Pierogies and Iron City

So a Peruvian, an Edinboro graduate and a socialist walk into a bar …

I know. Sounds like the opening of a bad joke. But it actually was a good joke. The fates were playing interesting games in Pittsburgh on Friday night, and the result was a hell of a lot of fun.

Lara and I (well, mostly me, truth be told) wanted to chow down on some authentic Eastern European food while we were in the ‘Burgh, and after a bit of Googling around, we came across the Bloomfield Bridge Tavern, aka Pittsburgh’s Polish Partyhouse. They have their own MySpace page, which was a definite plus, and Bloomfield is the neighborhood my father grew up in. So we decided to give it a shot.

We arrived early, at around 5 o’clock, to find owner Steve Frankowski manning the bar. It's a great neighborhood dive bar in the Pittsburgh tradition, and we quickly settled in, ordered an Iron City and a Polish Platter, which included pierogies, haluski, golabkis (or halupki, as my Slovak grandmother called stuffed cabbages) and an assortment of other butter-laden cabbage and potato fare. The food was fantastic, and I ended up cruising through 13 pierogies before all was said and done, and probably as many Iron Cities. (Never fear, we took a cab ...)

That's when a series of bizarre coincidences started. As we talked, I told Steve I was a native yinzer and that I'd gone to college at Edinboro, an academic slum south of Erie, Pa. Turns out he did, too, and graduated a year before I did. As we talked, an assortment of interesting characters drifted in and out to order a few beers and pierogies, which Steve described as his "loss leader." As the night went on, I saw why. Almost everyone, young and old, ordered up some pierogies or a Polish platter and a few beers.

A bit later, a Peruvian wandered in and sat down next to me. I was in Peru less than a month ago, and Jorge is in Pittsburgh doing doctoral work in Spanish. We had a great time chatting about all things Peru. Until Dan the Socialist overheard me complaining bitterly about Hugo Chavez, the despotic left-wing wingnut who's currently running Venezuela into the ground and closing newspapers and TV stations. We had a great argument about the relative merits of Chavez (I could find no merit) and in the end, everyone shared a drink in honor of Peru.

The crowd was fascinating. Great mix of locals, punk rockers and folks who were stopping by to sample the pierogies. At about 9:30 or so, a band started playing that could best be described as a cross between the Minutemen, the Sex Pistols and Fugazi. I'm not sure which of the three bands on the night's bill they were, since they never bothered to introduce themselves. They were either Surrounded by Assholes, Alcoholocaust or the Goddamn Dirty Dogshed Band. Take your pick. The result was a furious set of 60-second screamed songs.

I later saw the bald, heavily tattooed lead singer emerge from the bathroom with a big red welt on his forehead. Not sure where the injury came from. Didn't want to ask. But I did tell him I liked their set and as we talked, it turned out they have Tennessee ties and have played Knoxville a few times.

After that, I bid Steve the Edinboro grad, the Peruvian, the Socialist and all the punkers within earshot goodbye and Lara and I headed back downtown. Later, my father told me that bar was a main spot when he was a kid, and he recalled getting fish sandwiches there on Friday nights. The fish has been replaced by pierogies, but it's definitely worth checking out if you ever find yourself in the Iron City.

Posted by Bob Benz at 7:29 PM | Comments (1)

June 1, 2007