Smiarowski Farmstand & Creamy

Having eaten very well on a drive through southern New Hampshire and Vermont, I was cruising down Route 5 in Massachusetts looking for nothing more than an ice cream cone, maybe. Smiarowski appeared to be just the ticket, since it calls itself a Creamy (which I assumed was sign-painterese for Creamery). However, as I approached, I knew that the shreds of appetite I had remaining were about to be annihilated. A placard near the order window advertised “Polish Food and Ice Cream.” The enticing smells of old world cooking that wafted from the kitchen told me I had stumbled upon eats too good to resist.

At first I thought I might get away with just a hot dog, but a beautiful steamed frank topped with homemade sauerkraut demanded I drill deeper. So I ordered the Polish Power Plate, a double-barrel meal of golumbki (stuffed cabbage) and kielbasa with a choice of two side dishes. I chose beans and what’s billed as lazy pierogi, which the girl behind the order window told me is all the pierogi ingredients, but just not pocketed as dumplings. It looks a lot like what’s called halushki.

Served on a heavy disposable paper plate and eaten at a picnic table, this is a grand country meal. The kielbasa is bursting-plump, spicy, and smoky. It is so well packed that it is a tactile pleasure just to sever a disc from the link using the plastic knife provided. Golumbki is something you’d hope grandma would make: sweet and meaty, topped with bacon and thick tomato sauce. Lazy pierogi is pure comfort food, a mélange of noodles, onions, butter, and cheese. And the beans are extraordinary: cinnabar red, more bacon-sweet than sugar sweet – a Yankee dish with a Polish twist.

There is a big selection of ice creams, both Gifford’s and Snow’s brand, available in cones and cups, sundaes and milk shakes. I like Snow’s maple walnut, which is packed with nuts and very creamy — just the right flavor to crown a warm square of Smiarowski’s apple crisp.

Smiarowski Farmstand and Creamy is open from April through December.