Paczki (roughly pronounced ``PUNCH-key'') are Polish pastries, basically big lumps of fried dough filled with deliciousness (strawberries, custard, cream, and, maybe not so delicious, but very traditional, prunes). They are typically eaten in Poland the day before the fasting of Lent season starts.
With an historically large Polish population here, South Bend is one of the small number of towns around the US (Detroit, Ann Arbor, Chicago are others) that celebrates the day before Ash Wednesday by devouring these high-calorie monsters with no regard to what they do to the heart and arteries.
Up until a few years ago, paczki were only available on the Fat Tuesday itself (or maybe on the Monday at a few places), but now quite a few places in the area have given in to demand and make pazcki up to a week before the day itself. So you can enjoy them for a Saturday brunch, and try out a few different examples without dying of sugar poisoning!
Here are a few likely spots for paczki over the next six days:
-> The Baker's Dozen --- the only true Polish bakery left in town, their paczki are quite traditional, with more emphasis on dough than filling. The other places I'll mention have somewhat "Americanized" the confection, with a greater emphasis on the filling.
-> Macri's --- an Italian bakery, and, by the way, also a great Italian Deli.
-> Cops and Donuts, Dainty Maid Precinct --- when this was just Dainty Maid, it made the best paczki in town (imho, see picture above). Recently taken over by the Clare, Michigan bakery Cops and Donuts (police owned and operated --- no joke!), I won't know until next week whether the same high standards will be maintained by the new owner.
-> Rise'n'roll --- this is the first year that Rise'n'roll, the Amish bakery, will be offering paczki, so as with Cops and Donuts, time will tell where they stack up to the competition.
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