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| - I'm a nice half-Polish girl and I wanted to try something different when I headed to Cleveland this past weekend. I had tickets to the Indian's game and wanted a nice meal with local flavor before the game.
I used my Yelp! resources and my 3G as my friend drove us across the state. I bookmarked Sokolowski's and then pulled up their website. I started watching the clips from 'The Best Thing I Ever Ate' and 'No Reservations'. We mapped the route and counted down the time until we would arrive. Then I started reading the Yelp! reviews...
I started getting anxiety about the 150 people in line snaking around the building, wondering about parking, worried that I wouldn't know what to order and that i'd hold up the line...worried because I didn't bring any Pepcid with me.
So we got there around 5:30 on Saturday and we scored a parking spot right out front. (cool view of Cleveland downtown BTW). Several large families were coming out as we were going in and I worried, "Why is everyone leaving?" - but they were leaving with smiling faces, full bellies, and take out boxes. As we wound our way around the bar and saw the stack of trays, then the display of desserts, I knew we were in the right place. All of my anxiety evaporated.
I grabbed a piece of probable Turtle Cheesecake (chocolate mousse-like cake with cashews dipped in caramel as the topping) and my friend grabbed a slice of carrot cake (lots of nuts, raisins, etc inside). Moving down the line I liked the look of a breaded meat (it was pork) so I went with the Chicken Paprikash (sides of green beans and mashed potatoes), my friend went with the cabbage roll (sides of dumplings and pierogies). We chose a Russian and a Polish beer (Baltika and Stawski) in nice big bottles. On top of the entree station there was a basket of rolls and the sign told us we were entitled to one each.
At the cashier we were offered beer glasses, butter, water, and plates for the salad bar?? - the bill was $49 - we paid and a nice boy escorted us to our table. There were very few people there so we had a few different seating options. All areas are plastered with Polish artifacts - our area was ripe with Pope John Paul II tsotske (am i going to hell for saying that?).
The food was good. I really liked the Chicken Paprikash. The chicken was tender and it was drenched in a sweet and savory sauce. The mashed potatoes were delicious - i think they were potatoes and butter. Pierogies also, yummy and butter laden. The beer was potent. The roll was amazing - fresh, doughy, and rolled in garlic salt. We never touched our salad bowls. The scouting mission to the salad bar found 3 types of pudding, several condiments, some beets, lettuce and a few other veggies.
I had a great evening once my anxiety wore off. I'd probably head here again someday but if I were local it may be only a yearly pilgrimage. It was an experience. It is cool. It is different. The food is good and filling. All in all it is a great time. I may have run screaming if there really was a line of 150 people in front of me.
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