I had excellent paczkis last Tuesday at Andy's on Division, including one that had custard in it. When we asked the woman behind the counter what flavor it was, she said "Advocaat", and at the time I had no idea what it meant. "Surely not avocado", we said to ourselves.

"So what do you think this is?" my friend asked, after we had bitten into the mysterious advocaat flavored paczki.

"I dunno," I replied wisely. "Some kind of boozy custard?"

Soon, thanks to lth, I learned that advocaat means egg-nog flavored, but imagine my joy when I drove out to Delightful Pastries this morning for more paczkis (my name is Liz, I am a paczki-holic), and saw that the translation on their menu for advocaat is "boozy custard". Yayy!

(As it turned out, advocaat wasn't available today, but the rose-hip and apricot paczkis helped allay my sorrow. Delicious.)

I'm bumping up this thread because paczki season is approaching.

Two years ago we learned from Anna Z. Sobor:

Anna Z. Sobor wrote:... VI mentioned that the Polish-Polish bakery was not mobbed on Fat Tuesday last year. That's because in Poland it is celebrated on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday--tlusty czwartek (fat Thursday). ...

So: Ash Wednesday is a week from Wednesday. That means that Polish paczki day is Thursday of this week.

Look back in this very dense thread to find recommended bakeries and flavors. Remember to pre-order!

I'm not qualified to make judgments as to the relative quality, but I've picked up both paczki and king cake at Bennison's in Evanston on Fat Tuesday for the last few years and they tend to go over pretty well in my office.

Just in case you aren't up for the trek or the wait in line. I usually pick them up on Monday night and there's always decent stock available without phoning ahead.

Bennison's Bakery
1000 Davis St, Evanston, IL
(847) 328-9434

We'll be picking some up from Bridgeport Bakery again this year, but I'm looking for recommendations for flavors besides the excellent strawberry+cream. Any personal favorites?

Right now I'm thinking 18 bacon buns, 6 strawberry+cream, 12 assorted, and a coffee cake would make the office happy.

So,

is paczki day passed already - did I miss it? If so, do folks know of any places still selling?

Polish paczki day was this past thursday, but american paczki day is fat tuesday, coming up. This is when everyone (including the best polish bakeries, and even dominick's/jewel) will be selling paczki. Expect longer lines when you go to pick yours up, but any place mentioned in this thread will have them for sale.

I am a particular advocate now of the strawberry and whipped cream paczki from Bridgeport Bakery. They're the most expensive paczki available, at $1.10 each. The one thing to note is that BB's paczki are on the small side.

Just had a very nice raspberry one from Central Continental Bakery in Mt. Prospect. Thanks to the online order form picking them up was very easy.

When I arrived just after midnight, I was not alone:



While arriving at midnight may seem nuts, I found others were planning to come deeper into the night:



The ladies behind the counter were recounting how little sleep they were working on. They were pleased the night owls collected their orders at the promised time. Veterans of many Fat Tuesdays, they boasted about the long lines they expected to converge at 4 AM with lines snaking down the block by 7:30 AM.

Yes I know I am nuts, so I will share the stats:

one hour fifteen minutes
fifty-five miles
three dozen mixed fruit paczkis
one-half dozen pineapple paczkis
one-half dozen bacon buns still warm and steaming in their bag
one apricot and one raspberry kolacky
$40.49



Eating a bacon bun while maneuvering my way home: priceless!

Happy Fat Tuesday!

Cathy-- You rule!

Cathy2 wrote:one apricot and one raspberry kolacky

I would like to see a picture of these for comparison purposes to a Kolacky bakery that I frequent when I go to Owosso, MI.

stevez wrote:a Kolacky bakery that I frequent when I go to Owosso, MI.

Where?! I am a frequent passer through of Owosso and would love to have a reason to stop.

Kristen

kl5 wrote:Where?! I am a frequent passer through of Owosso and would love to have a reason to stop.

Kristen

Kristen,

First of all, why in the world do you pass through Owosso? In any event, Kolache Kitchen is a great little bakery that makes Kolaches in the Czech manner. They used to be on Hwy 52 on your way into town, but last summer they moved to a new location downtown. They have very limited hours during the winter, so it's best to call ahead. It's also a good idea to pre-order because they frequently run out of the popular flavors.

I'd also recommend a stop at Mootzie's Gallery, which is a bit of civilization in the backwater town of Owosso. Mootzie's is an art gallery that serves wine and light food and is a nice little place to hang out.

Curwood Castle - Owosso, MI


Kolache Kitchen
107 W. Mason Street
Owosso, MI
989-729-2700

Mootzie's Gallery
112 West Main Street
Owosso, MI
989-729-7444

How are the paczki at the Deerfields Bakery locations? I know Cathy, you've posted previously that you're not a big fan of them otherwise - but they're having Paczki Pandemonium!
http://www.deerfieldbakery.com/

Louisa Chu wrote:How are the paczki at the Deerfields Bakery locations? I know Cathy, you've posted previously that you're not a big fan of them otherwise - but they're having Paczki Pandemonium!
http://www.deerfieldbakery.com/

I'm a big fan of the chocolate/custard variety. They have those all year round (bismarks). I haven't tried the others.

stevez wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:one apricot and one raspberry kolacky

I would like to see a picture of these for comparison purposes to a Kolacky bakery that I frequent when I go to Owosso, MI.

