It starts with butter, more than you think is necessary, that sits like an ice cap slowly melting in the pan. Next come the sliced onions, their sting dulled by fat and heat. A liberal shake of salt draws out flavor, which is then concentrated back into each wilted thread of onion. This is how pierogi ruskie begin at Pierozek, a new Polish restaurant in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
The onions are eventually mashed with cooked potatoes, farmer’s cheese and black pepper, then scooped onto rounds of dough, which are hand-pleated and boiled. In the pot, the dough relaxes into an elastic state. Out of the pot, the pierogi are drenched with more melted butter and strewn with more caramelized onions.
Essentially, pierogi are dumplings, eaten across Eastern Europe and its diaspora. At Pierozek, which opened last November in this historically Polish neighborhood, pierogi are something more sentimental. “We have lots of second- and third-generation families coming here,” said Radek Kucharski, an owner. “They are in love with the taste and memories that we bring them.”
Mr. Kucharski, 37, and his wife, Alexandra, 29, run the restaurant together. He was born in Czestochowa, in southern Poland, and she was born in Brooklyn. Both have fond memories of eating pierogi. “My grandmother would always make them,” Ms. Kucharski said. “Hers are very similar to the way we make them.”
The pierogi dough at Pierozek is thinner and springier than most. To me, it rivals the best of Asia’s adored “Q” textures — a term used, among others, to categorize a spectrum of chewy, elastic foods. The wheat flour dough is as delightful as fresh udon noodles; its flavor is neutral, never floury, and doesn’t compete with the fillings, which can be savory or sweet.
Pierogi ruskie, potato and cheese-filled, are deeply comforting. The meat version contains a generous mince of pork shoulder, which takes on an almost creamy consistency, while the sauerkraut-and-mushroom kind is both woodsy and acidic. Frequent dips in the accompanying cream, infused with raw garlic and dill, are a must.
Sweet pierogi, for dessert, are filled with a sugared curdlike cheese or fresh berries, though the slightly astringent strawberries reminded me that summer is still months away. “As the season arrives, they’re going to get better,” Mr. Kucharski said.
A different style of dumpling here, but equally essential, is uszka — small, crown-shaped pockets filled with either mushrooms and sauerkraut or minced pork. These are served bobbing in bowls of borscht, or barszcz, a sour beet soup the color of garnet. The restaurant ferments beets for three days, then boils the beet vinegar with water, vegetables and spices. It is bracingly tart until the earthy, savory flavors come into focus — a reversal of palate-cleansing acidity. Polish borscht is strained, and the version at Pierozek has the clarity of consommé.
Mr. Kucharski had the idea to open a pierogi-focused restaurant years ago, but the limited menu felt risky at the time, so he and Ms. Kucharski instead opened a coffee shop, Early. When another space on Manhattan Avenue became available last year — through a connection from his father-in-law, a financial partner — the couple decided to strike. Mr. Kucharski asked some friends in Poland who owned a pierogi cafe for help.
“They sent us two cooks for about five weeks to set up the kitchen, train employees and pick the ingredients,” he said. There are strict instructions for what brands of butter, flour and even black pepper to use (all imported from Poland), and an assembly line-like system produces neatly crimped and amply stuffed dumplings every time. (All the work is done by hand, but a simple dough sheeter helps achieve that whispery-thin dough.)
The key to Pierozek’s long-term success may be its synchronization of past and present. The Kucharskis have an eye for what works: Traditional art and Polish ceramics are stylishly displayed on exposed brick and white marble. The food is prepared by an all-women staff of experienced pierogi-makers.
But ultimately, it comes down to the dumplings. “We get a lot of compliments,” Mr. Kucharski said.
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