This year, March 5 marks Fat Tuesday, the day before the start of the Lent season leading up to Easter. In Milwaukee, Fat Tuesday is also known as Pączki Day, when people flock to area bakeries and wait in lines, even during the harshest Wisconsin weather, to indulge in this Polish delicacy available only once a year.
Pączki, long pronounced by Polish elders on Milwaukee’s South Side as “pounch-key,” is no mere jelly donut. Pączki is made from rich dough that is deep-fried, filled and topped with icing, sugar glaze, granulated sugar or powdered sugar.
National Bakery and Deli (3200 S. 16th St., Milwaukee; 5637 S. Broad St., Greendale; and 13820 W. Greenfield Ave., Brookfield), founded by a Polish immigrant, has long led the way on Pączki Day. Lines frequently stretch down the block at the bakery’s original 16th Street location, which has been a South Side staple since 1925. National Bakery and Deli President and co-owner Jeff Callen said they expect to sell 36,000 pączki on Pączki Day this year at their three National Bakery retail stores, and they’ve turned the event into an experience.
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