Not Another Pizza Joint

Pierogi is the word at a family-run Dickson City newcomer

Alicia Grega-Pikul

Ken Novack has never met anyone who doesn't like pierogies. So when the opportunity arose to open a restaurant and bar in a prime spot just off Main Avenue on Boulevard Avenue in Dickson City, he knew what to do. Why open yet another pizza place or Italian restaurant in Northeastern Pennsylvania when his family lay claim to a Polish lineage?

Ken and his son Butch had been making fresh kielbasa and wowing guests at backyard barbecues for years before opening Novack's Food & Spirits this winter. And they were willing to gamble that the folks who show up at church picnics for the food might turn out for pigs in a blanket and potato pancakes all year long.

Of course, Ken and Butch aren't the only cooks in the family. It's Ken's wife, Sophia, who deserves all the credit for the restaurant's stupendous drop-noodle (dumpling-style) haluski as well as the halupki (pigs in a blanket/stuffed cabbage rolls). And in order to meet the demand, everyone chips in to makes pierogies, Novak said. The restaurant offers the requisite potato and cheese as well as buffalo wing, steak and cheese, sauerkraut, farmer's cheese, and potato and bacon.

"My son Butch makes the bulk of them because he'll be making them as he goes along down there when he gets time. And the potato pancakes he makes homemade right there on a daily basis."

Any doubt about the pierogies' origin was removed by their unique fork-edged, two-sided seal. Our two orders were clearly crafted by two different cooks. Both the sauerkraut and the potato and cheese were served four to an order in a generous bath of butter with sauteed sweet onion.

A line of folks at the bar sipping margaritas was the only sign that it was Cinco de Mayo. It wasn't the least bit crowded for 8 p.m. on a Saturday night and we got a good sense of the bar's cozy, neighborhood atmosphere. The forest-green walls are decorated with framed historic front pages of regional newspapers from Novack's own collection. The space is split between a bar with touch-creen jukebox and billiard table on one side and a small stage adjoining a 10-table dining room.

Feeling obliged to sample the two Polish beers Novack's carries, we passed on margaritas but ordered the Polish burritos appetizer and a Polish volcano. Our waitress, Angela (you guessed it - Ken's daughter), described Okocim as similar to a Yuengling lager and Zywiec along the lines of a Coors Light. We found the Okocim quite distinct and actually preferable to Yuengling, and the Zywiec nothing special. A pile of deep-fried pierogies topped with homemade beef chili (no beans), hot buffalo wing sauce, and shredded cheddar cheese, the volcano may be our new favorite bar food. Move over chili-cheese fries. And unlike most nachos, where you're left with a pile of chips and no more toppings, the volcano erupted with enough chili and wing sauce left over that we could have dipped another order of pierogies. Not unlike small empanadas, the burritos are chili-filled pierogies served with sour cream; tasty, but anticlimactic next to the volcano.

The restaurant's Polish platter (a pair of pigs, four pierogies, and kielbasa) and Homemade Haluski platter are its biggest sellers, Novack explained. We ordered one both and were not disappointed by anything. Other specialties include a calzone-style Pogash (potato, cheese, and onion baked in dough), which was added to the menu permanently after becoming popular during Lent, Sophia's kielbasa soup, as well as Bigos or Hunter's Stew.

Naturally, the menu also features standard items like pizza, hoagies, wraps and burgers. No dish will set you back more than $10.

When a restaurant only offers one choice for dessert, you figure it's got to be good. So we sprung for two orders of Novack's Polish Strudel. The dish boasts apple filling in two pie crust pierogies, deep-fried and topped with a scoop of French vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup and whipped cream.