When I heard my brother had taken our Babci (that’s Polish for grandmother) to Café Polonia, I knew he had scored the grandchild equivalent of a major coup. After all, Polish restaurants may be scattered across Chicago and Brooklyn, but who would expect to find one of Boston’s only representatives tucked away in Southie?

Thus beaten to the punch, I did not expect to visit the restaurant anytime soon. Then a cold, raw Saturday night left me craving the type of hearty comfort food at which Poles excel.

Café Polonia is quaint and cozy, with blond-pine furniture, exposed-stone walls, and the occasional piece of Polish folk art. Although the lighting is a bit bright, the tables feature candles and small vases of carnations and lilies.

Things get going with a basket of bread along with a crock of bacon-studded lard for spreading. Once we got past its appearance and fat content, the spread proved surprisingly addictive. While the restaurant serves a host of lesser-known Polish specialties — such as the Krakowski pork cutlet ($12) stuffed with ham, cheese, bacon, and mushrooms, and a cabbage stew with Polish sausage ($7) — we opted for traditional favorites. Potato pancakes ($7) come four to a plate and are moist with a crisp exterior. The very sharable Polish Plate ($8) features kielbasa, three pierogies, sauerkraut, and a large stuffed cabbage.

Full of meat, cabbage, mushrooms, potato, or cheese, the savory pierogies left me wishing I’d ordered a plate of eight ($6) to take home. These stuffed dumplings, a white-mushroom soup ($3), and two borschts ($4 each) — a white borscht with sausage and eggs, and a red one with mushroom-filled ravioli — are among the restaurant’s most popular offerings.

If you’re disciplined enough to share a dish instead of polishing off a whole plate (or two), you just might have room for the crêpes ($6) topped with Polish fruit preserves. At the very least, you should have room to wash down your food with one of several Polish beers ($4). If brunch is when you choose to indulge, the restaurant puts an Eastern European spin on the traditional English breakfast on weekend mornings, with plates ($6–$7) featuring eggs alongside Polish ham, bacon, and sausage.

Café Polonia, located at 611 Dorchester Avenue, in South Boston, is open Monday through Thursday, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., on Friday, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., and on Saturday and Sunday, from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Call (617) 269-0110.