Pop’s Pierogi and Indian Bread Co. are two new restaurants that opened a few blocks from my apartment on Bleecker Street. Both are small with only a few tables to sit at and offer inexpensive ethnic dishes. If you’re looking for the most authentic in each cuisine, these probably aren’t the places to go but I’ve been having fun ordering different thing off each of their menus for the last few weeks.
At Pop’s the main idea is to get pierogi, pelmeny, pirozhki, or blintzes and then choose what you would like for the filling. They offer anything from beef, potatoes, cabbage, cheese, and cherries for fillings. They also feature borscht and some Eastern European sodas that I remember having in Brighton Beach.
Indian Bread Co. is mostly about the naan and the paratha. They serve naanwiches (sandwiches made with naan) and naanini (grilled indian panini made with naan), as well as kathi rolls (indian wraps) and stuffed paratha (whole-wheat stuffed bread).
- Pop’s Pierogi full menu
- NY Times on Pop’s Pierogi
- Indian Bread Co. full menu
- AOL Cityguide on Indian Bread Co.
If you’re down in the village and want to try something new and inexpensive you should stop by Pop’s Pierogi or Indian Bread Co.
corie // Jan 11, 2004 at 7:18 pm
oooh. i really want to try the indian bread co…maybe, if it’s warm enough to venture out of the office this week, i’ll stop by there for lunch.
rachelleb // Jan 11, 2004 at 7:23 pm
today i had the chicken tikka naanini and the aloo paratha from there. yumyum.
joe s // Jan 11, 2004 at 10:06 pm
For some reason, I hadn’t made the connection between “Indian Bread Co.” and bread from India (duh!) until I saw your picture, even though I’ve walked by the place a bunch of times lately.
That said, I’ve been craving pierogies since having them at my sister’s over christmas. so far, everytime I’ve passed by Pops I’ve either just eaten or am about to eat elsewhere. What do you like there?
Chris // Jan 12, 2004 at 12:35 am
mmm – kathi rolls… definitely gonna check this place out!
KRZYSIEK // Jan 12, 2004 at 6:52 am
I myself am Polish, and though I hate Poland, I must admit that pierogi are one of my fav dishes…of course, when made by Poles not Russians
Enjoy!!
rachelle // Jan 12, 2004 at 10:34 am
krzysiek – do russians make pierogies different than poles?
KRZYSIEK // Jan 12, 2004 at 10:52 am
rachelle: the word PIEROG (there should be a tiny dash over the letter “o”) is of Polish orgin, I guess. The plural form is PIEROGI. The most popular stuffings are:
1. potatoes, cottage cheese, onion and spices
2. meat
3. sauerkraut and mushrooms (my fav)
and in the summer time
4. all kind of berries.
oh, i`ve just found this:
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=pierogi
KRZYSIEK // Jan 12, 2004 at 10:53 am
pelmeny are from russia. it doesn`t sound “polish”
rachelle // Jan 12, 2004 at 10:58 am
thanks for the corrections! I’ll promise to never say “pierogies” again!
joe – so far i’ve only had the pierogi at pop’s but i want to try other things off the menu there. we should go! the restaurants are right next to each other.. could have a sampling from both! heh.
just one thing i wanted to add about the indian bread co. – they were playing one of my favorite movie soundtracks when i was in there.. the soundtrack to the indian movie, monsoon wedding.
Dy // Jan 12, 2004 at 11:15 am
In our family, pierogi are only made with either sauerkraut (i’m with you, Krzysiek, they’re the best), or cheese. I can’t imagine eating anybody’s pierogi other than my Mom’s. Ooooh, and Golompki. Man, now i’m hungry.
scott // Jan 12, 2004 at 11:18 am
rachelle…next time you do some shopping in bklyn – i reccomend eagle provisions on the corner of 5th ave and 18th street. my buddy’s mom swears by the place and i have to take him there every time he comes up from nc. his mom used to shop there when they lived in bklyn and he transports stuff back to her at the end of his trip. highly reccomended.
KRZYSIEK // Jan 12, 2004 at 11:19 am
Dy: are you polish? pierogi and golabki (vel golompki)…i`d kill for them
Dy // Jan 12, 2004 at 11:44 am
I’m half-Polish. The good half
KRZYSIEK // Jan 12, 2004 at 11:48 am
i c. but you don`t speak polish, do you? jesli mowisz, to napisz cos
Dy // Jan 12, 2004 at 12:02 pm
I’m learning. I know the basics, though, like “witaj” and “do widzenia”, etc.
