Grand Rapids Best ‘Home Made’ Kielbasa
A Co-worker of mine recently pitched me the idea of covering his efforts to find the best home-made Keilbasa in Grand Rapids. Normally this blog would only discuss local restaurants, but I don’t see why local markets shouldn’t have a chance to be highlighted in John Chapman’s efforts. Here is his challenge…
My Mission (John Chapman):
To find the best ‘home made’ style fresh kielbasa in Grand Rapids.
Why did I take on this arduous and potentially dangerous task of self-inflicted cholesterol? I wanted to get some kielbasa as a special ‘manly’ football meal for the conference championship weekend. I had driven past Lewandoski’s Market on Walker Ave. many times, but have never had an opportunity to stop in when they are open. To continue that trend, when my son and I got there they were closed! But my persistance was rewarded when I wandered around the West Side of town to find my first matchup of kielbasa. After that, I realized that this needed to continue; matching up handmade kielbasas until I had found a winner.
The eight sausage-makers in the running are:
Frank’s Market
750 West Fulton St.
Parkside Marketplace
1153 West Fulton St.
Ralph’s Food Market
655 Leonard St. NW
20th Century Market
610 Bridge St. NW
Lewandoski’s Market
1107 Walker Ave. NW
Kingma’s Market
2225 Plainfield Ave. NE
Sobie Meats
3919 Remembrance Rd. NW
Vanball’s Meats
3442 Plainfield Ave. NE
Quarterfinals- Matchup #1: Frank’s Market vs. Parkside Marketplace
I went in Parkside which is a nice neighborhood grocery store and was greeted by a gentleman behind the meat counter. I asked for about a foot of kielbasa not knowing how to order (do you order by length or weight?) He and I exchanged some friendly banter and I was on my way. The cashier was also very friendly. Great service.
When I saw the sign for Frank’s I was on Fulton and had to turn the car around. This usually happens with signs that say jerky, homemade sausages, and quality meats. The building reminds me of the hardware store in my hometown; wood floors, high ceiling, big windows, interesting smells (here it was smoked kielbasa, I’m not sure why the hardware smelled.) There were several younger guys working behind the counter that seemed like they might like to be doing something other than working. The guy that helped me was nice enough though. He got out my sausage from the case, walked down and rang me up and I was on my way.
As far as the product, I prepared each one the same way; in a pan with water. Nothing fancy, I wanted to taste the product, not what I added to it. Between the two, the victor was Frank’s. It had more flavor and a tender casing. The Parkside kielbasa was more bland and the casing was getting in the way, almost enough for me to not finish it. Frank’s was the winner hands down.
The next matchup is on February 6th between Ralph’s Food Market and 20th Century Market. Both come with recommendations but I think 20th Century will come out on top due to its focus on meat. I’ll be the judge.
Future Matchups:
Ralph’s v. 20th Century- Feb. 6
Lewandoski’s v. Kingma’s- Feb. 20
Sobie v. Vanball’s- Mar. 6
*Feel free to share your thoughts on John’s adventure.
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I’m sure this is a no brainer but there are other sausages in town that should get a shot from you. Creswick Farms would win in any meat category you put it through. Their meat can be purchased many places, including at their farm, the West Michigan Coop, and Grand River Grocery in Ada. It can also be found in many restaurants in town….too many to list here. Besides being tasty they are also a sustainably run small (local) farm. I get weirded out by Cisco meat. Maybe you could review them in grill season (they have dry aged beef) if you don’t try their sausages now.