Paczki appears as a signature dish in 3 United States cities. See each city's local variant and where to eat it.
Paczki · Buffalo
Deep-fried Polish doughnuts stuffed with rose-hip jam, prune butter, custard or raspberry filling, dusted in sugar. Eaten on Fat Tuesday (Polish Mardi Gras) and Easter season at Buffalo Polish bakeries.
Paczki are Polish Lenten doughnuts traditionally eaten on Tlusty Czwartek (Fat Thursday) and Ostatki (Fat Tuesday) before Lent. Polish immigrants brought the tradition to Buffalo's East Side in the late 19th century. Broadway Market bakeries Chrusciki and White Eagle carry the tradition, with Mazurek's now wholesale-only after closing its storefront. Fat Tuesday paczki orders run into the thousands.
Where to eat in Buffalo:
- Broadway Market
- Paula's Donuts (Williamsville)
- Paula's Donuts (Sheridan Drive)
Paczki · Cleveland
Yeasted, deep-fried Polish jelly doughnuts eaten on Fat Tuesday, the day before Lent begins; rich, eggy and slightly boozy. Cleveland's Slavic parishes line up at dawn for the once-a-year batch.
Polish parishes brought paczki to Slavic Village and Parma from the 1880s, eating them on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday to use up rich pre-Lenten ingredients (eggs, butter, sugar). Presti's, Corbo's and Rudy's Strudel still queue around the block on Fat Tuesday every February. Rudy's in Parma is the most-photographed line in Cuyahoga County; Colossal Cupcakes and a handful of newer bakers run year-round versions for the homesick.
Where to eat in Cleveland:
- Presti's Bakery
- Corbo's Bakery
- Michael Angelo's Bakery
Paczki · Detroit
Paczki are round Polish doughnuts filled with prune, rose-hip jam or custard and dusted in icing sugar or glazed. Eaten by the thousand on Fat Tuesday in Hamtramck.
Paczki arrived in Detroit with Polish immigrants in the 1880s. They are the Polish answer to using up lard, eggs and sugar before Lent, traditionally eaten on Tlusty Czwartek (Fat Thursday) and Fat Tuesday. By the 1950s Hamtramck's Polish bakeries collectively sold over a million on Paczki Day; New Palace Bakery on Joseph Campau, founded 1908, is the last surviving Polish bakery from the original wave. Detroit-area news stations cover the lines wrapping the block on Fat Tuesday each year, and Faygo released a paczki-flavored soda for the 2020 edition.
Where to eat in Detroit:
- New Palace Bakery
- Srodek's Campau Quality Sausage