To keep up with the demand, Mannarino hired help. Nearly each of her 12 staff members has emigrated from Eastern Europe – Poland, Russia and the Ukraine – and has years of pierogi-making experience.
She also extended the shop’s hours to five days a week, Monday through Friday, and expanded its menu as customers requested different types of pierogies. They wanted plain sauerkraut, apricot, jalapeno and potato and other nontraditional fillings.
“People were asking for it,” Mannarino said. All the different kinds of pierogies “came that way. If you ask for it, we’ll try it.”
Today, the staff at Piergoies Plus peels and mashes 1,000 pounds of potatoes and hand makes 200 to 300 dozen pierogies “on a slow week,” Mannarino said. They also make other Eastern European dishes like stuffed cabbage and haluski.
Making Upgrades
Until recently, all the food at Pierogies Plus was made in a small, discrete kitchen and the all the potatoes were boiled in pots on an old iron stove.