At 19, Bay Ridge's Polonica is no spring chicken, even among long-running Polish restaurants. In fact, in restaurant years, it's sliding into a comfortable middle age. But in a cuisine rarely celebrated for its range or poignancy, Polonica stands out. The place is beyond cozy, with seven tables, a buff-and-green color scheme, and a noise level that permits quiet conversation. Glass tops on the tables allow easy Windex-ing of the gravy spills that are sure to occur, and patrons can become drunk on gravy alone. If that's not enough, a BYOB policy allows you to carry in Polish beer from the Russian bodega across the street. You may think of Polish food as relentlessly heavy and meaty, but Polonica is prepared to refute that assertion—at least partly. In fact, a whole slew of meal-size soups are marked "vegetarian" on the menu, of which the best goes by the discouraging name of sauerkraut soup ($3.70). Contrary to your worst fears, it doesn't taste like sour tin cans. Rather, an agreeably mild broth floats shreds of carrot and cabbage like bathers in a rural swimming hole, and there's a patch of fresh dill "weeds" providing the scent of freshly mown grass. Other soups in the same featherweight vein include barley, tomato, chicken noodle, mushroom, and cucumber—and many of the boiled pierogis make nice light meals, too, especially the unusual spinach-and-potato or sauerkraut-and-mushroom varieties (seven for $6.25). Of course, they taste better if you get them fried.
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