Cozy Up at Babcia’s Corner

This hidden Traverse City gem offers authentic pierogi and other Polish delights

By Geri Dietze | Dec. 13, 2025

Pierogi is special in so many ways: It’s Polish comfort food, a centuries-old tradition, and it even has its own patron saint. (St. Hyacinth is credited with distributing the beloved dumpling during times of famine or siege in 13th-century Poland.)

There’s no danger of the pierogi becoming a lost art, at least in these parts, thanks to Zack and Amy Henley, grandson and daughter, respectively, of Mary Karbowneczk, in whose memory Babcia’s Corner was created. (Babcia, pronounced “bob-cha,” is Polish for grandmother.)

Mary Karbowneczk immigrated, first to Toronto, and then to the U.S. from Poland in the late 1920s, leaving behind the chaotic, tenuous politics and uncertainty of life resulting from the fall of empires post WWI. A shipboard romance, en route, resulted in marriage, and Mary and her husband settled among the thriving Polish neighborhoods in Detroit, where they raised four children steeped in the Old-World traditions, including her pierogis.

Her grandson Zack Henley nurtured the idea of sharing Babcia Mary’s pierogi with the rest of us, but it wasn’t until 2020, when COVID provided the opportunity, that Zack, together with his mother Amy, and a handful of grandkids, made Babcia’s Amazing Pierogi a reality in summer 2021.

Not Just a Noodle

Not to say that it was easy. Pierogi is often referred to as a simple dough, made from flour, hot water, and salt, with a variety of fillings, but the reality is far more complicated. “Every family in every region had its own [dough] tradition,” Amy Henley says. “It’s not just a noodle.”

Indeed, Babcia’s Amazing Pierogi dough is a finely-tuned, multi-generational mix of sour cream, butter, eggs, and flour.

And the fillings—traditionally derived from whatever was available, like other rustic European dishes—are just as good. The Henleys narrowed their product to three signature flavors: Farmer’s Cheese (similar to a dry cottage cheese) with chives and fresh garlic; Sauerkraut and Mushroom, made with portobello mushrooms; and Potato and Cheddar, with oven-roasted redskin potatoes, cheddar cheese, and caramelized onion with garlic. (Zack spent three months working on the Potato and Cheddar recipe to get it just right.)

It should be known that these treasures come in at 5 to 6 inches across, with 1/4 cup of tasty filling. In contrast to the old days, when babcias everywhere crimped their pierogi by hand, the Henleys use convenient pierogi presses for consistent size and in order to keep up with demand. Depending on the season, Babcia’s sells about 500-700 pierogies weekly, but demand increases during the holidays when it is not unusual to sell one or two thousand per week.

Ingredients for both the dough and the fillings come from a variety of local and regional producers: Pasture-raised eggs from area farms; Cream Cup Dairy in Bear Lake (Moomers was used, early on, before they switched focus to ice cream); Great Lakes Garlic in Kingsley; and red potatoes, when in season, from Kitchen Farms in Elmira. Red potatoes have more flavor, according to Amy, and she made sure that the potatoes “passed my taste test.”

There are lots of other good things cooking, depending on the time of year, like seasonal fresh fruit dessert pierogis and homemade breads, including poppy seed, caraway, and pumpernickel, plus Chalka braided bread. Special orders include Polish wedding bread for the traditional Bread and Salt blessing. And, ask about their Hot Bundles for parties and game days.

Don’t forget paczki, (baked, not fried) in delicious flavors, including maple cream cheese. “I like to play with flavors,” Amy says. And, she searched high and low for the perfect Angel Wings (Chrusciki) made by Kuzera bakers in Livonia. “They melt in your mouth.”

An Inspired Connection

The Henleys originally rented kitchen space at Buzzelli Foods to make the pierogies, which were then carried by Hansen’s Grocery Store in Suttons Bay and both Oryana locations in Traverse City. Later, the Henleys were able to set up a small shop in a corner of Buzzelli’s with a freezer and product displays.

After looking for a storefront of their own for about a year, they had the opportunity, in late 2023, to take over the Buzzelli retail site, and today, the folks from Buzzelli’s rent space for their cheese-making in an advantageous full-circle sort of way. The little corner inside Buzzelli’s provided the store name Babcia’s Corner: Home of Babcia’s Amazing Pierogi. In addition to Babcia’s retail site, plus Hansen’s and Oryana, Babcia’s Amazing Pierogi is found at Oleson’s and Lakeview Hill Market in Traverse City and Grand Traverse Sauce in Elk Rapids.

The store is a mix of all things Polish, from convenient 1/2 dozen bags of frozen pierogi in their signature flavors to grocery items sourced from the best purveyors of Polish food, both in Detroit and Chicago. Look for sauerkraut, pickles, herring, soup starters, tomato paste and ketchup (Polish tomatoes are revered for their sweet, meaty texture), as well as Kowalski’s Polish meats, direct from Hamtramck, plus snacks, cookies, and candies.

There is seating available for about eight patrons inside, but Zack says that most of the business is take-out. The current menu features pierogi and kielbasa coins as a meal or as sides, kielbasa dog with or without sauerkraut, and soup of the week.

Patrons will also find a beautiful offering of Polish pottery, plus gifts and collectibles, and Amy’s stuffed felt “Pagogi,” in a variety of sizes, including ornaments. (Her granddaughter couldn’t say “pierogi.”) “They sell out pretty quick,” she adds.

You can also expand your horizons with Polish language lessons over dinner—taught by Traverse City immigration lawyer Agnes Jury, who moved to the U.S. from Poland when she was 12—every other Wednesday.

Find Babcia’s Corner at 1110 E. Hammond Rd., Ste. 4, Traverse City. (231) 600-8082; bapgoodness.com