenia and served a hybrid diner/Polish menu to consolidate their restaurants. Once there, I was sort of surprised to see that the menu pretty much was the same as what used to be offered at Polenia. I was fine with that because I liked the food at Polenia, but I don't quite get the name change to Biscuits. Especially when there were no biscuits on the menu. Maybe at breakfast?

The only biscuits I spotted were on the sign out front and on the artwork of these poodle chefs...

I ordered the Polish Sampler. It came with stuffed cabbage topped with tomato sauce, smoked kielbasa, potato filled pierogi topped with onions and bacon, and sauerkraut. I've eaten this in the past back when Polonia was a restaurant. I liked it back then, and I still liked it at Biscuits. Can't go wrong with a dish that includes potato dumplings and sauerkraut!

The identity of Biscuits/Polonia was confusing and I don't think I was the only one who felt this way. On all of my visits to Polonia in the past, they always seemed to be doing good business. During my visit to Biscuits, we were the only customers in the restaurant. I guess most of Polonia's old customers haven't gotten the message that Biscuits basically is Polonia...

NY Food: Veselka

I decided to have some Ukrainian food while in New York. This happened at a restaurant called Veselka in the East Village. I ate at Veselka a few times in the past and enjoyed my previous visits, hence the return. I saw that Veselka is celebrating their 50th anniversary this year. That's a really long time for a restaurant's lifespan. I guess that's because pierogi are good!

I ordered the Meat Ukrainian Combo Plate. This started with soup, salad, and bread. I picked the lentil soup. The soup was my favorite of the three items. It had plenty of lentils and good flavor. The salad consisted of leafy greens, carrots, and dressing. It was exactly what should be expected in a salad. The bread was a little disappointing. It was a slice of non-toasted white bread. Butter was not served with the slice.

The meat plate itself included two potato pierogi, two meat pierogi, stuffed cabbage, and beet and horseradish salad. It's hard to go wrong with potato pierogi, and these were my favorite. Dumplings filled with potatoes are very satisfying. The meat pierogi were also good. Veselka's menu didn't specify the type of meat in the filling, but I'm assuming it was either beef or pork. The stuffed cabbage did specify the filling. It was stuffed with beef, pork, and rice. The cabbage was topped with a mushroom gravy.

Much like my previous visits to Veselka, I enjoyed my dinner. Perhaps I'll end up back at Veselka again on a future visit to New York.

Pierogi Grill in Clearwater, FL

I had dinner at a restaurant called Pierogi Grill in Clearwater. As we entered the Polish restaurant, we passed the pierogi themed vehicles in the parking lot. This included a pierogi police car and a giant concrete pierogi on a trailer. I liked this place already.

Inside, it seemed like either the owners of Pierogi Grill are really into Egyptology or the restaurant was Middle Eastern themed in a former life. There were statues of Egyptian gods. The lamps over the tables were covered in hieroglyphics, and even the salt/pepper shakers on the table were shaped like pyramids. Surrounded by everything Egyptian, I ordered my Polish Sausage & Pierogi dinner. The smoked kielbasa was served on a bed of warm sauerkraut, alongside six pierogi. There was a lot to choose from in terms of pierogi flavors, but I decided to stay classic and get mine filled with farmers cheese and potato. Overall, everything was very tasty.

Just to further point out the Egyptian theme of Pierogi Grill, check out rice pyramid that came with the Chicken Schnitzel that was also ordered at our table. I still don't quite get how Polish food is related to Egypt, but I thought the whole randomness of it all was very fun...

Russian & International Food Market in Boca Raton, FL

I found a place called Russian & International Food Market in the shopping center at the intersection of Glades and Lyons Road on my last trip to Boca Raton. The store was filled with all sorts of interesting Eastern European foods, but what really drew me in was their case of pierogi. For $2.50, I had a huge potato pierogi. Unlike other pierogi I've had elsewhere, this Russian version of the food was more akin to a knish rather than a dumpling.

This huge pierogi had a flaky crust wrapped around a mound of mashed potato. It was quite different from other pierogi that I've had in the past, but was still very tasty...

I also bought this Poppy Seed Danish. Pretty good, although nothing compared to the freshly baked poppy seed rolls I've had in the past...

Polonia in Longwood, FL

I ate at Polonia in Longwood, FL. Polonia is a Polish restaurant located on 17-92 in a former fast food restaurant building that has housed many different restaurants. The building started out as a Captain D's, and then became several different restaurants serving various types of Asian food. I would say my most interesting experience eating in one of these incarnations was when the building housed a fast food Chinese restaurant. As I was eating my meal, two Red-Eared Sliders walked out of the kitchen and across the dining room. I've seen some interesting animals in restaurants (rats!), but this was the only time I've ever seen turtles wandering around a restaurant. Knowing that turtles and salmonella go together, I never returned to the restaurant, or the future restaurants in the building.

That is, until Polonia opened. When they opened in this location, the local Orlando newspapers all started to write good reviews of the place, so I gave it a try. Polonia broke the chain of fast food Asian restaurants by setting up a sit-down Polish restaurant, and there were no reptiles, amphibians, or rodents in sight. I've since returned to Polonia a few times, and it's generally pretty good. This visit started out with a basket of some good rye bread.

For the main course, I ordered the Big Polish Platter, which came with stuffed cabbage (in tomato sauce), three pierogies, a fresh kielbasa, and sauerkraut. The stuffed cabbage was okay, but I found it to taste a bit too much like plain meatloaf. There was some rice mixed in with the ground beef, but not enough. The sauce was good though. For the pierogies, I had the choice of meat, sauerkraut and cheese, or potato & cheese. I went with the potato & cheese, and I have no complaints about them. It's amazing how much better fresh pierogies are compared to those frozen pierogies from the supermarket. The kielbasa was good and tasted like a Polish sausage should. The sauerkraut was interesting. It wasn't as tart and was very finely chopped when compared to most sauerkraut that I've eaten, but it was still good.

Overall, the food was pretty good for the most part. All that meat and the lack of vegetables was a little more than I'm used to eating in one sitting, but I guess that's the way they eat in Poland.

I wanted to get some poppy seed cake for dessert, but they didn't have any on the day I ate at the restaurant. They had apple strudel instead, but I'm not a big fan of cooked apples. Poppy cake or rolls are much better...