Post by rdywenur on Jan 1, 2008 19:14:59 GMT -7
Journey from Poland leads to traditional restaurant
European Flavor Company offers meat, cheese, cheesecake
By Bob Van Enkenvoort
Green Bay Press Gazette
12/26/07
For Andrzej Gasik, it all began with cheesecake.
Gasik, who has operated European Flavor Company in Bellevue for the
past year, learned how to make a traditional, gluten-free cheesecake
using the same recipe as his mother and grandmother as a young boy
in Warsaw, Poland.
His business features a restaurant, delicatessen, bakery and a wall
full of grocery items — all stocked with Polish foods.
"I've been baking the cheesecake since I was a little kid," he
said. "I was doing all the labor and (his mother and grandmother)
were getting all the rewards, the compliments ... I hated it."
But it gave him skills and knowledge that have served him well as
the cheesecake and other Polish recipes that were passed down are
among the staples of his restaurant.
"Basically, you can eat my cheesecake with your fingers," he
said. "It's not soft. It is fully baked."
He sells his cheesecake in a vanilla flavor though some have added
toppings to it after they buy it, but Gasik doesn't advise that.
"You're messing up the good flavor of the cheesecake," he said.
Everything he sells is Polish.
"All the hams and sausages and head cheeses, you name it. … It's
very traditional Polish stuff," Gasik said.
He travels to Chicago every two weeks to stock up on meats from
Polish butchers, breads from Polish bakers and cheeses that are
imported from Poland by a distributor.
"I like to have enough inventory to last me two weeks and have the
turnover so it's always fresh," Gasik said.
He brings back Polish sourdough and rye breads, among others, and
keeps them in a freezer, "because they have no preservatives," Gasik
said.
His cheeses have a different taste than what can be typically found
on grocery store shelves and have no artificial emulsifiers, he said.
"People ask me what this tastes like, I tell them, `I can't say,
there is nothing here that is similar,' " Gasik said.
Some of the cheeses have a sharp taste, but, he said, they taste
different than the traditional sharp cheddar people are used to
around here. Others, he said, are creamy and smooth.
Another popular item, Gasik said, is pierogi, a ravioli-like pasta
with a variety of fillings and toppings.
Those also come from Chicago for two reasons: It is a labor-
intensive process, and he can't make them better than they are.
Nothing is deep-fried, and Gasik only uses extra-virgin olive oil to
cook with.
"Everything is prepared fresh while people wait so if someone is in
a hurry it is advisable for them to call me and let me know what
they would like to have and when they'll be here, and it will be
waiting for them."
Gasik and his wife Henryka married in 1978 and moved to the United
States in 1981 — more out of necessity than a desire to leave
Poland.
"The situation in Poland … I was in the solidarity union, and things
were getting hot," he said. "I was married for over a year and I had
a 1-year-old daughter and I wasn't going to go to jail so we escaped
Poland."
They settled in a refugee camp in Austria before seeking political
asylum in the United States.
The couple settled in Madison with their daughter. They later had
another daughter. The transition was difficult.
"We did not speak English. We did not know anything about the
country or customs or whatever you could think of. It was tough,"
Gasik said. "We had to learn English fast."
His first job was working on designing and building electronic
answering machines.
"And I knew nothing about electronics," he said.
He drove a taxi after being laid off.
"That is the job that really helped me with English," he said. "You
never stop learning, but to be able to communicate with people at a
fairly comfortable level probably (took) about two years," he said.
Meanwhile, his wife worked at a hotel and as a seamstress before
getting into her field of study, civil engineering.
After a stint at First Soils and Engineering Services, she took a
job with architectural and engineering firm Mead and Hunt, which
asked her to transfer to Green Bay in 1997. She has worked there
since.
After one job didn't pan out after the move, Gasik started selling
cars. He would tempt customers with fresh cheesecakes he would place
on his desk. He would tell them they could have a piece if they
bought a car. Of course, he said, he would eventually share it
regardless.
"I was just messing with them," he said with a laugh.
Later, he bought a Fed Ex route that he operated for more than three
years prior to opening his business.
"Then my wife started complaining that I was driving too much and
that it was time to do something different and that was where
(European Flavor Company) came from," he said.
The couple looked at sites in Pulaski and Green Bay before settling
on the Bellevue location, which allowed enough space for all the
elements of the business.
Gasik is often busy cooking and serving customers. (He runs the
operation full time. His wife helps during her lunch hour and after
work.)
Word of mouth has lured customers from throughout Northeastern
Wisconsin, and his lunch crowd varies.
"Sometimes I have so many customers for lunch that I can't catch a
breath, but there are other days that I will have hardly anybody for
lunch," Gasik said.
That's when the multi-facet approach of the business helps.
"If one particular part of our operation is not working well in the
day, the other ones are picking up," he said.
That's what helps the business survive.
"So far the business is breaking even, so it is self sufficient," he
said. "We don't need starter money to keep it going."
When time permits, Gasik likes to visit with customers.
"I don't know how many times I've sat with them while they're eating
and had interesting conversations. We have fun," he said. "You're
not allowed to sit quiet. This is not a church. You have to enjoy
your time when you're here."
He has his share of regulars — some who come in each week or more.
"I have a few customers that are not allowed to touch the menu. From
the door, they ask, `What am I eating today?' "
What started as baking cheesecake in Poland has evolved the goal of
providing customers a fun experience and fresh, Polish food in a
place halfway around the world.
"We like to have fun in here. We like to introduce people to the
Polish heritage. Everything that we offer is very traditional, very
ethnic," he said. "It can't get any more ethnic than it is. I cook
the same way that my mother and my grandmother were cooking."