KRZYSIEK // Jan 12, 2004 at 12:18 pm
then enjoy your learning…and give your mom my regards. maybe one day she`ll cook something for me
Richard // Jan 12, 2004 at 1:37 pm
When I was a sophmore in college, by roommate was Polish. He came to the USA when he was 5.
His parents always brought him polish food and some of it looked and smelled good. He was always talking to his family on the phone in Polish and I never knew what he was saying. For all I know, he could have been bad mouthing me.
Julia // Jan 12, 2004 at 2:45 pm
Polish fast-food! What a concept
There was a place in Walden Galleria (Cheektowaga, NY) called Stash & Stella’s that served a version of Polish fast food. I think they closed despite being somewhat popular. I usually only get pierogis at Christmas and Easter. My grandma (Babcia) fills them with kapusta (sauerkraut), cheese, prunes, and apricots. I was especially lucky to get some homemade golabki/golompki (which is correct?) right before Thanksgiving. Good stuff! 62% Polish, btw but I can’t speak the language.
Dy // Jan 12, 2004 at 3:04 pm
Hey Julia! Even better is the Polish Market about 5 minutes from there. Ah, a warehouse of everything Polish. Mmmmmm. Kapusta is actually sauerkraut soup (stew), isn’t it? I haven’t made that in awhile. Golabki/golompki; potatoe/potato
I think it’s all the same.
joe s // Jan 12, 2004 at 4:18 pm
rachelle, i’ll hop on pop’s with you. that sounds much more pervy than intended. not sure about the Polish-Indian food mixing.
my father married a Polish woman when I was in grad school. When I went home that first Christmas break she made cabbage, cooked in many different and tasty ways, every day for the two weeks I was there. While I enjoyed it, it was a long time before I ate cabbage again.
Arthur // Jan 12, 2004 at 5:13 pm
Great – new places to eat on Bleeker Street. Latest great food for me in GV was at the Green Papaya. We wanted to eat at NL and had reservations – but the traffic was crazy and it took us three hours to get downtown – and another half hour to park the car…. so we ate at the Green Papaya.
http://www.queenstribune.com/archives/diningguide/reviews/greenpapaya.htm
for a review. I Love spicy indian and their breads too – haven’t had much Polish food… My aunt’s mother made spaetzel – but I think that’s Romanian.
KRZYSIEK // Jan 13, 2004 at 8:06 am
golabki is the correct form. golompki is “americanized”, i guess.
KRZYSIEK // Jan 13, 2004 at 10:11 am
see april 22, 2002 post
www.nyceats.net // Jan 13, 2004 at 7:55 pm
Links To Go
A Little Restaurant Makes It Big — NPR Morning Edition on Brooklyn’s Grocery and Zagat’s. (original post on the brouhaha.) A rumor that Jay McInerney is next in line for the position of restaurant critic at the New York Times
joe s // Jan 22, 2004 at 12:50 pm
Stopped in for a quick bite at the Indian Bread co. last night. They make a mighty fine chicken naanini. thanks for the tip!
Chet Kozlow // Feb 1, 2004 at 3:39 pm
Is there anyplace in Ventura County, CA you can buy Pierogi?
Yana // Feb 11, 2004 at 2:14 pm
Peirogi are Polish, but Pop’s is run by Russians, and what they really serve are called vareniki – Ukranian dumplings. Potato is very tasty – if you can get them pan fried, instead of deep fried, that is the most authentic way to eat them.
Also, the chicken pelmeni, which are Siberian style meat dumplings are very tasty. The story about them goes that they are prepared with the filling of raw meat, then get thrown outside the house to freeze, and are then stored. The meat is cooked when they are boiled right before they are eaten.
LU // Feb 22, 2004 at 1:20 pm
Krzysiek ,ciagnij mlocie… Polska to zajebisty kraj dla ludzi ktorzy cos potrafia .
rachelleb.com // Aug 12, 2005 at 6:39 am
Rachel Leb on Indian Bread Co.
Indian Bread Co., West Village, Manhattan Late 2003 or early 2004 a couple of new ethnic fast food restaurants opened on Bleeker Street in New York, Indian Bread Co. and Pop’s Pierogi. I started going to them frequently and…
Renata // Apr 26, 2007 at 12:53 am
Indian and Polish food can be mixed well together, as long as u know what/how to mix it.
I should be knowing – I am Polish and my partner is Indian, so we do a lot of food experiements!
