What makes this sorrowful is the very pitiful spectacle Markowicz's now is. It is poorly lit. They can do with some fluorescent lighting. Not especially clean (a dusting, waxing and washing would work wonders). And the meats are no longer fresh. At one time, the kielbasa hung behind the counter and the shop smelled of wonderfully smoked delights. Not so much anymore. It is refrigerated and frozen, thawed in refrigeration and kept past reasonable consumption time in the showcase upfront. This would have been less disappointing had the woman managing the cash register not have insisted everything was fresh, when the deli meats clearly were old. Sadly, she flagrantly tried to pass everything off as ""just made.""\r
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The headcheese was totally off and dry, tasting a cross between pectin and styrofoam. A quarter pound of grocery deli Eckerich headcheese turned out to be superior. And it was half or a third of the price. The ""kabanosy"" were the driest, most tasteless freezer burnt things one could ever imagine. While the double smoked chunky and medium grind hadn't fared much better: dry, freezer burnt, nigh tasteless. It was as if Markowicz was selling to the Orthodox old stock left over from Western Easter. For a sausage maker who had once been numbered among the elite in the nation, and perhaps the world, this was totally unacceptible.\r
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Firstly, if they have to keep meats and sausage past a week to ten days after smoking, they should vacuum seal them at very least. Secondly, their prices are far too high. Markowicz should not be priced higher than Kowalski's ($4.99 - $5.99/lb). Thirdly, they should not sell freezer burnt meat. Finally, they should open up shop in a local suburb like Livonia and maintain a proper deli, where the old shop can be their smokehouse and more of an ""outlet"" for ""other product."" Those are just some considerations.\r
If you are looking to buy local sausage and willing to make a trip to the old neighborhoods, I suggest you keep on going down I94 until you get to Hamtramck, get to Joseph Campau and go to Srodek's, cheaper (nearly half the price), quality akin to the old Markowicz's or better, better area, better lit, cleaner, friendlier, truthful and just a little more gas and travel time. They make sausage and meats the way Markowicz's used to or better. Their prices are best, better than the grocery store sausages even. They became what Markowicz's should have become. If you are not interested in visiting Hamtramck, try Dearborn Sausage Company, cheaper as well, but inferior in quality... more fat and fillers and an inferior grind... (when Markowicz's is up to standard). If you wish to remain local in the suburbs, Kowalski has come a long way and is hard to beat, and you can buy it at Kroger.\r
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