Kasia Konefal was looking for a caterer for her daughter’s first communion party last year when the idea hit her: She could open her own restaurant.
“I said to my husband, ‘I’m kind of tired of all the food we’ve already tried,’” said Konefal, 34. “I said, ‘I like to cook. What do you think if I open my own place in this area?’”
After a trial run preparing beef tenderloin, stuffed chicken and pork roast for 60 people at her daughter’s party, Konefal, moved forward with her business plans.
She opened Kasia Eatery and Catering at 143 Main St. in Derby in September. It specializes in traditional Polish food.
Konefal is helped in the kitchen by her two aunts, Danuta and Teresa. They are already busy. For example, in the weeks before Christmas, the three women hand-made more than 3,000 pierogi, small dumplings filled with potato, cheese, mushrooms or cabbage.
The dumplings are one of Konefal’s favorites, as well as the raspberry jam crepes, called nalesniki.
There are five booths and a couple tables, but no table service. You can eat there, or do takeout.
Konefal hadn’t worked in the restaurant business before she opened the place, but had years of experience learning traditional Polish cooking from her mother.
Her family moved to America from south-eastern Poland when Konefal was 12, first settling in New York before finding their way to Ansonia and finally buying a home in Derby.
Konefal said she started cooking for the family when her mother went to work as a seamstress at a dry cleaners in New York.
“My mom went to work, and she just told me, ‘Can you make this for dinner?’ And she would write down the ingredients,” Konefal said. “So I had this little cook book that I put together after I made so many dinners.”
Konefal and her husband, Marek, now live in Beacon Falls with their two children. Konefal previously worked in the insurance industry, but took time off when she had her second child. Now that her son is 2, she was ready to start working again.
She decided to open in Derby because of the Polish community in the area. The 2015 American Community Survey of the U.S. Census estimated about 9.7 percent of Derby’s residents are of Polish heritage.
Konefal also liked that the space was close to St. Michael Church on Route 34, which draws more Polish families each week from surrounding towns.
Valley towns have anywhere from 9 to 14 percent of their residents claiming Polish ancestry, according to the Census figures from 2015.
Still, Kasia Eatery and Catering is attracting customers of all nationalities, Konefal said. The Polish combo is the best-seller for those looking to sample the fare.
“A lot of people who come in for the first time try it,” Konefal said.
The plate combines stuffed cabbage, three varieties of pierogi and kielbasa with sauerkraut.
That’s what Katherine Sliwonik, of Shelton, and Courtney Pokora, of Beacon Falls, tried on a recent Friday on their first trip to the shop, despite both being of Polish descent.
Sliwonik said her parents cook traditional Polish food every day, but she wanted to see how Kasia Eatery prepared some of her favorites.
“It was really great,” Sliwonik said. “I definitely recommend it.”
Thomas Winek, of Shelton, grew up in Poland, but moved to New York, then Shelton, after marrying an American woman 14 years ago.
They eat all different kinds of food at home, Winek said, and he often goes out for Indian food in Shelton. But he tries to eat traditional Polish food a couple times a week too.
“Before this place was open, we would drive to New Britain,” Winek said, as he ate chicken cutlet with mushrooms, sauerkraut pierogi and a red borscht with more pierogi inside.
Konefal asks each customer for feedback to make sure she is making them happy.
“So far I’ve been getting a lot of positive feedback,” Konefal said. “Even if I don’t get the feedback, I get the empty plates.”
Kasia Eatery and Catering is open Monday through Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Contact owner Kasia Konefal at (203) 516‑5295 or on Facebook.
