Olive Visco first launched Polska Laska as an Instagram account, offering handmade pierogies for sale during the pandemic.
And now, she’s opened the doors to its brick-and-mortar iteration, a cozy new café in Sharpsburg.
“I’ve been in the restaurant industry for 16 years,” Visco says. “And when COVID hit, I lost my job, and I thought, ‘Okay, what am I going to do to make money? There were about three months of absolutely no money coming in, and I just got a new apartment that I thought I could afford… so, I was in a predicament.”
With restaurants shutting down across the city, and her unemployment held up with red tape, Visco had to pivot – and quickly.
“I come from a Polish family, and I always really loved how much Pittsburgh loved pierogies,” she says. “And I knew I could make pretty good pierogies, so I thought that I could do that and make a buck.”
Visco started listing pierogies for sale on her personal Instagram account, making batches, then selling them out of her apartment.
“I was living on Penn Avenue, and people would just text me their orders then come to my door to pick it up,” she says.
Week after week, she says, the pierogies became more popular, and she quickly started making enough money to pay her rent and expenses. Eventually, she decided to brand herself, and Polska Laska was born.
“I wasn’t sure what my business was going to look like because I was killing it under the radar,” she says. “But then this space in Sharpsburg opened up, and it made a lot of sense for me to take it over, and open a café. Then, a month later, I got pregnant! And two months after that, I got married. So, a lot happened.”
Plans for the café were on hold as Visco’s pregnancy progressed.
“I did wholesale for Kelly’s, and Stuntpig, and I was still doing personal orders,” she says. “I chipped away, little by little, at the idea of opening a full-fledged storefront, and then, I totally dropped out for about three months when I had my baby, and was recovering.”
Taking that time off allowed Visco, along with her husband, Sky, to crystallize plans for Polska Laska.
“As soon as I came back after having my baby – I never felt so clear-minded, I never felt so confident in the business, and so motivated,” Visco says. “My son, Kip, he completely drew back the blinds, and everything lit up, and I understood exactly what I had to do. I became such a better person.”
And now, after months of work (and a six-month old Kip in tow), Visco has officially opened the doors to the café.
Polska Laska, a small (“but very well-lit”) café has counter service and 18 seats for diners, and a tight opening menu, that Visco says will eventually grow.
“Right now, the menu is very Polish,” Visco says. “We’ll have pierogies, our Polish platter, spaetzle, cabbage rolls, soups, cucumber salad – everything that I’m known for right now.”
Eventually, Visco says, she plans on expanding the menu to include dishes that pay homage to her Polish family in New England, like Boston brown bread and New England clam chowder.
“You can always come in and get really good Polish food, but also really good comfort food, too,” she says. “Things that I was raised on, but things that I’m newly interested in, too.”
Polska Laska will be open Wednesday through Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. In addition to dine-in options, Visco will also have prepared foods available to go, including pierogies, cabbage rolls, and soup.
Polska Laska (1100 N. Canal Street)
Leave a Reply