As long time readers will know, Chris grew up with a lot of Polish influence in his life since his grandparents on his mother’s side were both from Poland, but came to the UK after the Second World War. We have celebrated things like Polish Christmas Eve, Wigilia, and went to the Polish American Cultural Center in Philadelphia and a Polish shop at mile zero in the Florida Keys when we were traveling. When we lived in Britain, we also frequented one of Britain’s many Polski skelps that exist due to the influx of Poles into Britain because of the European Union.
The last time we were in a Polish shop was likely in Slough at the end of 2015. At any rate, it had been a while, so on a day off recently, we decided to go on a mini road trip since, as far as we can tell, there is a single Polish shop in the Phoenix area. Please correct us if we are wrong, since though we very much liked it, it is about 40 miles from our house.
Even being a bit of a long journey to go to a shop, it took us to a part of the area we had never been to before. We had to go through a mountainous pass that looked like it was heading to the edge of civilization, but then suddenly opened up into another part of Phoenix.
We wouldn’t have even noticed the bakery/Polish shop if we hadn’t been looking for it. It was small, had covered windows and there was a lot of road construction in front of it.
We were glad we made the trip though, as the owner was very nice, Chris got to chat a bit in Polish and we picked up some delicious baked goods.
In particular, we can recommend their jabłecznik, that is, Polish apple cake. This is also similar to something some Italian friends of ours who also used to live in Britain make. Most cakes in the UK and the US tend to be sponge cakes, while this is more crumbly, less sweet and actually very much to my taste as well as Chris’s even though I first had it at the age of 26 rather than as a child like he did: 
Here’s the video. Make sure to turn on subtitles unless mówisz po polsku:
If you live in the Phoenix area and have a hankering for anything ranging from Polish baked goods to kiełbasa to pierogi, head over to Jana’s Bakery at 13025 N Cave Creek Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85022.