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Residents of Chicago and Detroit recognize the importance of preparing in advance for Fat Tuesday, ensuring they can enjoy the city’s finest paczki. With the hustle of daily life, including long lines and busy schedules, indulging in these calorie-rich, deep-fried pastries filled with custard, cream, or jam can be a challenge. This year, however, consumers may face higher prices for these festive treats due to rising ingredient costs, particularly eggs.
Eggs are essential not only in paczki dough but also in the popular custard fillings. Unfortunately, recent outbreaks of bird flu and potential price manipulation have led to a steep increase in egg prices, affecting a wide range of food establishments from small diners to delis and bodegas. For instance, a Polish restaurant in Plymouth, Michigan, Three Brothers, has announced the cancellation of its Fat Tuesday sales, citing “the rising cost of eggs and staffing constraints” as the reasons behind this decision, a trend echoed by other establishments.
In recent years, some restaurants have deviated from traditional Polish recipes to attract attention in a competitive market. Some have incorporated unique flavors such as giardiniera or cannoli pastry cream. Additionally, breweries and distilleries have begun to create sweet beers utilizing paczki, further enhancing the festive experience.
On the other hand, establishments like Heritage Restaurant & Caviar Bar from Chicago’s Humboldt Park have introduced savory versions of the treat. In a creative twist, Heritage has begun offering breakfast paczki filled with eggs, bacon, and aioli. This year, despite the hike in costs, the restaurant is vigorously promoting the holiday with a Fat Tuesday pop-up, featuring two unique paczki sliders. These sliders will include gourmet ingredients such as steak tartare, wild mushrooms, and Grand Cru caviar, while the other will combine gravlax, cream cheese, and Golden Osetra roe. Co-owner and chef Guy Meikle, who grew up in a Czech-Polish family, embraces the freedom to innovate beyond traditional offerings.
The intricate process of frying and filling the paczki presents distinct challenges for staff. Meikle plans to manage much of the preparation on Monday evening, just after dinner service, with his sous chef, Steph Mateja, aiding later into the night. The increase in ingredient costs and staffing issues prompted a $1 rise in price this year, making each paczki $6; however, Meikle believes this still represents a fair value for customers.
“Operating a restaurant is costly,” Meikle notes. “We have a robust cost management system that helps us stay informed about any changes in our expenses.”
Heritage is also providing vegan options available for $40 per dozen this year, which is a $4 increase compared to their traditional sweet paczki offerings.
The Tribune highlights how various bakeries are coping with the surge in egg prices. For instance, a manager at Olympia Bakery in Hickory Hills estimates that the increasing costs have made paczki 300 percent more expensive to produce.
Conversely, Zeitlin Delicatessen is maintaining its Fat Tuesday prices, offering a box of six for $25.20, although it has had to raise prices on its egg and cheese bagels, a customer favorite on its regular menu.
In Detroit, Erica Pietrzyk, who owns the Pietrzyk Pierogi in Eastern Market, typically requires 90 to 150 dozen eggs weekly just for her pierogi dough. For Paczki Day, she needs an additional 45 to 60 dozen eggs for the paczki and its creamy custard and lemon curd fillings. In 2024, her paczki were priced at $36 per dozen, but this year she has increased the cost to $39. “I probably should have raised it by $5, but I felt reluctant,” Pietrzyk confesses. “The profit margins on paczki are minimal; it’s mostly a tradition for us.”
Unlike larger producers, Pietrzyk focuses on crafting paczki in smaller batches, which has resulted in a drop in preorders this year, from around 80-100 to just 50. This decrease may reflect broader consumer trends, as rising costs prompt tighter spending. Pietrzyk believes that Polish cuisine often struggles for respect in the market, with customers hesitant to pay more for quality. She hopes that patrons recognize the differences among paczki offerings.
“Lower prices often mean that they’re either not prepared traditionally, or they’re just repackaged jelly doughnuts with the label ‘paczki’ slapped on them,” states Pietrzyk.
Source
chicago.eater.com