There are few foods Western Pennsylvanians are more devoted to than the pierogi. While nearly every culture has its version of the dumpling, the region remains fiercely attached to the Polish comfort food brought over by Eastern European immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th century. With Pittsburgh standing as the “buckle” of the nation’s so-called “Pierogi Belt,” the dish connects the New and Old Worlds and preserves a culinary tradition.
But after more than a century stateside, the pierogi has evolved, and some unique versions have emerged. Some pay tribute to holidays, the seasons or game-day chicken wings — the buffalo chicken pierogi is now a staple — while others are full-on Frankenstein hybrids: pie-rogies, pizza-rogies, taco-rogies, even wedding cakes and a spin on Mad Mex’s gobblerito. We’ve compiled a sampling of the region’s rarest and strangest pierogies, in all their unconventional glory.
Polska Laska
Polska Laska in Sharpsburg is a relative newcomer — it opened last January — but owner Olive Visco is well-versed in both traditional pierogies and the new and novel. Grown from a popular pierogi pop-up, the Polish-American cafe carries on a family tradition — Visco handcrafts each pierogi and braids its edge based on a recipe passed down from her great-grandmother.
The cozy pink shop offers a menu of classic flavors, including potato cheddar, potato onion, and farmer’s cheese and herb (with vegan options), in addition to a pierogi of the week, where Visco likes to experiment.
“I just try to keep seasonality in mind,” Visco said, mentioning recent Reuben and lamb shepherd’s pie pierogies made for St. Patrick’s Day.
Polska Laska tends to shy away from sweet fillings, with the exception of traditional recipes like levkar, a thick, jam-like fruit butter (also found in hamantaschen cookies, traditionally served during the Jewish holiday Purim). But you don’t know what special pierogi you might encounter on a given week, with rotated flavors, including chicken sweet potato curry, beer cheese or Visco’s favorite, the “Weak Night”: Visco’s teenage creation, the pierogi is filled with cooked ramen noodles along with their seasoning packet, cream cheese, parmesan, scallion, egg and heaps of black pepper.
“It tastes like an umami carbonara mash-up,” Visco said of the creation originally, telling TribLive, “It’s kind of a savory carb-on-carb, creamy rework of a late-night food.”
1100 N. Canal St., Sharpsburg. instagram.com/polskalaskapgh
Cop Out Pierogies
After 14 years of owning Cop Out Pierogies in Etna, Carl Funtal said it’s important to have a little fun.
The 6-foot-3 former Shaler police sergeant opened the Polish eatery as his retirement project and has been trying out pierogi recipes ever since.
Aside from its traditional potato and cheese, potato onion and gluten-free vegan pierogies — the latter of which Funtal believes are among the only ones in the region — Cop Out has piloted all manner of “carb-on-carb” delicacies. Early hits included macaroni-and-cheese pierogies, a cheeseburger pierogi, a chicken marsala and chicken parmesan creation and the Cop Dog, a pierogi bun filled with kielbasa and large hot dog onions or sauerkraut. Funtal suspects their summertime watermelon tequila habanero pierogi (you read that right) still might be the shop’s “most unique,” made with chicken and a homemade sauce.
Cop Out also may have pioneered dessert pierogies, Funtal believes, which have grown so much in popularity that they’ve made their way into venues like Kennywood and PNC Park.
Ahead of Easter this year, Cop Out introduced Cadbury mini egg dessert pierogies, or “pie-rogies,” the successor to flavors like mixed-berry cheesecake, candy cane, cotton candy and s’mores.
But Funtal took the dessert pierogi to its apex, making two pierogi wedding cakes in his tenure — one seascape-themed and one featuring a Cinderella carriage, both stacked layers with frosted pierogies. He would make another pierogi wedding cake if asked, he said.
“It’s hard to believe I passed a lot of psychological (tests) to get on the police department,” Funtal joked. “Let’s just say stuff just pops into my head, … (and) there’s something for everybody.”