No pictures, I ate them in the car after the bacon bun. Got powdered sugar all over myself. They had more jam filling and the cookie itself had a better taste than the usual varieties. Sorry!

Regards,

Were they the round type or the folded over type? The round Kolackis are so much better IMO

kafein wrote:Were they the round type or the folded over type? The round Kolackis are so much better IMO

By round, do you mean the ones that resemble very thin crescent rolls? Those are the style of the ones sold in Michigan.

stevez wrote:

Louisa Chu wrote:How are the paczki at the Deerfields Bakery locations? I know Cathy, you've posted previously that you're not a big fan of them otherwise - but they're having Paczki Pandemonium!
http://www.deerfieldbakery.com/

I'm a big fan of the chocolate/custard variety. They have those all year round (bismarks). I haven't tried the others.

Thanks Steve - let the Pandemonium commence!

stevez wrote:

kafein wrote:Were they the round type or the folded over type? The round Kolackis are so much better IMO

By round, do you mean the ones that resemble very thin crescent rolls? Those are the style of the ones sold in Michigan.

These were the round types and much better tasting than the other style.

Regards,

Listen well: today, Andy's Deli, advocat paczki with chocolate icing. A boozy pre-lenten treat. (See boozy custard/advocaat discussion above.)

stevez wrote:Kristen,

First of all, why in the world do you pass through Owosso?

Steve, my ancestral homeland is the farm country west of Saginaw, Michigan (Thomas Township). The fastest way to get to my parents' place from Chicago is to get off I-69 at the Perry exit and head north on M-52 until, well, until it ends.

Thanks so much for all the info, I will definitely make a call before I head home next time.

Kristen

kl5 wrote:

stevez wrote:Kristen,

First of all, why in the world do you pass through Owosso?

Steve, my ancestral homeland is the farm country west of Saginaw, Michigan (Thomas Township). The fastest way to get to my parents' place from Chicago is to get off I-69 at the Perry exit and head north on M-52 until, well, until it ends.

Thanks so much for all the info, I will definitely make a call before I head home next time.

Kristen

They're only a couple blocks west of 52, so it's not much of a detour. they also sell at the Owosso Farmer's Market on Saturdays in the summer.

Thanks for the info way upthread about Oak Mill Bakery opening up in Arlington Heights--I was picking up my glasses in AH at lunchtime, and decided to make a short detour on my way back to work to check them out. I came out with 11 (I ordered a dozen, but she shorted me one) paczkis, including two each of rosehip and plum. The plum was okay (a tad dry), but the rosehip was very yummy indeed! My co-workers are thanking me, so I'm passing on the appreciation.

thanks all in assuaging us that we hadn't missed our day.

We decided to grab a bunch and do a small comparison tasting, grabbing a few from oven fresh on harlem and foster, delightful pastries on Lawrence, and bennison's.

Overall verdict was that the fresh cream and strawberries from oven fresh were best, custard creations from delightful ruled and that both of these places were better than bennison's (and also quite a bit cheaper)

though I remember the strawberry ones in pastyears as being more strawberry less jam (maybe because of the recent freeze/high prices on strawberries)

zim wrote:thanks all in assuaging us that we hadn't missed our day.

We decided to grab a bunch and do a small comparison tasting, grabbing a few from oven fresh on harlem and foster, delightful pastries on Lawrence, and bennison's.

Overall verdict was that the fresh cream and strawberries from oven fresh were best, custard creations from delightful ruled and that both of these places were better than bennison's (and also quite a bit cheaper)

though I remember the strawberry ones in pastyears as being more strawberry less jam (maybe because of the recent freeze/high prices on strawberries)

We picked up donuts from Delightful last Wednesday, the day before Fat Thursday. My problem, by the time we ate them, on Thursday, they were a bit tired. Freshness really matters in these things.

Anyways, that place in general, Delightful, is just a great, great place. The owner's daughter is a trained French baker (well you know what I mean), and their stuff is very delightful in all the range of items (not just the Polish). The French style meringue cookies are especially good.

A great tag-team with lunch at Halina's across the street.

VI, in the summer I live for Delighful's dense black bread with sunflower seeds, Amish butter, Nichol's Farm tomatoes, together with some salt. Best thing about the Daley Center, beside the Picasso.

I can't believe it's almost here! and thanks to LTH it won't sneak up on me this year. My Southside Polish Heart is breaking that I will be unable to make it to the Paczki Extravagnza.

However I was wondering who you think makes the best Paczki in the city. I live in Lincoln Square and would love to order several dozen to take to a client's site that morning. The client is downtown so I know I don't want a bakery on the southside or Oakmill in Niles.

Any thoughts and opinions would be greatly apprciated.

Thanks.

Oh wait I found this link which for some reason I couldn't find via the seach function. User error most likely.

Any additional insight is still appreciated.

Or if the moderators simply want to move this to the existing thread thats cool too.

I'm in Lincoln Square too and I've always been thrilled with the Paczki from Cookie Monster's Delightful Pastries (flavor, texture and variety). And although it might be about 20 minutes from Lincoln Square in the morning, it's not very far from the highway so it might not take you far out of your way.

http://www.delightfulpastries.com/

I second Delightful Pastries! I have always enjoyed everything from there! Try the rose filled one!