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Gardyasz, Zenon
(July 9, 1955 - Feb. 17, 2006)

Restauranteur. Zenon Garbyasz, who came from Elblag, Poland, with his parents, Franciszek and Jadwiga, in 1985 and settled in the Nicetown section of Philadelphia, was prepared to go into business at the first opportunity. He was taught by Polish nuns at St. Ladislaus parochial school in Nicetown, now closed, Central High School for Boys and studied business and marketing at Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science.

In 1987, the father and son opened a Polish supermarket and sold all sort of Polish food, including homemade kielbasa, in a predominatedly Polish neighborgood in northeast Philadelphia, and in 1994 moved the store, Krakus Meat Market as it was called, to Richmond St., near Allegheny Avenue, in Port Richmond. Most of the Polish families who lived in the neighborhood belonged to St. Adalbert's, the laegest Polish parish in Philadelphia, and were among the Gardyasz's best customers.

In 2000, when the son opened a restaurant, named Old Poland Restaurant, at the same address, one imagined that it would have genuine Polish cuisine, but the Philadelphia newspapers didn't pay as much attention to it as they did to Dorothy Respond's bar in Queen Village, where her mother's pierogies were a popular item on the menu, Warsaw Cafe in Center City, and Syrenka's luncheonette. Perhaps it wasn't in business long enough.

Both the father and son died within two years of each other. Franciszek Garbasz died July 28, 2007, at the age of 78. Elizabeth Gutkowski, whom Zenon married in 1977, survived him. They had three daughters and one son. Interment was in the cemetery of Our Lady of Czestochowa outside of Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

From: Edward Pinkowski (2008)

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