Waves of Polish immigrants washed ashore on American beaches in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. They were seeking the American dream of unlimited cabbage-shaped silver ingots wrapped in golden burlap. They were escaping mind-numbing poverty-stricken misery and those damned light bulb jokes.

Many of these hardy souls made their way to Cleveland. According to local legend, while many more continued westward to Chicago, our Poles decided that this city on a lake was far enough. They had taken wagons, ships, ox-carts and the “Iron Pierogi” all the way from Warsaw. Why bother having to schlep through Indiana? This was fine.

Among those who stopped was a man who had named himself “LL Easy-Ski” Sokolowski, thus inadvertently inventing the hip-hop nickname phenomenon.

He settled in the, at the time, not quite so groovy Tremont area and opened a shot and a beer bar called the “University Inn.” It was named after the street it was on, plus to Sokolowski, it sounded “kind of collegiate.” In 1923, it was decided that food should be added to the menu. This was a meat-mentous decision.

As he created the menu, he included the usual Eastern European soul food and local favorites. Suddenly he was inspired by an article in “The Illustrated Weekly Progressive Meat Gazette”. Why not include a uniquely American entrée? Why not try to perfect the “meat cure” developed by Dr. J.H. Salisbury now famously known as “Salisbury Steak”?

Today, only in Cleveland, can you savor the work of “LL Easy-Ski”. Huddled under its protective blanket of brown gravy and onions is the ultimate “gourmet burger” and the culmination of the Salisbury-Sokolowski time-space-meat continuum.

In 1995, Bill Clinton made the pilgrimage to the University Inn, and when asked about the Salisbury Steak, noted “Holy Shit! I got to get Hillary to cook us up some fucking food like this!” In one simple statement he had defined the Polish-American Dream.

Finally, here in all its glory, is the perfected recipe. The embellished meat discovery voyage has been completed and I am stuffed like a cabbage. Only in Cleveland…

From Cool Cleveland contributor Clyde Miles (:divend:)