Epicure

We’ve long been fans of Sophia Para’s eponymous Polish food shop in Fells Point’s Broadway Market. But now with the market’s recent total renovation (just look at those beautiful wood-beamed ceilings!), we can
actually take a seat at Sophia’s Place and order up a bowl of red borscht or a pierogi platter and enjoy them at a counter. Para still stocks 15 varieties of Polish sausages, containers of creamed herring and worth-the-trip poncki or Polish doughnuts, filled with plum butter or rose-flavored marmalade. (Imported from New York City, they’re available only on Fridays.) But she’s added a selection of soups and sandwiches, ranging from duck pâté with hot pepper cheese, honey mustard and lettuce and tomato on pumpernickel to a Mediterranean veggie panini. Still, we’ll always return for her golabki or stuffed cabbage. As we recently overheard a woman at the counter utter breathlessly after sampling a bite: “Oh, damn, that’s good.” Open Mon.-Sat., 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.