Marian’s Bakery

Went here specifically for Fat Tuesday Paczki and I was not disappointed this place is the real deal.

I’m a sales rep and was calling on a physicians offices in the Port Richmond /​Kensington sections of Philadelphia today. I got a street spot on Allegheny, I got out of my car and the most wondrous smell of baked goods filled the air. I followed my nose to the corner and found Marian’s. You know how sometimes you can just tell that a place is a locals-​only type find? That was one of these times. I delayed my sales calls and went on in. I saw rows and rows of coffee cakes, doughnuts (called paczki, and my Berks County raised wife says they’re also known as Fasnachts). I had a fresh jelly paczki, then immediately called my wife to tell her where I was. I turns out that her grandfather, a WWII refugee from Poland who settled in Philadelphia, frequented the bakeries and butcher shops in this area often. I’m so glad I was able to turn back time for a moment, take a second out of my busy day and savor a true taste of Philadelphia. Allegheny Avenue is easily accessible from I-​95, so stop by Marian’s and get a true taste of Poland right here in Philly. Yum.

Philadelphians, go here now.
Took my mom to Port Richmond for Polish foods for her family reunion. We asked the folks at Czerw’s where to get good paczki (fried dough filled with deliciousness), and they sent us to Marian’s. We got cheese babka, poppyseed pastries, pound cake, and the biggest tea biscuits I’ve seen in my life.
But the real reason we came was for the paczki. They look like jelly donuts, but they are so much more. We got two fresh ones (You can get day-​old baked goods for half-​price, but with some of these items a day makes a world of difference. I don’t like to eat paczki past 3pm because they’re too old by then.) We chose prune-​filled, a traditional filling that is far from old-​people food. They were easily the best paczki I’ve ever had. And I’ve tried more than a few paczki in my day.