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A taste of Pittsburgh’s Polish heritage at Rogie Pierogies in Delray Beach

The sign says it all at Rogie Pierogies on Congress Avenue in Delray Beach.

Storefront takeout outlet doles out ready-to-heat pierogies and cooked combo plates filled with hearty Polish fare. Smacznego!

By ALAN J. WAX

There’s not much to see at Rogie Pierogies, a relatively new takeout shop on Congress Avenue in Delray Beach.

The interior of Rogie Pierogies.

Inside a simple storefront in a retail-cum-industrial strip a bit north of Lake Ida Road, record covers from Polish polka albums decorate a bright yellow wall that serves as a backdrop to a refrigerator case and a freezer case. There’s a wooden table topped with a vintage phonograph and polka records against the window, a small order counter and shelves stocked with pickles and other goodies, edible and decorative.

Rogie is perfect for these pandemic times, when folks like me would just as soon do takeout as dine inside.  Inside, if there’s cooking going on, the air inside fills with the aroma of onions being caramelized. It’s a hint of what’s to come.

Here at Rogie you’ll find a wide variety of house-made hardy potato, cheese and meat filled dumplings, garlicky Polish sausage known as kielbasa, a fried pork skewer called City Chicken, stuffed cabbage rolls, sauerkraut and, of course, fried onions. And for after dining, kolaczki, jam-filled cream cheese pastries.

Behind Rogie is local food entrepreneur Bob Buzek, who with a friend from college, Jerry Felinczak — both of Polish decent from Pittsburgh—opened Rogie because they missed the handmade pierogies that were so readily available in their hometown.  Beginning in 2018, the duo began selling their fare at the Delray Beach Green Market and other events, as well as to local eateries. Covid-19 put a stop to that. Nonetheless, they continued to make pierogies, selling them at pop-ups at their commercial kitchen, formerly in Boynton Beach.  “The response was overwhelming, so it made sense to open a full-time retail shop,” Buzek, a certified master baker and a former instructor at the Florida Culinary Institute, told me.

Buzek said the shop’s handmade pierogies, city chicken and kolaczki have proven popular in this area, not only with people of Eastern European descent, but others who have moved from the Northeast. His recipes were passed down from his mother and grandmother, but he’s taken some creative liberties with such pierogi varieties as potato and beer cheese and cheesy Jalapeno.

Pierogies oft are associated with Pittsburgh because of the city’s large pockets of Polish heritage. Consequently, Polish foods are ingrained into the local cuisine; pierogies are as much Pittsburgh as they are Polish.

Rogie’s combo.

City Chicken.

On a recent Saturday, I stopped in for a takeout combo platter ($12.99), providing a satisfying, but heavy, lunch and an ideal way to sample Rogie’s offerings. The platter (actually served in separate containers) included two pierogies of my choice — I opted for the two popular favorites, potato and onion and potato and cheddar; a stuffed cabbage roll; half of a sauteed kielbasa link, cucumber salad, and caramelized onions . I also got a single order of city chicken and a plastic shell pack of kolaczki.

The pierogies were melt-in-your mouth tender with creamy potatoes within.  The secret to the tender dough, Buzek told me, is the hand-mixing of the dough.

The stuffed cabbage roll with a lightly packed filling of beef, pork, turkey and rice, was tender and bathed in a mostly tart, light tomato sauce.

Maxwell Street Market kielbasa.

Kolaczki.

The Maxwell Street Market brand kielbasa (from Chicago’s Vienna Sausage Co.), sliced and sauteed, is crisp and garlicky.

Cucumber salad, thin cucumber rounds in dill-flecked sour cream, also known as mizeria, is a tangy accompaniment to everything. The caramelized onions are crunchy.

The city chicken, also been known as mock chicken, is a Polish-America pork dish that originated in Pittsburgh and Cleveland and then spread to other Great Lakes cities. It’s made of small bits of meat, because they were less expensive than chicken during the Great Depression. The meat was placed on a wooden skewer and formed to resemble a chicken leg and then breaded and fried and/or baked. Rogie’s version does sort of resemble a breaded drumstick, but I found the meat tough and chewy.

The kolaczki, however, were light with just enough sweetness and were highly addictive.

Out of the pan pierogies are three for $6.95, six for  $10.49. Stuffed cabbage rolls are  $5.99 apiece, city chicken is $4.99 for one and  $8.99 for two. A kielbasa sandwich is $8.99

Pre-cooked pierogies, which require a quick pan crisping, are sold by the dozen ($10.99 to $13.99).  Kolaczki are $11.99 for a pound. The shop also stocks products from other local businesses, such as Johnny’s Fish Dip and Palm Beach Pickle Co.

Rogie Pierogies’ hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. but have been extended during the holiday season until 6 p.m. Wednesday through Friday.

Smacznego! (That’s Polish for enjoy your meal).

Rogie Pierogies

1445 N. Congress Ave. Delray Beach, FL 33445

www.rogiepierogies.com

(561) 279-3555

 

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