A Visit to Jubilat Provisions in Brooklyn, New York
In June of 2007, my family’s favorite Polish butcher, Kurowycky Meats, sadly closed its doors after 52 years of business. Ever since then, I have been looking for a source of kielbasa to replace the incredible product that Kurowycky offered. Last January, The New York Times, ran a piece about Jubilat Provisions, located in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn, New York. The shop is owned by Krzysztof Kuna and his brother-in-law Stanley Myjak and they’ve been in business since 1991. Their goal was to bring authentic Polish flavor to America and they feel they have achieved this mission. At Jubilat Provisions, the focus has always been about quality with everything, from the cleanliness of the shop and workers to how the food looks and tastes. Last Saturday, I asked Ron Palacio, my Social Media Content Director, who lives in Brooklyn, to visit the store and photograph for the blog. Please enjoy this little tour of an old-time business.
1 Saturday was cold and snowy, but the weather couldn't keep customers from shopping at Jubilat Provisions, an authentic little Polish butchery in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn.
2 Upon entering the shop, you immediately take in the aroma of expertly seasoned and hickory smoked Polish kielbasa, ham, bacon, and various other meats.
3 Many customers sing praises for Jubilat's special fried bacon.
4 This smoked bacon is deep-fried in oil and it is quite delicious.
5 House-made kielbasa in various tastes and sizes hangs, ready to be sold. The entire process of grinding and seasoning the meat, stuffing the sausages, and smoking them, takes place right in the store.
6 Ben Meskin and Jubilat Provisions co-owner, Stanley Myjak - Ben has been a customer for nearly 20 years and admitted to having many favorites. However, if he had to choose just one, it would be the fried bacon.
7 Jannsz Biedrzcki is another loyal and happy customer. He's been shopping at Jubilat for 21 years and says Stanley's kielbasa is the best in the world!
8 The smoked bacon is a big seller.
9 As is the Canadian bacon
10 Stanley prepares little smoked hams twice a year at Christmas and Easter. He says that it's challenging to keep up with the demand. Better put your order in now, before it's too late!
11 The double smoked kielbasa is excellent.
12 These smaller links are called hunter sausage.
13 White sausage - essentially unsmoked kielbasa
14 Blood sausage and liverwurst in a natural casing above.
15 Liverwurst in a plastic casing.
16 Knockwurst
17 House-made pâtés including veal loaf, meatloaf, and liver pâté
18 House-made salami and bologna
19 Salceson Bruszwik is also know as headcheese.
20 A closer look at the headcheese
21 Peppered homemade ham
22 Various carefully chosen cold cuts are supplied by a Polish purveyor in Chicago.
23 This is a chicken headcheese, another big seller.
24 In the back of the shop is the smokery, wafting with hickory smoke.
25 Surplus meat is stored in a big refrigerator.
26 When the display meat runs out, it's replenished with this inventory.
27 In addition, Jubilat offers a nice variety of cheeses and select cuts of fresh pork.
28 His ever-growing customer base includes young and old, of Polish heritage and other ethnicities.
29 The store also has a large selection of food products imported from Eastern Europe.
30 Fruit juices
31 A jar of sour soup concentrate
32 Fine egg noodles
33 Many varieties of canned fish
34 Herring fillets and flounder too
35 Polish customers appreciate the availability of these food products and American customers love trying things that are otherwise unique to Poland.
36 There's even Polish ketchup!
37 Jars of pickled mushrooms
38 Tangy red beets with horseradish
39 The dill pickles are always fresh and delivered daily from a local pickler.
40 And so is the sauerkraut
41 There are also several types of rye and whole-grain breads to choose from.
42 Jubilat Provisions is a real neighborhood business. The children of their very first customers are grown now and are still returning to shop.
43 Stanley Myjak and his son Jonathan
44 Stanley with his hard-working staff - Nojciech Gtowecki, Johnathan Myjak, and Sabastian Landa
Martha Pins
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I love local specialty stores like this one....
Posted by: Holiday Baker Man | March 19th, 2013 at 1:48 am
Wonderful tour. Makes me wish I didn't live so far away. I would be there every week shopping.
Posted by: Sara | March 19th, 2013 at 2:06 am
Martha,
Sorry to hear Kurowycky your old store closed, but glad you found Jubilat Provisions. I would just love to try out the bacon. Ron you took excellent photos, I enjoyed this tour. Thanks for sharing this blog.
Posted by: KLBrown | March 19th, 2013 at 3:17 am
Thanks for letting us know about this great Polish food shop, so fun to meet mr. Kuna and Mr. Myjak. Our grandfather immigrated from Czech Republic and love to learn more about area foods. Ron Palacio did a wonderful job showing us another way to bring home the bacon. My neighbors from Houston have opened a little restaurant selling smoked meat as BBQ here and were caterers at a recent birthday party where the brisket was memorable. I want to go to Jubilat in Brooklyn.
Posted by: ann | March 19th, 2013 at 4:37 am
Please try this meat market in New Britain, CT!
