My friend was planning to start his 37th year with a proper feast at his favorite restaurant, Old Krakow. Before the call, I was trying to decide what to do with a few random ingredients that were taking up space in my small kitchen: some spotted bananas, some milk chocolate, a bag of toasted hazelnuts, a block of cream cheese. After the call, I pulled out my cake pans and began baking.

Bob's Chocolate Banana Birthday Cake included layers of moist banana cake, chocolate ganache filling, sliced fresh bananas, cream cheese frosting and toasted hazelnuts.

I didn't have much time. We (the birthday cake and I) had to be at the restaurant in two hours, so there was no room for any fussiness. Lots of old tricks helped shaved 5 minutes here, 30 minutes there. The most important were:

- To cream still-frozen butter: Cut the butter in chunks with a sharp knife, add to the mixer and wave a hair-dryer over the butter. Occasionally direct the hot air to the outside of the bowl to warm the butter from beneath. (To free up both hands, wet a towel, wrap it in a circle and nest beneath the bowl; it will sit snugly in place as you stir or blend.)

- Bake the batter in a large sheet pan rather than regular layer pans. With only 1 inch of batter, the cake bakes in 15 minutes. Cutting it crosswise into three or four strips makes easily stacked, easily frosted layers that form a distinctive rectangular cake.

- Prop the cake in a wide-open window. Ten minutes in SF's cold summer wind was enough to cool the cake completely.

- Cream cheese frosting is simple to make, a breeze to spread and holds up well over a couple of hours or a couple of days. The hair-dryer trick comes in good use here, too.

- Use a soup spoon to make attractive swirls on top of the cake. Pressing finely chopped nuts onto the sides on the cake is an easy way to finish the cake while hiding a fast frosting job.

- Dab a spot of frosting on the platter before placing the first layer down. It will act as "glue" to keep the cake from sliding right off the platter and onto the floor of the car.

Place the cake on an upturned bowl or pot to frost the cake. I reinforced the bottom of the cake with a piece of cardboard wrapped in foil. Setting the cake over a tray while coating with a glaze or with nuts allows me to catch and reuse overflow.

Although I was a few minutes late, I scored a parking space right in front of the restaurant and arrived before the drink orders were even taken. The folks at Old Krakow were gracious enough to chill the cake for us while we lingered over dinner.

This restaurant is the one reason I make my way out to West Portal. Its quiet dining room is a rarity unto itself, but sitting at a real dining room table, with comfortable chairs and the full complement of inserts, always makes me feel like I'm enjoying a special meal at someone's home. The friendly, unhurried service helps settle me into a leisurely meal. The best thing, of course, is the food itself.

Garlic soup: so simple, so satisfying.

I always succumb to an entree -- usually the breaded pork chops -- but I'm pretty sure I could enjoy an entire meal of just soup and my own plate of pierogi. Order the borscht if you must. However, the mushroom soup is paradise in a spoon, while the garlic soup's simplicity hides an incredibly fulfilling, flavorful broth. Pickle soup doesn't appear on the menu, so be sure to ask your server; it's a must try for anyone who likes a hint of tartness with their savory.

If you're with a larger party, you must try the full range of appetizers, from pickled herring and beef tartar to beet salad and marinated mushrooms. Keep in mind that portions are large. There's a "lighter fare and sides" section of the menu, but all things being relative, potato dumplings and kielbasa are lumped in there with mushroom crepes and sauteed cabbage. The kitchen is also happy to split entrees. Our favorites for the evening were the stew, the stuffed cabbage, the duck and -- of course -- the breaded pork chops.

A plate of mushroom-filled pierogi topped with perfectly caramelized onions.

Our servers cut and plated the chocolate banana cake tableside for our party. Someone in the kitchen had even piped out "Happy Birthday!" on the top in chocolate for the guest of honor.

Old Krakow
385 West Portal Ave (btwn 14th & 15th)
San Francisco
(415) 564-4848

If you've never tried Polish food, this is certainly the place to experience an Old World meal. Old Krakow lends itself well to celebrating special occasions with a comfortable, casual feel. Don't mind their totally amateur website; it's proof that you'll get good home-cooking, not slick style.

