Elizabeth Keyser

Up front: "Polish Platter" with bigos, pierogi, kielbasa, potato pancakes and stuffed cabbage. In back: croquettes and red borscht.

The Pirate Restaurant
7 Wall St., Norwalk, (203) 286-7336

Get yourself down to Wall Street in Norwalk, and instead of having pizza, go to The Pirate. Sit at the long copper-topped bar and put yourself in the hands of owner Vieslawa Polak. Your preconceptions about Polish food are about to be blown away. Vieslawa is like the Polish Lidia Bastianich. She's a woman who knows the value of food cooked the way they do back home. Home for her is southern Poland — "the best part," she says with a laugh.

You might start with a martini made with Luksusowa, a smooth vodka made from potatoes. Vieslava swishes vermouth in a long-stemmed glass, pours it out, then fills the glass with chilled Luksusowa and garnishes it with olives. The Pirate also has a wide selection of Polish beers in the fully stocked bar.

Starting to feel relaxed? Now, how about something to eat? Vieslawa's sister, Irena Slorczyk, is downstairs in the kitchen rolling pierogi dough so thin you can see through it and fermenting rye and wheat flour for an authentic white borscht.

Pierogi ($6.50) here are like none you've ever had before — no industrial-thick dough — these are the lightest dumplings, filled with mushrooms and sauerkraut, napped (not sopped) in butter, with a scattering of caramelized onions and a little bacon on top. If you are sharing the plate as an appetizer, you might want to order more, because before you've savored one, your dining companions will have wolfed down the rest. Meat and potato-and-cheese pierogi are also on the menu.

Vieslawa recommends the clear borscht and croquettes ($5.50). The crimson liquid is served in a cup. Each sip reveals layers of complex flavors, earthy sweet beets, apple, singed onion, celery and butter. Intense and deeply satisfying, it seems like an elixir. The secret, Vieslava tells us, is in the long, slow simmering of the vegetables.

Accompanying the soup are two croquettes. They obviously have been fried (the brown bread crumbs attest to that), yet they are not the slightest bit greasy. Bite into them and the initial crunch gives way to the lightest morsel. What are you eating? Crepes rolled around minced poached chicken.

With the red borscht tasting so good, you have to try the white borscht too. This creamy (without containing cream), smooth, rich, slightly tangy soup has an indefinable flavor. Maybe because you've never before had soup made from fermented flour and porchini mushrooms. Pieces of kielbasa impart tones of smoke and ham to the soup.

After these delectable appetizers and soups, the main courses don't seem as exciting. But they are also prepared with care and time. The meatballs with dill sauce ($12.50) are three good-sized — but not enormous — tender pork meatballs served over wide fettuccine noodles. The meat is finely minced and mixed with onion, garlic and just the right amount of breading to give them the springy consistency of the best homemade meatballs. Lots of fresh dill brightens the cream sauce. This subtly flavored dish is served with a small bowl of beet "salad," which is more like a refreshing beet puree with an invigorating dollop of horseradish.

Bigos, hunter's stew ($10.75), is a mix of sauerkraut, meat, bacon, kielbasa, mushrooms and dried fruit. Each spoonful is a tasty medley of the mellow tang of fermented cabbage, rich meat, salty bacon, smoky sausage, earthy mushrooms and sweet prunes. It is served with two scoops of surprisingly light mashed potatoes, more buttery than creamy.

Beef stroganoff ($13.75) is served over fettuccine. The beef is tender and juicy, the cream sauce slightly tangy and rich with meat and mushroom flavors, enlivened with a sprinkle of fresh parsley.

For dessert, we tried the crepes filled with farmer's cheese and raspberry puree, drizzled with chocolate sauce. It didn't thrill me, but that's a matter of taste.

After dinner, we sipped some Slivovitz, the strong, unsweetened plum brandy, to burn through all the food we ate. We had just enjoyed one of the most satisfying meals we'd had in a long time.

Another thing we liked about The Pirate is the air of European professionalism in the service. The wait staff is attentive and aims to please. Our waitress asked us something waiters too often overlook: "Are you ready for the next course?" The staff knows the importance of timing. And the silverware is not just impeccably clean; it looks like it's been polished.

The place is decorated in a pirate theme, which begs the question: "What do pirates have to do with Poland?" The answer is that Vieslava's sister and business partner Iwona Bartosiewicz loves pirates.

Food this good deserves a larger audience. And the prices are beyond reasonable. Go!