Annual Broadway Market Pilgrimmage

Ahh…Easter. It’s that time of year in Western New York where every day is 40 degrees and overcast. Piles of old dirty snow line the sides of the road reminding you that winter was but 5 days ago, and it could yet bite again. It’s also the time to take an hour ride to Buffalo and visit the Broadway Market.

2008 Family excursion to the Buffalo Broadway Market

It is a place steeped with Polish tradition. The history is recounted on their website:

The Broadway Market is over 118 years old.

As immigrants flocked to the east side of Buffalo in the late 1800’s, they looked for the continuation of old world customs in their new and unfamiliar environment. While they wanted to enter the mainstream of city life, they also sought to preserve their Eastern European traditions and heritage. The Broadway Market would prove to serve these needs quite well….

…Famed for its ethnic old world shopping atmosphere, the Broadway Market’s fresh food merchant base is comprised of family-owned, family-operated butcher shops, poultry stands, fruit/vegetable stands and bakeries….

Since we won’t be around for Easter this year (we’ll be taking a vacation to the Bahamas), and we had a HUGE morning Easter Egg Hunt at our Friends’ house, we thought today would be great time to do the market. Normally, I starve myself before the trip so I can partake in the best Beef on Weck that Buffalo has to offer. Unfortunately, we hit McDonalds to be able to last in the car ride and we weren’t really hungry.

We started our tour by finding some hand painted wooden eggs. We usually get an egg for each of us.

Mason and Anna show off their hand-painted Polish wooden Easter eggs

Next, we had to pick up some Polish sausage and pierogies. We found 2 varieties at one of the meat shops so I got a package of each – one was Wardynski’s the other Redlinski’s. The pierogies were HUGE. Each one was the size of a Hostess Apple pie. Sauerkraut is my favorite, so I picked up 6. My next mission was to pick up some potent horseradish. I went for the “Broadway Market Horseradish”. I bought small jars this year, because it will stay fresher in smaller quantities once I open each jar. I topped off the visit by buying my typical obnoxious Polish-themed t-shirt. Thank goodness there’s a new one every year.

We met Matt and Alison at the market. This was their first trip, and since they will be hosting an Easter crowd next weekend, they purchased a Butter Lamb. Excellent call! We decided that we couldn’t carry around 6 pounds of meat and not give it a try, so we convinced Matt and Ali to invite us back to their place for a taste test.

Before we went though, we had to pick up one more sausage varietal. This time we acted on a hot tip from a Buffalo local who said to hit the Market in the Square grocery store in West Seneca for some Dubel’s sausage. We rushed back to the apartment and had a “Sausage Fest” complete with the appropriate laughter at how inappropriate that sounded. We had a very scientific toothpick system for keeping the different sausages straight. We all preferred the one without the toothpick which was Wardynski’s. It had by far the most complex and delicious grouping of spices.

Tricia and Alison get cheeky at the Sausage Fest

Thanks to Matt and Alison for letting us invade. It was fun spending our Easter tradition with you.