One of the first cookbooks in my collection is also one of my favorites: Polish Heritage Cookery. I came across this heavy tome at a quirky bookstore that once lived on Polk Street, before a fire ravaged the floors above and water rained down upon its randomly, precariously stacked books. The store's hours were irregular, and those who paid in cash received half off new cover prices. While it was the absolute last place a claustrophobe would want to spend time, Books and Co. was heaven for lovers of books about art, history and food. It epitomized the browsing experience at its most enjoyable.

Polish Heritage Cookery has the voice I miss in old recipes, where strong opinions and sometimes random advice were sprinkled in among the teaspoons and tablespoons. The authors, Robert and Maria Strybel, gathered an impressive 2,200 recipes covering a wide expanse from vanilla sugar to air-dried Pomeranian pork sausage. While illustrated with helpful drawings for the more complicated recipes, the book is free of photographs. Instead, the recipes unroll in story-like paragraphs and Polish names add poetry to every title. Old World classics and their multiple variations reveal Lithuanian, Italian, French, Jewish, Bohemian and Bavarian influences and trace a fascinating culinary history of Eastern European food.

Whey Soup with Rice (or the sweeter Whey Soup with Raisins), Roast Hare in Sour Cream Polonaise, Carp Baked with Apples, Carpathian Mountain Cake, Cherry Butter, and pages upon pages of pickle recipes include hints that only a grandmother might pass along. Adding skins from black bread helps "hurry-up" the curing of pickles. A glass of cold sour milk is recommended for the morning after "an overabundance of partying." At the end of a baked potato recipe, the authors note that adding a piece of kielbasa and a tomato would make a balanced meal, while on the next page, hearty Potato and Salt Pork Sausage is not recommended for "those with delicate stomachs."

The most stained pages in my own copy of the Strybels' cookbook span the pastry and preserve chapters. For the last two years, I've been hosting Doughnuts of the World brunches. A loose definition of doughnut allows me to experiment with angel wings, churros and beignets. Polish jam-filled paczki, however, would please even the most hard-core of the purists.

Below are excerpts from the Strybels' detailed description for making small paczki.

Homemade raspberry jam stands in for the rose-hip jelly, cherry preserves or powidla (thick plum butter) suggested in the original recipe.

"Although these luscious doughnuts are available year-round at Polish pastry shops, they reign supreme on Thusty Czwartek (Fat Tuesday), which begins the final fling of the Pre-Lenten karnawal of zapusty. More paczki are sold that day than at any other time of the year. You can try your hand at making your own by proceeding according to this recipe. Dissolve 2 cakes crushed yeast in 1 c. lukewarm milk, sift in 1 c. flour, add 1 T. sugar, mix, cover, and let stand in a warm place to rise. Beat 8 egg yolks with 2/3 c. powdered sugar and 2 T. vanilla sugar until fluffy. Sift 2 1/2 c. flour into bowl, add sponge, egg mixture, and 2 T. grain alcohol or 3 T. rum, and knead well until dough is smooth and glossy. Gradually add 1 stick melted lukewarm butter and continue kneading until dough no longer clings to hands and bowl and air blisters appear. Cover with cloth and let rise in warm place until doubled. Punch down dough and let rise again. Transfer dough to floured board, sprinkle top with flour, and roll out about 1/2 inch thick. With glass or biscuit cutter, cut into rounds. Arrange on floured board." [NB: I substituted 1 1/2 packets of dry yeast for the yeast cakes.]

The soft dough feels lovely. Still, some of my guests decide flat, American-style jelly doughnuts are easier to form and fry.

"Place a small spoonful of fruit filling (rose-hip preserves, cherry preserves, powidla, or other thick jam) off center on each round. Raise edges of dough and pinch together over filling, then roll between palms snowball fashion to form balls. Let rise in warm place until doubled."

The Strybel's write that Polish pastries like paczki "may be fried in vegetable shortening or oil instead of lard, but they won't be as tasty. The choice is yours."

"Heat 1 1/2-2 lbs. lard in deep pan so paczki can float freely during frying. It is hot enough when a small piece of dough dropped into the hot fat immediately floats up. Fry packzi under cover without crowding several min. until nicely browned on bottom, then turn over and fry uncovered on the other side another 3 min. or so. If fat begins to burn, add several slices of peeled raw potato which will both lower the temp. and absorb any burnt flavor. Transfer fried paczki to absorbent paper and set aside to cool, When cool, dust generously with powdered sugar, glaze or icing."