Polished Polish

Rehash the past at Stash's Café

by SARAH MUSGRAVE

The sensation of chilled vodka on your tongue is the perfect way to start a meal of traditional Polish food. First of all because it adds an air of old-world authenticity to the evening, but also because Eastern European cuisine is very much a textured experience. With the exception of bright crimson beets, most dishes from pierogis to sznycel to krokiety are relentlessly brown and beige.

So it's fitting that Stash's menu begins with a unabashed plug for alcohol: "Anything tastes better with wodka--even wodka!" We whetted our palates with two flavoured varieties, a bison grass and a sweeter sorb apple (both $4). The drinks are poured at the table from ice-cold bottles, to be downed in one gut-warming gulp.

Stash's has been lining up the shot glasses since the '70s. It may now be more upscale than the original restaurant--which burned to the ground several years ago--but it has not lost its charm. Long wooden tables are flanked by benches that look like church pews but are way more comfortable. Red fabric lamps provide a flattering light, casting shadows on the old stone walls and mounted posters. In the background, a piano player worked his way through a medley of Beatles tunes as we looked over the menu.

Designed for the Polish food "novice" or the fan of old favourites, the table d'hote "primer" ($18.95) offers a variety of tastes. It opens with a borsch soup, a smooth and tangy beet broth served with a side of sour cream that melts into the bowl, marbling the intense purple colour. That's followed by an unexceptional but pleasant-enough green salad with a creamy house dressing.

I started with a fantastic soup called tyrek ($4), which is made of fermented rye bread in a sausage broth herbed with marjoram. Also called "white borsch," it is as unusual as it sounds and I recommend trying it. Neither soup portion was particularly large, but in both cases the taste was very concentrated.

Soon the primer's main course arrived, steam rising from the plate. The platter contains excellent versions of standards like bigos, a cabbage and sausage stew, and krokiety, a stuffed pancake filled with meat. Perhaps more familiar are placki, a delectable fried potato pancake, and incredibly fresh pierogis filled with meat and potatoes.

My meal of sznycel mielony ($11.75) turned out to be more delicious than I ever imagined ground meat patties could be. They are coated in bread crumbs so that, like a schnitzel, a crispy crust encases the meat. The fried rounds are topped in a mouth-watering mushroom sauce and accompanied by a cold beet salad and tender roasted potatoes.

For dessert, we shared an apple strudel included in the table d'hote. It was so light and fresh that the crust practically floated on the plate--and was thoughtfully delivered with two forks.

The service was professional and informative, which is helpful when navigating foreign cuisine. Be forewarned that classic cabbage rolls (golabki) share the menu with tripe and "fresh laid chicken livers," along with house favourites like roast of wild boar.

You can, of course, find similar dishes for less at Mazurka on Prince-Arthur or Euro-Deli Batory on St-Viateur. Stash's does offer lunch specials, but it's worth an evening trip because it provides the perfect backdrop for good conversation and quality food. With the tourist/film crew season ending, Old Montreal is once again becoming charming for the locals. And in the blight of multimedia construction in the area, this restauracja polska remains a tribute to the old ways of this city and Eastern Europe.

Stash's Café

Address: 200 St-Paul W.

Phone: 845-6611

Hours: Mon 11:30am-9pm; Tues-Fri 11:30am-11pm; Sat-Sun noon-11pm

Best features: quality meals and service, great ambiance

Alcohol: yes

Vegetarian friendly: yes, but limited

Credit cards: yes

Wheelchair access: one step up

Price: $18/person before tax, tip or drinks

Rating: HHH out of HHHH