Polish Restaurant and Bakery Eyes Summer Debut in West Village

West Village’s anticipated Polish restaurant and bakery Poppies is aiming to open this summer. The new eatery from Rose’s Fine Food proprietor Molly Mitchell has faced delays since its initial announcement last winter, but the owner tells Eater she’s now hopeful that the restaurant located at the corner of Agnes and Van Dyke will debut by mid-year.

Mitchell say she’s looking forward to branching out at Poppies, where the footprint will allow for a much larger kitchen. Rose’s current kitchen setup relies primarily on a six-burner stove for all of the cooking and a mid-sized dutch oven for frying. She along with lead baker Eggy Ding plan to move all of their pastry, doughnut, and bread production to the West Village restaurant when it’s complete, in turn freeing up space at Rose’s for staff to move more freely in the kitchen. “We’re going to have a proper bread oven [at Poppies],” she says of the new equipment, “so we’re going to be making all kinds of bread so we can sell loaves, which we’ve always wanted to do.”

The 1,600-square-foot features big windows, which will flood the space with natural light. Mitchell also plans to weave some Polish influences into the decor with subtle colors and flowers. Poppies will have a counter and an open bar space where patrons can place orders and then wait for their meal to be delivered to the table. The restaurant will be geared primarily towards lunch and dinner, though Mitchell isn’t ruling out brunch down the road. Customers can look forward to a menu with options like sandwiches and pierogi with (if the health department gets on board) house-fermented sauerkraut.

With permits finally approved by the city, Poppies is nearing the buildout phase. Mitchell and Ding secured a $50,000 Motor City Match grant towards the project in November and are already courting potential wholesale pastry buyers including forthcoming North End coffee bar Gathering Coffee Co. In the meantime, the team behind Poppies is aiming to restart its series of preview dinners this spring with a pop up at Granor Farms tentatively scheduled for March.

Stay tuned for more details.

• Rose’s Fine Food Owner Brings Pierogi to West Village
• All Poppies Coverage [ED]
• All Eater Tracking Coverage [ED]