Royal Cracovia opening with a fund-raiser

Royal Cracovia - a European bistro along White Horse Pike in Magnolia, N.J., that developer Stanislaw "Stosh" Stachowski built for a reported $3.5 million - will open later this month.

The first event, Oct. 24, will be a $50-a-ticket party benefiting Durand Academy & Community Services, which serves special-needs children and adults.

Royal Cracovia (510 White Horse Pike South, Magnolia, on the former site of Magnolia Diner) is due to open to the public the next day.

The 250-seater is gigantic, with a quarry's worth of marble, granite and stone. Four private dining rooms. A banquet room in the lower level that can house a small army. A $1 million kitchen and bakery, a wood-fired oven, a rotisserie. Twenty-five-foot cathedral ceilings, $200,000 in lighting fixtures, $40,000 of American red oak, three custom-built Italian display cases to sell pastries, kielbasa and grab-and-go salads and sandwiches, and a secret lab in the basement where pierogi will be made.