Since it is holiday time and I am in Poland I decided not to skip Sunday Date Night. Although this week’s place is not NYC restaurant and most likely many of you will not have a chance to visit I really wanted to write about U Leszka as this place is close to my heart and home.

U Leszka (At Lenny’s) is located in tiny polish town called Rocky Mountain. If you do not know where the place is you will never find it, this place is for locals or the ones who already know about it. We were brought here few years ago by my parents and ever since this is ‘our place’.

The decor is pre-war, it reminds me Schindler’s List movie. This is very unusual for Poland, as you cannot find places like this any more. Old photos, old furniture, candle holders and silverware, each piece different, older than any of us with a soul and an interesting story to tell. Kielbasa hanging under the ceiling, broken dish ware and hand poured beer make the place even more special. The restaurant is small, as there are only 5 tables but that adds to the quiet and cozy ambience.

The menu is extensive mostly with old polish/slovak traditional dishes with chef’s personal twist. The way the menu is written is very cleaver and funny, each dish’s description not only rhymes but also it is written in old school polish and sometimes you need to think twice in order to realize what you will be eating. To start you should always order meat plate. You get variety of meats, with onions, pickles and lard. This is a must, smoked sausage, salty pickles with pieces of onion all on good polish bread are the best combo to start a dinner. Lard is very tasty with a pinch or salt it takes you to a different world.

For the main entree we ordered a duck dish, that is available only if you order it in advance. It is whole bird slowly cooked in large old iron pot with traditional small potato dumplings and apples. It also comes with warm red cabbage as side dish. It is absolutely delicious. Surprisingly it is not heavy as one may think. The meat is cooked to perfection, flavorful and soft. We also ordered a combo of salads, note polish salads are not greens. They are all made of white or red cabbage, carrots or pickled vegetables. This comes from the fact that back in the days there were not any greens or fresh veggies available from September to late spring. All veggies were pickled and preserved for fall and winter time. Till nowadays people pickle all kinds of veggies so they have side dishes for winter time. Believe it or not they are very tasty. For the dessert we ordered crepes with apples and peaches. Although it is very simple and popular dish the crepe itself was very soft. It takes some skills and good recipe to have perfectly soft crepe.

U Leszka is definitely a place where you can experience polish food, old school tradition, ambience, decor and if you really try you may think you traveled in time as there is nothing modern about this place. The time stopped here and the tradition got preserved, this is a gem that I hope you will be able to visit.

Cuisine: Polish/Slovak

Avg price per person: $10-$15, Visa and MasterCard only

Attire: Casual

Overall Rating: 5 plates