Sometimes you travel to the food truck.
And sometimes the food truck finds you.
In this case, I gladly traveled to the food truck.
I have never met a cabbage roll I didn’t like and when I learned there was a food truck based in Lorain that specializes in the culinary delight along with a nice menu of other Polish and Slovenian food items − I knew I had to seek it out.
Turns out the Babcia’s Kitchen food truck makes monthly visits to a quaint winery in Medina County so I didn’t have to venture halfway across the globe for some pretty tasty and truly authentic ethnic dishes.
And the visit to the winery where the food truck was parked was a real treat, too.
The family-owned, German-inspired Das Weinhaus winery in Litchfield is surrounded by farms and rows of grapes growing in the vineyard.
With some 18 wines ready to be sampled, any one of them would have paired nicely with the awesome smelling food being prepared in the food truck parked outside by the winery’s lake and vineyard.
I particularly enjoyed the winery’s two slushie concoctions made with their own Das Weinhaus wine.
The wine slushies are $10 while a glass of wine with a generous pour ranges from $5 to $7.
The winery on Erhart Road is open weekends and often has live music and regularly hosts food trucks.
The Polish food truck is truly a mom-and-pop operation with Alexander and Kristine Kasubienski in the kitchen on wheels.
The truck lives up to its slogan: “Old World Flavors, just like Babcia (grandmother) used to make.”
Kristine said everything on the menu is made using her own grandmother’s recipes.
And Kristine’s family has deep roots in Northeast Ohio with Kiedrowski’s Bakery in Amherst.
She was a baker at the family bakery until she ventured into the food truck business a few years ago.
The food truck’s menu is pretty simple but packed with choices.
You can get a Tour of Poland meal for $15 that offers a nice sampling of dishes.
We opted instead to buy the entrees à la carte so we would have plenty of food for now and some yummy leftovers for later.
We got a heaping helping of Cabbage and Noodles with seared kielbasa for $10.
And it did not disappoint.
We were a bit surprised by the noodles that were corkscrew shaped.
But there was plenty of cabbage and a generous sampling of kielbasa.
We ordered five of the Potato Cheese Pierogi for $8 that came in a pool of butter and sautéed onion.
They were a perfect addition to our Polish feast.
My wife, Jennifer, loved the Chicken Paprikash that came in a variety of sizes from $5 for 7 ounces to $9.50 for 16 ounces.
It was very creamy and did not have the overly large chunks of chicken typically found in most dishes elsewhere.
And we opted for two of the cabbage rolls for $15.
Truth be told, one would have been enough.
These were some hefty cabbage rolls.
All of the portions were generous and were more than enough for Jennifer and I and our daughter Teagan who joined us.
Aside from the beautiful setting and great food, a highlight of the day was the conversations − not only at our table overlooking the lake − but with both of the owners of the winery and the food truck who were more than happy to share their stories and love of their particular crafts.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Polish food truck serving dishes just like Babcia made | Local Flavor on Wheels
Reporting by Craig Webb, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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