A couple of months ago, a bright new mural appeared on Suydam Street. A cartoonish hand, holding a steaming cup, with bright rays of yellow bursting from behind, announced the lure of coffee and more, from inside. “How long have you been here,” I asked on my first visit last week. A deadpan, “two years,” from Ewelina Heperek, was the reply.
Heperek, who co-owns the Alizee café with Karolina Musial, has been working hard to increase the business’s visibility. For years they had been hidden behind a non-descript green awning. Now they’re out in the open, alerting neighbors who just didn’t know they were there. In the petite café, they serve coffee and tea and mix of sandwiches, smoothies, and breakfast items.
The menu is peppered with Polish names, with items like the Zapiekanka — a baguette cradling grilled mushrooms and cheese. The carefully constructed Kanapka sports layers of smoky poledwica ham and podlaski cheese with hard boiled egg, tomato, and butter. Bushwickers can stay on this side of the borough line for their Warsaw-inflected grub now. A more American item is The Hangover, with ham, bacon, sauteed onions, and an egg on a roll — ask for the spicy mayo.
“We want to do more hourly specials. Hot periogis, stuff like that,” says Heperek, who lives above the café. It’s surprisingly busy on a Thursday afternoon, as a small line forms for toasted bagels, freshly squeezed apple and carrot juice, and scrambled eggs served with Polish sausage and onions. The café has a homespun feel, with shelves stocked with bowls and utensils, and a domestic fridge stocked with pitchers of coffee waiting to be poured over cups of ice.








Brandon September 9th, 2011 at 2:40 pm
minor point, but it’s Suydam Street… and hey, there was always Starr Delicatessen for some Polish grub. But this place looks nice for ya’ll who don’t want to wander up to Ridgewood.
Lindsay September 10th, 2011 at 12:43 pm
LOVE this place! I’ve been dropping by for a few years, but we should really go more frequently. The grilled cheese… OMG! The grilled cheese is absolutely INSANE! I crave it some days. It’s not really a grilled cheese, it’s like mega sandwich madness. It has cheese, bacon, grilled onions, avocado, mustard, and mayonaise. We weren’t sure about the mustard and mayonaise, but sometimes you just have to trust the cook. It really makes the sandwich. GO! Glad they’re finally getting press. I keep living in fear that they’ll close.
burrower September 11th, 2011 at 1:28 pm
I live in Ridgewood, where there is no dearth of Polish delis and restaurants, but I have yet to find a single place that delivers! Alizee, will you deliver? I will be an instant customer. Also hoping for cheese and fruit blintzes??? Fingers crossed.