In the 88th spot on the 2005 Voice list lies Kasia’s, a Polish diner on the corner of North 9th Street and Bedford Avenue. Yesterday, when I could only wish for a temperature as low as 88, I paid Kasia’s a visit and tried to ignore their non-functional air-conditioning.
The friendly service was exemplary under the circumstances, though I do get tired of the community complaining that goes on any time some guy walks in with a grudge against Con Ed/Bloomberg/the Man. Wasn’t 311 invented so people could get this stuff off their chest before they left the house? Yeah, it’s hot, it sucks, et cetera – the idiot wind ain’t makin’ it any more tolerable, there, dude.
As to the bill of fare at Kasia’s, I fear that it’s a bit too expensive to really qualify for bargain status. While the $9.25-ish plate of a split and cross-hatched kielbasa with a microwave-burrito-looking potato blintz was satisfying, it wasn’t necessarily the greatest thing since shaved horseradish (speaking of which, I was pleased that the jarred variety was included with the plate, along with sour cream and applesauce for the blintz). Better bargains are available on and off Manhattan Avenue north of the park, I think.
That said, if you were geographically limited to two blocks from the Bedford L, you could do a lot worse. And afterwards, you can slide on down a couple blocks further to the Turkey’s Nest and score yourself a beer in a Styrofoam cup AND a kickball-playing hipster girl. I’ll leave it to you to make up your own kielbasa joke.
Twenty Bucks A Day 