When Charlie and I and some of the other guys were coming home from one of the Central Catholic High School basketball games, we would all stop at the Polish bakery on Exchange street. The bread would just be coming out of the oven at that time. We would all get a loaf of bread or a half dozen bulkie rolls. Can you imagine being a kid and just eating a whole loaf of Polish light rye as a treat? It seems funny now. But it was no joke. That bread was so good! It was better than an eclair, or a jelly donut. They had jelly donuts right there, too, but nobody ever got one. Everybody would be walking home on those cold winter nights digging our mitts into the warm doughy, stuffing of a loaf of Polish rye.
excerpt from A Summer with Charlie by Richard Edward Noble...story takes place in Lawrence, 1961
Dear readers, I give you the Sunkist (Polish) Bakery, 93 Exchange Street, Lawrence, MA...open only on Friday afternoons, 2:00 - 4:00pm.
I can't believe it, but the Polish bakery often written about in Lawrence literature still exists and is still in business, Friday's from 2-4pm you can pick up a loaf of good Polish rye bread. I first read about this bakery in the writings of Lawrencian Richard Noble and he insisted the bakery was operational. I drove by (three times, there's no bakery sign outside) this past Friday and saw a sign on the door, Open 2:00 - 4:00, and headed over later that day. I got so excited by the interior of this place I forgot to take any pictures of the bread, but it's good and I'm still eating it.
The Polish baker, at work
The beast, the yeast
I want that fan
I was there around 3pm and the ovens were still hot
5 comments:
Hi Christine. I'm glad to hear that you bought a loaf of that delicious bread. The place looks pretty much as I remember but the ovens are new. Back in 1961 the ovens were redbrick and they were huge. I'm sure these ovens are more efficient.The price is about the same - if you remove the zeros at the end. Take care - love the photos.
I finally made it over to this bakery, thinking I'd buy some bread. Hold the phone! Turns out they have so much more than bread. Try the tender and flavorful pirogi of potato/cheese or sauerkraut, it's not the thick pasta and bland fillings that stores sell; lighter-than-air kruschiki (bow tie-shaped pastries) covered in powdered sugar and tasting faintly of vanilla; gawumpki (stuffed cabbage), well-seasoned beef and rice wrapped in a tender cabbage leaf; and the bread! It's artisan bread - dense, no seeds, outstanding flavor. This is the best Polish food I've had outside my mother's kitchen. The baker is selling the place and everything in it, so better enjoy the fruits of his labor while you can.
Hi there my name is Darryl Dwoske my father and mother owned the Sunkist in the late 50's and early 60's. I wish they never sold it because I would have loved to run it and bake.
Darryl,
Buy it and run it, extend the hours beyond just Friday. I love that place,
sb
You know if i was in better health and allot younger i would snap at the chance to buy it but under the circumstances i cant, maybe i can talk one of my kids into buying the bakery.
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