Buffalo Broadway Market: Pierogi, Kielbasa and More

Buffalo Broadway Market is a city-owned market in the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood, and its food stalls include a pierogi counter, butchers who sell Polish sausage, a deli serving Polish-American plates and stalls that make Easter butter lambs. Go with an appetite, buy a few pierogi and ask a butcher what to try.

This page covers what to eat at the market, how to shop for Polish sausage, what butter lambs are and how to plan a visit. Vendors and hours change, so ask a vendor what they sell before you plan a meal around it.

What can you eat at Buffalo Broadway Market?

Start with the pierogi. The pierogi counter sells dozens of varieties, from cheese, potato, sauerkraut and mushroom to Buffalo-style ones such as beef on weck and Buffalo wing, and the market sells fresh pierogi and frozen ones to take home. Try one classic and one Buffalo-style flavor.

Then look at the butchers and the deli counter: butchers cut meat to order and sell cheeses, pickles and fresh or smoked Polish sausage and smoked hams, and a deli serves Polish-American food, with cheese pierogi and breakfast dishes. Ask the butcher for cooking advice and take your purchase home on ice.

Where can you find Polish sausage in Buffalo?

The market's meat counters are the places to look for kielbasa, and the butchers are glad to explain how to prepare it. A seafood stall may sell bacala, which is salt cod, around holidays.

If you want to cook at home, ask the butcher how to prepare the sausage you choose and how long it keeps. If you want a quick lunch, a deli counter is easier.

What are Buffalo's pierogi known for?

Pierogi are filled dumplings, boiled and often pan-fried. Compare a traditional cheese or potato pierogi with one of the Buffalo-style flavors, and note which one you would order again. Pan-fry them with onions for the traditional way.

What are Easter butter lambs?

A butter lamb is a lamb shaped from butter, a Polish Easter tradition, and some market stalls make them by hand in the Easter season. They are seasonal, so ask a vendor when they are available.

Markets of this kind are busiest around Easter, so go early in the day if you plan to visit then.

What else is at the market?

Bakery vendors, a bagel stall and kitchens serving other cuisines sit alongside the Polish counters, and there are stalls for freshly grated horseradish, chocolates and sponge candy. Because the line-up changes, ask a vendor what they sell.

How do you plan a Broadway Market visit?

Go on a weekday morning if you want space, and bring cash for stalls that prefer it. Park near the market and carry a bag or a cooler for meat and pierogi.

If you have a group, split up: one person on pierogi, one on sausage, and meet to share. For a first visit, eat at a counter before you shop, so you know what to buy. Bring a small cooler bag if you plan to buy meat or frozen pierogi, since the drive home may be long, and keep raw sausage apart from ready-to-eat food. Ask each vendor what is made on site and what is brought in, and note their answers in your rating, because a market changes with the seasons and the vendors will tell you what is good this week. If you are traveling with someone who does not eat meat, the pierogi stalls and the bakeries are the easier choices, and a vendor will usually tell you what is in a filling if you ask.

What should you buy to take home?

Pierogi freeze well, kielbasa keeps for several days on ice and horseradish makes a good gift. A simple dinner is boiled pierogi crisped in butter with onions, a link of kielbasa and a spoonful of horseradish on the side. Ask the vendor how long each item keeps and how to heat it, and bring a cooler bag if you are driving far.

How do you rate Broadway Market food with Mosey?

Rate each thing you eat by the dish. In the Mosey app the place and stars are enough, and you can then name the pierogi or the sausage, add tags such as Great Value and attach a photo. A line like "potato pierogi, fried in butter, filling creamy" is what the next visitor needs.

Start a list called Broadway Market stalls with one item per stall, and send the invite link to friends so they can add their own. Follow friends to see what they rated and saved, and use the Friends' picks layer on the map to see where they have eaten. The ratings page explains rating by the dish.

What else should you read?

For more of Buffalo, the wings and beef on weck guide covers the city's best-known foods, and the neighborhood food guide covers Elmwood, Allentown and Hertel. See the New York State page and the US food guides.

On your next visit, open the Mosey app, rate each bite by name and save your favorite stalls to a list.