Pierogies Plus

When I was growing up in Pittsburgh, the food culture was dictated by the neighborhood you lived in. My family was Italian, but I went to school with a lot of eastern European kids, so I ate a lot of potato pierogies. I loved them. They were made with this light kind of dough, filled with creamy mashed potatoes, pan-fried in butter, and topped with golden onions and sour cream. By the time I was a teenager, I knew where to find the best pierogies in the city. At Pierogies Plus in the McKees Rocks neighborhood, you could get any kind you wanted, whether traditional potato or something as out-there as jalapeño and bacon. This place has been around for almost 20 years, and the pierogies still taste great. —Damian Sansonetti, Bar Boulud, New York City