Kramarczuk’s is a third-generation, family-owned Ukrainian and Eastern European restaurant, bakery, deli, and sausage-making operation in northeast Minneapolis, founded in 1954 by Ukrainian immigrants Wasyl and Anna Kramarczuk and recognized as an America’s Classic by the James Beard Foundation in 2013. A restaurant critic highlights eleven essential dishes and items to order across multiple visits:
1. Pierogi: Handmade daily in varieties like potato-cheese, meat (slow-braised beef and pork ribs), mushroom, and sauerkraut. They are best served with sautéed onions and horseradish sour cream.
2. Cabbage Roll: Comfort food made with a beef, pork, and rice filling. Regulars frequently employ an off-menu trick to order it with a combination of two sauces, such as earthy mushroom cream and old-school tomato cream.
3. Sausages: Handcrafted house specials include Ukrainian sausage, Polish kielbasa, and bratwurst served on house-baked buns. The business also produces custom, small-batch sausages for local chefs and institutions like the Minnesota Twins.
4. Combination Platter: A secret menu item bringing together a cabbage roll, a choice of sausage, three mix-and-match pierogi, horseradish sour cream, and a side like red cabbage or sauerkraut.
5. Borshch with Pampushka: A hearty Ukrainian beet-based soup featuring cabbage, carrots, and generous cuts of bone-in beef and pork ribs for a rich, umami-laden broth. It is traditionally paired with pampushka, a small garlic roll.
6. Bigos: A slow-cooked, traditional Polish hunter’s stew combining fresh cabbage, sauerkraut, bacon, kielbasa, other meats, prunes, and spices, reflecting the neighborhood’s Polish heritage.
7. Grinder: A hefty sandwich served on a house-baked Vienna roll stuffed with house-made Krakowska sausage, hot capicola, soppressata, provolone, Italian slaw, and pungent garlic mayonnaise.
8. Reuben on Pumpernickel: Made with thinly sliced corned beef, melted baby Swiss, Thousand Island dressing, and seasoned sauerkraut, balanced by nutty, house-baked pumpernickel bread.
9. Walnut Torte: An Austro-Hungarian style layer cake featuring dense walnut cake and rich coffee buttercream, developed originally by co-founder Anna Kramarczuk.
10. Kyiv Torte: A dessert featuring crisp hazelnut meringue layered with rum and cocoa buttercream, introduced to the bakery following the arrival of new Ukrainian employees after 2022.
11. Napoleonka: A Polish-style variation of the French mille-feuille, featuring a thick layer of vanilla custard and whipped cream sandwiched between two exceptionally light, crisp sheets of puff pastry.
