Pierogi and pils: A Polish restaurant and a brewery walk into a bar in Port Richmond

Pierogi and pils? Pickled herring and pinot?

Carbon Copy, the West Philadelphia brewery and winery, and Mom-Mom’s, the Polish-themed eatery, will join forces this spring in Port Richmond at the former Lunar Inn on the corner of Richmond and Clementine Streets, which closed in December after five years.

Carbon Copy’s Kyle Wolak, Brendon Boudwin, and Bill Braun will run the bar, while Mom-Mom’s Ryan Elmore and Kaitlin Wines will oversee the kitchen at the bar-restaurant. The sign will carry both businesses’ names.

The expanded Mom-Mom’s menu will be “an ode to our grandparents and things that we grew up eating,” Elmore said. “There will be a few things on the menu that don’t scream Polish but it’s all going to be stuff influenced by our time spent at our grandparents’ house.”

Expect four or five different kinds of pierogi, plus a rotating special. According to Elmore, there will also be golabki, kotlet (schnitzel), ”broiled flounder, because I’m from the Jersey Shore and I freaking love broiled flounder,” grilled kielbasa, zrazy (beef roll ups), and a few vegetable sides, such as boiled potatoes, beet salad, mizeria, and pickled vegetables.

Elmore also mentioned the possibility of a burger and wings, as well as house-made pretzels, cheesy kabanos, pickled herring with Kaplan’s rye bread and horseradish, plus a plate of imported Polish meats. And there will be a liverwurst and onion sandwich (”because my pop-pop loved it, and so do I”).

Elmore and Wines will also host pierogi-making classes, known fittingly as Pierogial School, and sell pierogi by the dozen, along with a small selection of Polish and local specialty items. Carbon Copy beer and wine will be available to go, too.

As restaurateurs work to improve their bottom lines, bar-restaurant collaborations are becoming increasingly popular: Poe’s Sandwich Joint is set up inside Human Robot’s brewery, Liberty Kitchen operates inside Two Locals, and CJ&D’s Trenton Tomato Pies has a counter inside Cartesian Brewing. Countless other breweries contract with outside food trucks.

These also seem to be heady times for Polish food in the river wards, which has seen destinations like Syrenka, New Wave, and Krakus close in recent years. Like chef Michael Brenfleck at the soon-to-open Little Walter’s in East Kensington, Elmore and Wines want to revive the cuisine and culture in Port Richmond, a longtime settlement of Polish immigrants. The business’s namesake — Wines’ “mom-mom,” Rita Chmielewski, now 101 — had her first holy communion at St. Adalbert around the corner from the combined Mom-Mom’s and Carbon Copy.

Wines and Elmore started in the Polish food world in 2014 with a cart, adding a restaurant in 2018 that closed during the pandemic. In the coming weeks, the existing Mom-Mom’s location — a takeout spot at 1505 South St., attached to Bob & Barbara’s Lounge — and its production kitchen at the Arsenal will close, Elmore said. But the food cart and farmers market outposts (Headhouse on Sundays, Burlington County on rotating Saturdays and Collingswood on rotating Saturdays) aren’t going anywhere, nor are the wholesale accounts (Riverward’s, Herman’s, Haddon Culinary, Triple C Angus Farm, and Hidden Creek Farm).

“I’m looking forward to just having one home base that people can come and sit down in our restaurant and experience our food and hospitality and get some drinks,” Elmore said.