350 Butler St., Etna.You can find the shop on Facebook.
Forgotten Taste Pierogies
It’s difficult not to take Forgotten Taste’s name as a misnomer when the family-owned restaurant offers a menu of 17 pierogi flavors. For those who want to mix and match at home, pierogies come either frozen to-go or hot and ready-to-eat, available at two locations in Moon Township and Pine.
Forgotten Taste’s offerings range from pierogi standards like potato and sauerkraut to heartier Eastern European fare like roast beef — filled with “authentic Polish pierogi beef stuffing” — and hot sausage, including a levkar prune butter variety that can be eaten with whipped cream.
But Forgotten Taste’s menu veers into the creative with hybrid options: a three-cheese and pepperoni pizza pierogi (stuffed with mozzarella, Monterey Jack and cheddar) and a barbecue pulled pork-rogi to be slathered with the barbecue sauce of your choice — a seasonal option returning soon.
In the meantime, guests can try a mashed sweet potato pierogi or hold out for summer when Forgotten Taste’s blueberry dessert pierogi reappears.
910 Beaver Grade Road, Moon, and 11978 U.S. 19, Pine. forgottentaste.com.
The Ugly Dumpling
“I will put anything in a pierogi,” said Megan Ciesielski, owner of The Ugly Dumpling in Carnegie.
This was essentially the premise when Ciesielski launched her business in 2017, rolling dough, mixing potatoes and making pierogies from scratch in a commercial kitchen in her garage.
“I’m all about imperfections,” she said. “People say all the time, oh, your pierogies are beautiful … but they’re very imperfect. I think that’s kind of the charm of things being genuinely homemade.”
Willing to trade aesthetics for taste and running as a one-person operation allows Ciesielski to offer some of the most customizable pierogies in the region, which are sold frozen and ready-to-cook. Mandy’s Pizza in West View also stocks select flavors.
The Ugly Dumpling’s menu is divided into classic, specialty and seasonal pierogi flavors, though Ciesielski says she’ll make almost anything year-round. The shop’s classic pierogies round up the usual suspects: cheesy potato variations, including a spicy jalapeño pierogi, among Ciesielski’s favorites.
But The Ugly Dumpling’s specialty and seasonal offerings bring some truly oddball pierogies, featuring a taco-rogi (seasoned ground beef, salsa, jalapeños and a Mexican cheese blend), a breakfast pierogi (sausage, scrambled eggs and home fries), two fruit “cobblerogis” and a pumpkin pie-rogi — just “like mom’s pumpkin pie but take away the crust, and stuff that baby in a ’rogi!”
For the maximalists, Ugly Dumpling will stuff a slow-cooked beef pot toast into a pierogi and give you a side of beef gravy, or make the ultimate, a “Gobblerogi XL,” a pierogi version of Mad Mex’s notorious Gobblerito, which Ciesielski assembled while working at the restaurant in her early 20s.
“(Gobblerogis) we will only make right before Thanksgiving,” Ciesielski said. “Those are probably the most difficult, (because) they’re extra large and saucer-shaped. You can’t get all that goodness into a normal-sized pierogi, so it basically looks like a giant ravioli.”
“It is a labor of love,” Ciesielski said of creating the pierogies. “I’m happy to be able to give people homemade pierogies, because nobody wants to make them and but everybody wants to eat them, right?… I’m just happy to be able to bring that bit of Pittsburgh joy to everyone.”
423 Bluff St. Ext., Carnegie. theuglydumplingllc.com
Bubba’s
If you still want to expand your pierogi palate, Bubba’s in Greensburg, known for its Polish food, offers regular and specialty flavors, both traditionally boiled and deep-fried. As we’ve established, potato pierogies — along with buffalo chicken and levkar, apparently — are touchstones, but branch out with a crab option or sweet cabbage, a flavor usually reserved for Christmas and the winter holidays. Indulge your sweet tooth with strawberry and cream or Oreo pierogi, and let us know how close you get to the county fair.
14 N. Westmoreland Ave., Greensburg. bubbadelivers.com