Get stuffed at Pierogies of Cleveland | Local Flavor

Polka music greeted us when we opened the door. You bet your sweet kishka we came to the right place.

Pierogies of Cleveland is part market, part cafe, part gift shop — and all Polish. The Richfield business is in a cute plaza at 4131 W. Streetsboro Road (Route 303) near Brecksville Road. Look for the white POC bus that’s usually parked at the corner.

My wife, Susie, hails from Parma, the Polish capital of Ohio, so it’s kind of remarkable that it took us so long to visit this neat little place.

If you’ve never been there, it’s sort of like going to Baskin-Robbins, but instead of 31 flavors of ice cream, there are 36 flavors of pierogies, plus a lot of other traditional Polish fare like smoked kielbasa, stuffed cabbage, chicken paprikash, potato pancakes, spaetzle and more.

Jennifer Harrah opened the pierogi shop in 2009 using her grandmother’s recipes and eventually added a cafe. POC also has a store (but no cafe) at 6869 Pearl Road in Middleburg Heights and sells products at the Farmer’s Table at 320 S. Court St., Suite 100, in Medina.

Susie and I ordered at the counter of the Richfield store and browsed the merchandise while we waited. Giant freezers are stocked with food for customers to take home. Store shelves are filled with Polish-themed items for sale including T-shirts, sweatshirts, ballcaps, aprons, magnets, flags and decor.

We got a chuckle out of some of the slogans on shirts: “You Bet Your Dupa I’m Polish,” “Polish Princess,” “World’s Greatest Busia,” “World’s Greatest Dziadzia” and “Yes, I’m Polish. Wanna See My Kielbasa?”

As polka music blared, we sat down at a booth in the carpeted dining area. There are three booths and five tables, including three on the patio.

So many pierogi flavors in Richfield

Handcrafted gourmet pierogies, crimped dumplings stuffed with filling, are the star of the menu. There are traditional flavors, of course, like potato and cheddar or potato and sauerkraut. You can get potato variations with sausage, jalapeno, habanero, bacon, broccoli and sundried tomatoes.

Specialty pierogies include sauerkraut, sausage and kielbasa; egg, bacon and cheddar; chicken paprikash; Buffalo chicken; beef and mushrooms; three cheese spinach and mushroom; goat cheese and mushrooms; sloppy Joe; taco; and sweet cream corn. I’m getting hungry just typing this.

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There also are vegan pierogies like potato, onion and chive; sweet cabbage; mushroom; and mushroom and sauerkraut.

And dessert and fruit pierogies — I didn’t know such things existed — include sweet cottage cheese, traditional cottage cheese, yam and walnut, prune, apricot, apple pie and candy bar.

The cafe offers a flavor of the month that’s available for only a short time. Reuben and spinach artichoke dip are recent examples.

Pierogies of Cleveland prides itself on using only natural ingredients with no artificial flavors or preservatives. Yukon gold potatoes are sourced from a farm in Hiram. The business has started growing its own cabbage and is providing weekly updates online to customers.

A plate of six potato and cheddar pierogies, the tried-and-true variety, costs $10, but more exotic flavors cost $8 for three. I wanted to sample several, so I selected six for $16.

I ordered two Lenten specials, cheesy lobster and crab rangoon; a vegan option, mushroom and sauerkraut; a specialty flavor, goat cheese and mushrooms; and two dessert pierogies, apple pie and candy bar.

They were served on a black plate with sour cream and caramelized onions on the side. It’s hard to tell them apart until you cut into them.

“I think part of the fun is seeing what you’re going to get,” Susie said.

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She ordered potato, cheddar and bacon; potato, sun-dried tomato and mozzarella; and sloppy Joe ($8).

“I wonder what this one is,” she said. “This is very good.” It was sun-dried tomato.

Each pierogi tasted better than the last. At first, I thought the crab rangoon was my favorite, but then I tried the goat cheese and mushrooms, and it nudged ahead. The vegan mushroom broke away from the pack until I sampled the cheesy lobster. Let’s face it: They all were great. I stopped playing favorites and just munched away.

Stuffed cabbage so tender and juicy

Susie also ordered a cabbage roll ($6.49), which was drenched in a tangy tomato sauce and served hot in a white bowl. It looked so juicy that she couldn’t wait to try it.

The tender cabbage, cooked just right, was wrapped around a savory mound of well-seasoned meat and rice. Normally she casts away the cabbage and eats the interior, but for perhaps the first time ever, she devoured everything.

“I think I found my happy place,” Susie said.

I ordered a side of spaetzle ($3.49), a generous, tasty portion of dense noodles, which proved to be a nice palate cleanser between pierogies.

The apple pie and candy bar pierogies were simply wonderful. The first one, brimming with cinnamon, tasted just like a miniature pie.

“That’s delicious,” Susie said.

The candy bar pierogi is like a chocolate lava cheesecake inside a chocolate shell. Its ingredients include chocolate chips, peanut butter cups, Oreo cookies, peanuts, cheesecake and caramel. Warm and luscious, it packs a lot of flavor in a small package. Definitely try it.

Clancy, our server and counter worker, was a great ambassador for the company. Friendly and cheerful, he was highly knowledgeable about the menu and gave us several recommendations. He checked our table frequently to make sure everything was OK.

With tax and beverages, our total bill came to $37.96, not including tip.

Take some food home

A steady stream of customers visited the store as we dined. Some must have ordered online while others didn’t decide until they got there. We noticed diners from other booths getting up to buy food before leaving.

“It’s fun to watch people eat and then go to the glass case to get something for home,” Susie said.

We soon joined them, grabbing two packages of pierogies (cottage cheese and sweet cream corn) and a container of homemade kolaczki for the road.

“Grandma approved” is the slogan of Pierogies of Cleveland.

Susie said her busia in Michigan would have approved, too.

We’ll definitely be back. And I think it will be soon.

Mark J. Price can be reached at mprice@thebeaconjournal.com 

Details

Place: Pierogies of Cleveland Cafe & Market

Address: 4131 W. Streetsboro Road, Richfield

Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday

Options: Dine in, carryout, outdoor seating, curbside pickup, catering, party plattersMore info: https://www.poconlinestore.com/ or 330-659-4309

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Pierogies of Cleveland offers plenty of Polish fare in Richfield