The East Village Meat Market, which locals may know as Baczynsky’s, was established over half a century ago in the Ukrainian village on Second Avenue between Sixth and Seventh streets. Open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day except Sunday, Baczynsky’s brings in a wide variety of characters throughout the day.
Baczynsky’s is currently owned and run by Andrew Ilnicki, who immigrated to New York City from Poland in 1980 when he was just 17 years old, in search of a new life.
“America for us was a land of opportunity,” said Ilnicki. “My dream was to come to New York, so I came during the summer, like July. And right after that I started working at the meat market on Second Avenue as a pack man.”
The market was already open and running when Ilnicki came to America, but luckily for him, they were looking for a butcher. His path to employment should be an inspiration to everyone struggling with finding internships and jobs.
Ilnicki saw an advertisement in the newspaper that the meat market across the street was looking for a butcher. Keep in mind this was a 17-year-old boy who just came from Poland. His only contacts were his 18-year-old brother and his aunt. He lived across the street from the meat market, so he went in for an interview. The owner looked him over and said “nope,” but Ilnicki didn’t take that for a final answer.
“I had an aunt, she brought me here,” said Ilnicki. “So he talked to her. [The owner said] ‘I’m looking for a butcher, not for a boy.’ But as we were walking out, he started yelling, ‘alright, I’ll take him.’ And that was the beginning.”
Ilnicki was physically fit, able to work with his hands,eager to learn how to make the sausages and talk to new people. The other workers were much older than him, some with kids who were in high school or getting degrees. They were pestering him about going to college, so Ilnicki took their suggestion and went to New York University.
“So during the day, I start [at] eight o’clock in the morning. I work here until six o’clock, 6:20,” Ilnicki said. “I was in Shinkin Hall taking the classes until 10 p.m. and that, to get the degree took me six years.”
Ilnicki was then offered a job at a bank on Park Avenue. He went in on his first day, sat in his cubicle for a couple of hours and quit that same day.
“I looked one way, I looked another, he took me for lunch,” Ilnicki said, regarding the professor who worked at the bank and who offered him the job. “I came and I say, ‘thank you this is not for me.’ And I came back here, ever since I never left it.”
Baczynsky’s wouldn’t be what it is without Ilnicki. It may have taken time to go from butcher boy to owner, but it was time well worth it. Everything in the shop is made in-house, from the kielbasa to the cheese blintzes to the barrels of pigs soaking in brine.
People come from all over the city to buy the delicassens from the meat market, and some have been coming for decades.
Norbert Jay is one of Baczynky’s regular customers. His unique story about how he got to know Ilnicki is one of many.
“I met Andrew many years ago,” said Jay. “I shopped at Baczynsky’s for my weekly supplies, and he was there and we were nodding acquaintances.”
Jay’s favorite product is the loops of kielbasa that are hung in the window. He sends them to his daughter in Spain, to his granddaughter in Florida and he even brought one to a Thanksgiving meal. But he didn’t know much about Ilnicki — only that he was responsible for the products at the meat market.
“Recently I started to take early morning walks and it brought me past the butcher shop,” said Jay. “Often, Andrew was at the window arranging things, and we did more than nod at each other, we stopped and chatted a little bit. And these chats became longer and longer until we looked forward to them every morning.”
As Ilnicki is often at the back of the shop in the kitchen, it wasn’t every day that they interacted.
“But the times that we did meet made the day for me, it was as if things were going to go well because I was able to talk with Andrew about inconsequential things,” Jay said.
Jay and Ilnicki continue to have their early morning chats, and will continue to do so for as long as they both stick around Bacsynsky’s. Knowing where you’re buying your food from, knowing what’s in it and having a relationship with the guy who’s making it is rare and is what makes this place so special.
Baczynsky’s is modernizing, with Ilnicki’s son joining the business, improving marketing and encouraging new customers to start to shop there as well. But as long as Ilnicki is alive and healthy, he will be at his shop furthering its legacy and greeting Jay every morning.
