I have never heard of a Paczki before moving to Detroit, well maybe I have but I would have never heard the sound “poonchki” and associated it with the spelling Paczki.  Once you get the “poonchki” pronunciation down, then you have to wonder what a Paczki is?  After having my first one and a half Paczkis yesterday I can tell you a Paczki is just a filled donut but a worse, more bread to filling, version of a filled donut.  I’m giving it to you straight, some people will tell you it is a Polish delicacy that can only be found in Hamtramck, and build up expectations that your first Paczki will be a life changing experience.

My Fat Tuesday Paczki experience started walking to my car with my neighbors asking if I was going to get a Paczki.  When I said maybe, they said I would need to go to Hamtramck and be prepared to wait on lines that circle the building.

Then I got to work, and told my coworker I have never had one and got the response “we need to go get one”.  It’s 15 minute into work and we’ve already roped past Fellows Rory, Courtney, and Alyssa into our quest for Paczkis.  We headed just down the road to Donut Villa, and walked into find all the donuts replaced with Paczki with all different fillings.  I don’t eat berries so I opted for one custard and one apple.

I ate the custard one while driving back, that was good it tasted like a Boston crème donut but without the chocolate on top.  I give that a 7.5/10, the apple one I had half of, it was lots of bread and little filling, I’d say a 5/10. Overall they were pretty average I definitely would not go out of my way to get them.

I then snapchatted my Paczki rating as a 6.5/10 to other fellows and got some responses.  Paulina said she expected it to be 9/10, then she had her first Paczki and said “I don’t like em tbh”.  Kyla gave hers a 5/10, Mikayla said 8/10 and Nadir gave his 11/10 (Chene Modern Bakery).

Overall I would day my first Paczki experience was underwhelming, and I would opt for a traditional donut.  I’ll have them once a year on Fat Tuesday, but I think the calories could be spent on something better.