A Team Of Polish Women Make Pierogi Like Back Home At Pierozek
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Roughly 2,000 pierogi are handmade daily at Pierozek, a Brooklyn restaurant whose name translates to "little pierogi."
Such output is made possible by a team of up to ten women from Poland. In the kitchen each day, they chat in Polish as they roll and fill the pierogi dough, using techniques learned from parents and grandparents back home.
So what's the secret to the perfect pierogi?
"We don't tell our secrets," pierogi maker Krystyna Baranska said.
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Married couple Alexandra and Radek Kucharsi opened Pierozek earlier this month, with consulting help from the owners of sister restaurant PierozeQ in Czestochowa, Poland, Radek's hometown.
Alexandra was born in Brooklyn to Polish immigrants.
"They came here about thirty years ago with nothing but a suitcase and very little English language," she said.
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Pierozek has opened to a discerning audience in Greenpoint, a neighborhood known as "Little Poland."
"I would say our biggest competition are the Polish families who make their pierogi at home," Alexandra joked.
The pierogi at Pierozek have savory fillings like pork shoulder in addition to sweet ones like strawberry.
"The most traditional pierogi is a ruskie pierogi, which are with potato and cheese," Alexandra said.
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To Alexandra, the pierogi is a comfort food with the power to transport. She appreciates hearing from customers that her pierogi bring back childhood memories spent in the kitchen with grandparents.
"That's the biggest honor that we can ever have. It's better than a review. It's better than anything else," she said.
Pierozek
592 Manhattan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11222
(718) 576-3866
https://www.pierozekbrooklyn.com/
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