A taste of the old country - and American breakfasts - in Port Richmond

We always hear about the shiny, new food companies. The Spot is a series about the Philadelphia area's more established establishments and the people behind them.

Amid the church steeples and kielbasa emporiums of Port Richmond, just beyond the wave of gentrification that flows north from Northern Liberties, you'll find M&M Restaurant on Allegheny Avenue.

The narrow center aisle of this well-preserved, old-fashioned diner is flanked by counter seating on one side and tidy booths on the other. The menu is stacked with eggs any style, pancakes, and the usual other breakfast items.

But the most loyal diners come here for something else: pierogi. Filled with potatoes, meat, or cheese, the dumplings here are fresh and more delicate than you'd expect if you've had only the frozen kind.

The tender dough is rolled thin by expert hands - Margaret Cudnik's, to be exact. She learned the craft in her native Poland, but she's gotten most of her practice Stateside, in the kitchen of the restaurant she's run with her husband, Martin, since 1993. He works the grill.

The couple cook for the family at home, too. Margaret makes traditional Polish dishes for dinner most nights, and Martin makes eggs at breakfast even on his days off. During our interview, he said very little. But he did say he doesn't mind cracking all those eggs. Even after more than two decades, he loves making omelets.

What are your first memories of M&M?

Margaret:

I remember people were coming in and they asked Martin, please do not stop cooking. Everybody liked his breakfast. Every day, there were more people and more people.

Why don't you have more Polish dishes on your menu?

Margaret:

When we started, we were open until 7 in the evenings. We made more Polish food then. We were open for dinner. Now, we close at 2:30 p.m. Everybody wants breakfast.

Where did you learn to make pierogi?

Margaret:

In Poland, my mother taught me. But they were different pierogi. Blueberry pierogi, strawberry pierogi. In my house, we make mostly fruit pierogi. Different areas in Poland make different pierogi. In my area, they make mostly fruit and cheese.

Have you noticed the neighborhood changing around you?

Margaret:

I think maybe it's a little bit better. There's more people coming here. More people are moving in. I think young people.

Have you noticed your customers changing?

How do you think people find out about M&M?

Margaret:

When people come they tell us, oh, somebody was telling me about your place.

Martin, how did you learn to cook?

Martin:

In New York. Cooking at diners.

What are your favorite things to cook at home?

Margaret:

I make many times stuffed cabbage. And I make bigos. Bigos is like sauerkraut, meat, kielbasa, everything.

That's a traditional Polish food?

Margaret:

Yes. It means "hunter dish." Many years ago, someone from one of the papers, they went to all different places and they tried all the bigos, and they said that our bigos was the best.

Do you think food traditions in Poland are different than in the U.S.?

Margaret:

The breakfast is different in Poland. Here it's better, I think. In Poland, they mostly make a sandwich for breakfast, light sandwiches. I love the American breakfasts - the home fries, eggs, and the meat or omelets, it's much better. Mostly people eat all day breakfast here, because they know our place is for breakfast.

M&M Restaurant, 2736 E. Allegheny Ave., 215-423-4990.

Joy Manning, a writer and editor who has covered food and restaurants in Philadelphia for more than decade, is also the executive editor of Edible Philly and Edible Jersey magazines. Also follow her on Instagram @joymanning.