Eat Something Good

mrs. t's pierogies

I sent Steve to the store last night with very, unappealing options.  We were thinkin’ burgers or eggs or something simple alongs those lines.  When I became a little flustered, Steve said ‘leave it up to me’.  I worried a little but I had no choice but to trust his judgement in this case.  When he came home, I looked in the shopping bag and my face lit up.  That lovely blue box called Mrs. T’s.  They’re pierogies, little dumpling-like things filled with stuff.  And the kind we got is potato & onion.  I’ve been really enjoying the potato & onion combination lately.

Let see, hmmm, *rub head*, how did the pierogi thing start for me.  Oh yes, it was when I was living in the East Village (NYC).  I lived in an area with Polish and Ukranian diners.  Not one typical Greek diner around.  Up in these parts, you go greek or nothing at all because you don’t have any options.  Okay, so the thing to get in a polish diner is keilbasa and/or pierogies.  But, I’m not one for keilbasa (neither is Steve) so I usually go for other things like soups, simple sandwiches and breakfast items.  There was a Polish place (actually two right across the street from each other: Teresa’s and Polania) right around the corner.  But the preferred place, Teresa’s, served better entrees.  I used to get their stuffed cabbage.  Yum!  With mashed potatoes.  Or their giant chicken cutlet.  The food was very homey and I liked that alot in NYC where you can have like anything in the world to eat.  It was nice to take refuge there.  When I first went there, it was really like 50’s ish looking.  Dive’ee.  Later, while I was still in the East Village, they remodeled and fancied up the place.  But what was funny is that the food stayed exactly the same which is a good thing.  So it was served in a modern, artsy atmosphere but all you got in your salad was lettuce and tomato slices (Like as though they sliced it for a sandwich.)  I thought the black, artsy interior didn’t match the food but I’m glad they didn’t glorify and beautify (is that a word?) the food.

So, to continue about Mrs. T’s pierogies.  My favorite ones are the potato & cheese (above pic) or the ones we had last night, potato & onion which is the most typical one.  The other one I like, and get this, is sauerkraut & mushroom.  I had it either at Teresa’s or Veselka’s.  Don’t recall.  I know, I know it sounds disgusting.  But trust me, it was good.  At least I liked it.  I’m not sure what possessed me to try it that day but I wasn’t at all displeased.  The sauerkraut was more tender than what you’d typically expect and not as sour, sauerkraut’ee.  Okay, this leads us back to Mrs. T’s.

mrs. t's pierogies

I haven’t had too many different varieties of pierogies.  I’m a novice.  And Mrs. T’s is really, the only brand we buy.  I completely turned Steve onto these.  He loves them with fried onions & sour cream.  It was my idea to fry up the onions for it last night.  You usually get a choice of apple sauce or the above combination for the pierogies at a restaurant.  These little dumplings can be deep-fried, sauteed, baked, and boiled.  I really like them boiled and it makes me feel a little healthier eating them that way.  Next time I’d like to try baking them.  For one, it’ll make me feel healthier’ish and it’s less mess.  No grease, no splatters and stuff.  What we, well Steve, wound up doing was what he does best - pan fry.  His mother is a great fryer of things so I guess it’s in his genes.  Anyway, ours came out with its outer shell being a little too well done.  It was not really crispy/crunchy and it wasn’t too difficult to eat, but, like Steve said - he would’ve liked for the edges of it to be softer.  But overall, Steve did a good job pan frying  and we enjoyed them a great deal.  I prefer to go the way of fried onions & sour cream versus apple sauce, but I’m sure the apple sauce is really good with it as well.

Now that’s I’ve blogged all this, I’m in the mood for pierogies.  I think we’ll eventually be making a trip to Teresa’s (polish) or Veselka’s (ukranian).  Veselka’s serves similar fare but they also offer ukranian meatballs that I’ve been interested in for over a decade.  Why do I deny myself simple pleasures, I will never know.  Oh, I must mention, both of these places aren’t too expensive.  Most dishes are around the $10 range and breakfasts are even cheaper.  They serve breakfast all day long.  Oh, one other pierogi experience I must mention here.  Several years ago, another restaurant came and went at what I call the death spot.  Okay, I just made that up but you get the idea.  At one point, it turned into a polish restaurant.  I thought that was kinda odd considering that where I am now is sorta, how can I say this…Well, it’s mostly Italian restaurants.  Tons of pizzerias.  And greek diners.  So there isn’t much diversity up here.  This fancy polish restaurant ( and I’d never seen a fancy polish restaurant - never even thought one existed cause I was so used to diner’ee type places), this place up here a ways from what probably feels like civilization had awesome pierogies.  Steve said they were the best he’d ever had.  I tried some and had to agree.  It was your  lucky day if they still had pierogies by dinnertime.  Okay guys, that’s my latest, take care and as always, Eat Something Good!