A La Porte County Life in the Spotlight: Mark Kolasa

Mark Kolasa and his wife, Amanda Kolasa, are Michigan City natives and chefs by background. Between sharing a passion for cooking and similar roots, starting a restaurant in their hometown was second nature. 

“Michigan City is our home town,” Mark Kolasa said. “We wanted to create a business.”

What is now the Polish Peasant branches from Mark Kolasa and his wife’s original Michigan City restaurant venture, which was a catering business housed in a small building. Mark looks at The Polish Peasant as meeting what was a gap in the type of cuisine offered in the Michigan City community. 

“We’ve been in business since 2003. We started as a small business and grew to our new, larger location,” Mark Kolasa said. 

For the Kolasas, homemaking the dishes is their way of honoring their Polish heritage.

“That’s how we pay homage to our heritage, by homemaking everything,” he said. 

While the couple still have the catering business on the side, The Polish Peasant is their main operation. The restaurant offers a variety of dishes, but its specialty is Polish cuisine. Kolasa and his wife chose to keep some of the original dishes on their catering menu on The Polish Peasant menu.

“There’s something for everyone on our menu,” Mark Kolasa said. We have some of our staples that we started with. Our white fish has always been on the menu.”

The Polish Peasant’s pretzel chicken is another staple and a customer favorite. It’s sautéed chicken dusted with a house made crust and drizzled with cream sauce. These and other Polish Peasant dishes are very much homemade – from scratch. 

“We grind and cast our own sausage,” Mark Kolasa said. “We make and stuff our own pierogies. We make our own dough.’ 

In his free time, Mark Kolasa likes to visit other restaurants with his wife. In particular, it’s important to him to support locally-owned restaurants.

“We like to dine around and go to mom and pops to patronize those businesses and get a bite to eat,” Mark Kolasa said.

However, much of his time goes into building the business owned by him and his wife. While it’s also fulfilling. Mark Kolasa sees it as a way to give back to the public. 

“Giving back to the public has been the bulk of our lives,” he said.

Most of Mark Kolasa’s family, including his in-laws, still live in Michigan City and the surrounding area so there is a lot of time spent with family.

“They have remained in the area,” Mark Kolasa said.  “They’re in Chesterton, Valparaiso, and Michigan City.”

High-quality food and family are two important aspects of Mark Kolasa’s life. Between his work and his hobbies, he is able to integrate both into his life in multiple ways.