Largest Polish population in CT.
The New Britain and Newington, Connecticut, area is home to several very good meat markets and butchers. Because these businesses do not advertise extensively, local consumers are often unsure of which meat markets and butchers to patronize. Presented here, in an effort to assist the consumer, is a guide that offers pertinent information regarding some of the top meat markets and butchers in the New Britain and Newington, Connecticut area.
A) Nozewski Meat Products Inc..259 Broad St, New Britain. (860)224-0450
Nozewski Meat Products is a large and clean establishment that sells many types of meat, including bulk meat. Customers regularly travel from near and far to purchase the high- quality meat products here. Specializing in beef and pork products, this meat market is known for their delicious kielbasa and liverwurst, as well as many other imported delicacies from Poland and Germany. Other tasty items regularly sold at this New Britain, Connecticut meat market include smoked bacon, sausage, dried beef and pork, specialty meats and breads. This authentic Polish meat market is open Monday through Saturday and is closed on Sundays.
Posted by: Mary | March 19th, 2013 at 6:28 am
Thanks for sharing about this interesting shop, Martha.
Posted by: Angela | March 19th, 2013 at 6:53 am
Hi there! Someone in my Myspace group shared this site with us
so I came to check it out. I'm definitely loving the information. I'm book-marking and will
be tweeting this to my followers! Outstanding blog and excellent design and style.
Posted by: lokale w skawinie | March 19th, 2013 at 7:07 am
Specialty shops like Jubilat Provisions are so much fun to explore. It's interesting to learn about other cultures especially through food.
I congratulate Mr. Kuna and Mr. Myjak on their success, everything in their shop looks delicious!
Nicely done Ron, lovely pictures and commentary.
Posted by: Cindy F | March 19th, 2013 at 7:50 am
I don't know if it's just me or if everybody else
encountering issues with your website. It appears like some of the
text within your posts are running off the screen. Can somebody else please
provide feedback and let me know if this is happening to them as well?
This could be a issue with my browser because I've had this happen before. Kudos
Posted by: donice | March 19th, 2013 at 8:11 am
Thank you for the tour looks delicious
Posted by: Rowaida Flayhan | March 19th, 2013 at 9:03 am
YUMMMMM!!!!
Posted by: Sharon | March 19th, 2013 at 9:07 am
Hi Martha, How great that you found another Polish butcher like the one you loved years ago called Kurowycky Meats that you and your wonderful Mother must have visited many times! Being Polish, I know you do love their Polish foods! How nice that you discovered the new Polish Jubilat Provisions in Brooklyn, NY and were able to send Ron Palacio,one of your workers. to check it out for you! Ron did an absolute, fantastic job taking all of these marvelous photos and giving us great information about what is available at Jubilat Provisions! I'm sure you will visit it ASAP to get some of their delicious looking meats, etc.! I would love to eat all of the Kielbasa, ham, bacon, and other meats and items they have at Jubilat Provisions in Brooklyn! Viewing all of these great photos Ron shared makes me very hungry! At least I can go fry some bacon that will make me think of those meats! Hope you are having a great day and hope that spring will come very soon! Off to see The Daily Wag where F&S are checking out one of your stinky flowers! They are so cute!! Jan
Posted by: Jan Erickson | March 19th, 2013 at 9:45 am
Hi Martha,
It must be a real treat to be able to get great Polish meats when you want them! I love Kielbasa but haven’t tasted the real deal since I moved from Michigan where we had the Polish neighborhood of Hamtramck. I used to work part-time in a bar there when I was in my 20s and the parties they gave during holidays was one big source of Polish food. Delish! And then later on we owned our own bar that served business lunches and our lady cooks were Polish. They could never make enough stuffed cabbage. I think I was Polish in one of my other lives, (think Shirley MacLaine), because I love the food so much. I just tweeted the other day about being on a Kielbasa kick. I bet those red beets with horseradish are good as well as the chicken head cheese - so many choices at Jubilat Provisions.
~
I think all of us who have seen your earlier TV show know of the Kurowycky’s. You’ve taken us to their meat store and they cooked many cuts of meat in front of the camera. It had to be a sad time for you when they closed up shop. The elderly Mr. Kurowycky either lived at the Polo Club across from my development or he vacationed there in the winter. I saw the notice in the local paper when he passed and wondered if I ever saw him at Publix and didn’t recognize him. Chrissy Evert used to live there too. Thanks to Ron Palacio for great pictures – I recognize his name from Twitter and I think he tweets for you once in awhile when you’re super busy. Have a great day everyone. Trish
Posted by: Trish | March 19th, 2013 at 10:30 am
Dear Martha,
What's the fastest way from Las Vegas to Brooklyn? Via The Martha Blog! ...and just slap me in the face with a clothes line of Polish meats why don't ya?!
But that's not what interests me here. I am celebrating success and sustainability of family owned and run businesses commited to excellence: I remember when your Butcher, Kurowsky Meats closed. It was a sad loss. However, I'm very much thrilled for you and Krzysztof Kuna, Stanley Myjak and staff: Nojciech Gtoweck, Johnathan Myjak and Sebastian Landa at Jubilat Provisions in Brooklyn!