European Flavor Company offers meat, cheese, cheesecake
By Bob Van Enkenvoort
Green Bay Press Gazette
12/26/07
For Andrzej Gasik, it all began with cheesecake.
Gasik, who has operated European Flavor Company in Bellevue for the
past year, learned how to make a traditional, gluten-free cheesecake
using the same recipe as his mother and grandmother as a young boy
in Warsaw, Poland.
His business features a restaurant, delicatessen, bakery and a wall
full of grocery items — all stocked with Polish foods.
"I've been baking the cheesecake since I was a little kid," he
said. "I was doing all the labor and (his mother and grandmother)
were getting all the rewards, the compliments ... I hated it."
But it gave him skills and knowledge that have served him well as
the cheesecake and other Polish recipes that were passed down are
among the staples of his restaurant.
"Basically, you can eat my cheesecake with your fingers," he
said. "It's not soft. It is fully baked."
He sells his cheesecake in a vanilla flavor though some have added
toppings to it after they buy it, but Gasik doesn't advise that.
"You're messing up the good flavor of the cheesecake," he said.
Everything he sells is Polish.
"All the hams and sausages and head cheeses, you name it. … It's
very traditional Polish stuff," Gasik said.
He travels to Chicago every two weeks to stock up on meats from
Polish butchers, breads from Polish bakers and cheeses that are
imported from Poland by a distributor.
"I like to have enough inventory to last me two weeks and have the
turnover so it's always fresh," Gasik said.
He brings back Polish sourdough and rye breads, among others, and
keeps them in a freezer, "because they have no preservatives," Gasik
said.
His cheeses have a different taste than what can be typically found
on grocery store shelves and have no artificial emulsifiers, he said.
"People ask me what this tastes like, I tell them, `I can't say,
there is nothing here that is similar,' " Gasik said.
Some of the cheeses have a sharp taste, but, he said, they taste
different than the traditional sharp cheddar people are used to
around here. Others, he said, are creamy and smooth.
Another popular item, Gasik said, is pierogi, a ravioli-like pasta
with a variety of fillings and toppings.
Those also come from Chicago for two reasons: It is a labor-
intensive process, and he can't make them better than they are.
Nothing is deep-fried, and Gasik only uses extra-virgin olive oil to
cook with.
"Everything is prepared fresh while people wait so if someone is in
a hurry it is advisable for them to call me and let me know what
they would like to have and when they'll be here, and it will be
waiting for them."
Gasik and his wife Henryka married in 1978 and moved to the United
States in 1981 — more out of necessity than a desire to leave
Poland.
"The situation in Poland … I was in the solidarity union, and things
were getting hot," he said. "I was married for over a year and I had
a 1-year-old daughter and I wasn't going to go to jail so we escaped
Poland."
They settled in a refugee camp in Austria before seeking political
asylum in the United States.
The couple settled in Madison with their daughter. They later had
another daughter. The transition was difficult.
"We did not speak English. We did not know anything about the
country or customs or whatever you could think of. It was tough,"
Gasik said. "We had to learn English fast."
His first job was working on designing and building electronic
answering machines.
"And I knew nothing about electronics," he said.
He drove a taxi after being laid off.
"That is the job that really helped me with English," he said. "You
never stop learning, but to be able to communicate with people at a
fairly comfortable level probably (took) about two years," he said.
Meanwhile, his wife worked at a hotel and as a seamstress before
getting into her field of study, civil engineering.
After a stint at First Soils and Engineering Services, she took a
job with architectural and engineering firm Mead and Hunt, which
asked her to transfer to Green Bay in 1997. She has worked there
since.
After one job didn't pan out after the move, Gasik started selling
cars. He would tempt customers with fresh cheesecakes he would place
on his desk. He would tell them they could have a piece if they
bought a car. Of course, he said, he would eventually share it
regardless.
"I was just messing with them," he said with a laugh.
Later, he bought a Fed Ex route that he operated for more than three
years prior to opening his business.
"Then my wife started complaining that I was driving too much and
that it was time to do something different and that was where
(European Flavor Company) came from," he said.
The couple looked at sites in Pulaski and Green Bay before settling
on the Bellevue location, which allowed enough space for all the
elements of the business.
Gasik is often busy cooking and serving customers. (He runs the
operation full time. His wife helps during her lunch hour and after
work.)
Word of mouth has lured customers from throughout Northeastern
Wisconsin, and his lunch crowd varies.
"Sometimes I have so many customers for lunch that I can't catch a
breath, but there are other days that I will have hardly anybody for
lunch," Gasik said.
That's when the multi-facet approach of the business helps.
"If one particular part of our operation is not working well in the
day, the other ones are picking up," he said.
That's what helps the business survive.
"So far the business is breaking even, so it is self sufficient," he
said. "We don't need starter money to keep it going."
When time permits, Gasik likes to visit with customers.
"I don't know how many times I've sat with them while they're eating
and had interesting conversations. We have fun," he said. "You're
not allowed to sit quiet. This is not a church. You have to enjoy
your time when you're here."
He has his share of regulars — some who come in each week or more.
"I have a few customers that are not allowed to touch the menu. From
the door, they ask, `What am I eating today?' "
What started as baking cheesecake in Poland has evolved the goal of
providing customers a fun experience and fresh, Polish food in a
place halfway around the world.
"We like to have fun in here. We like to introduce people to the
Polish heritage. Everything that we offer is very traditional, very
ethnic," he said. "It can't get any more ethnic than it is. I cook
the same way that my mother and my grandmother were cooking."