I'm proud of Brooklyn, NY! and Jubilat Provisions for keeping the American Dream Alive!
...and that image of hanging meats never fails to tug at my heart strings a bit! Knowing me, I'd be leaving there with the pickles and 2 loaves of dill bread!
No doubt, Martha "Kostra"; you hit the jackpot!
Thanks, Martha, and Ron Palacio...for the link! Ha!
Posted by: Tina Y. | March 19th, 2013 at 10:30 am
The best Polish Kielbasa and Krakowska in the Twin Cities are at Kramzrczuk's. I have been going there my whole life! Get ready to wait in line! Awesome place to people watch and hear many languages ordering their sausages!
Posted by: Diane | March 19th, 2013 at 11:09 am
Another wonderful foodie tour! I remember very well my mother's family eating many of these foods...some of which we still eat. I always passed on the headcheese...do you like it, Martha?
Posted by: Sherey | March 19th, 2013 at 11:19 am
What a wonderful sounding store! Makes me wish I lived in NY city! Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Margie Clyde | March 19th, 2013 at 11:20 am
Martha, I forgot to mention that I'll be setting my alarm clock for 5 A.M. Wednesday morning to watch Martha Stewart Craft Paints on HSN with Melinda McKinsey. I love your craft paints - they go on so easy with no smell and they're not sticky after drying. I'll never use another brand. Here's my latest project - a wooden turntable using your Putting Green and Mother of Pearl paint plus a fern stencil I bought from Martha by Mail. This turntable was a rotating car seat that I recently bought but found it too hard so I took it apart and painted it. I could put a doily underneath if I want to use it for a cake but right now it's storing my pen holders and staplers, etc. Sorry for small picture but this is the result from transferring from Twitter to Pinterest. http://pinterest.com/pin/100064422943216763/ Trish
Posted by: Trish | March 19th, 2013 at 12:23 pm
We have a similar shop on Cleveland's West side called The Sausage Shoppe, but it's products are done German style. It has ben there over 80 years.
Posted by: hilde dougher | March 19th, 2013 at 2:07 pm
Nice article girlfriend!!
Posted by: Atasi | March 19th, 2013 at 2:57 pm
It is so nice to see places like this still around. So important in the world of mega marts and warehouse stores to support small, local, family owned businesses. So glad to see someone with as much power as you agrees.
Posted by: Laura Dembowski | March 19th, 2013 at 4:01 pm
Thank you for the tour. I love that shops like this still exist! I especially liked the photos of the shop owner with family, staff and customers. You are lucky to have access to this wonderful store. Enjoy. My kielbasa comes in a plastic wrapper.
Posted by: Diane P | March 19th, 2013 at 7:53 pm
Hi Martha, I wasn't sure how to get ahold of you on this matter, and this has nothing to do with this blog. I have the first time app on Egg Dyeing and just got a message to download a new revision on it. I did that, but my app hasn't worked since that day.(it was working) I also saw an advertisement since then to download the egg dyeing app if I didn't have it. So I tried that also and it still isn't working. Has there been any complaints about this app? Anything that I need to do to get it going again? Easter is on the way and I'd really like to play this app again to my grandkids. We always check for new things to try so it would be pretty sad if I can't get this going. If anything, thanks for listening! Just so you know, I really enjoy reading my MSL magazine, any new crafts to try out, new recipes, etc...you are the bomb!!! You are someone I look up to!!! Love everything you do!!!
Regards, Isabel King
Posted by: Isabel King | March 21st, 2013 at 1:09 pm
It was great to read about a place we visit frequently! They have wonderful meats and a real taste of Poland. I hope you get a chance to visit them too. Just an FYI....the lines can get pretty long around the holidays, especially Easter. You may have to wait an hour to get your order in:) Thanks for the pictures! Enjoyed the blog
Posted by: Anna N | March 21st, 2013 at 11:19 pm
The area of Istanbul I live in, Beşıktaş, is a sister city to Brooklyn. One of the things I love about my neighborhood, Istanbul, and Turkey in general is wonderful small businesses like this one that you showed. It feels so wonderful to patronize the local butchers rather than buy meat in a chain store. Plus, it gives peoples' lives such dignity and joy to own their own operation.
Posted by: Karen | March 26th, 2013 at 11:31 pm
We have been in business for 70 years. We have the best smoked and "fresh" kielbasa available. We use all Iowa pork butts to insure tenderness and full flavor. We are USDA inspected everyday. We have a facebook page.Take a look at all our Polish meats. We are located in Upstate New York. We would be happy to ship you samples of any product you would like to sample. We will prove to you that Hapanowicz Bros is the closest business you will find that can give you just what you feel you have been missing. Give us a call at 315736.8288..
Posted by: Leonard Hapanowicz | April 2nd, 2013 at 8:36 pm
Amazing blog...! It was nice reading it. Thanks for sharing
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