{"id":426879,"date":"2025-12-05T16:53:36","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T16:53:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/426879\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T16:53:36","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T16:53:36","slug":"the-pierogi-boys-are-reinventing-polish-comfort-food-in-ridgewood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/426879\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pierogi Boys Are Reinventing Polish Comfort Food in Ridgewood"},"content":{"rendered":"

Everyone in Poland, at some point, finds themselves making pierogies, says Krzysztof Poluchowicz, one of the two Pierogi Boys<\/a> now making pierogies inside a renovated funeral home in Ridgewood, Queens, down the street from Rolo\u2019s<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And here they are in New York, doing the same. But Krzysztof\u2019s story \u2014 intertwined with that of his business and life partner, Andrzej Kinczyk \u2014 is an unusual one. In the mid-2000s, both were in college, and Ki\u0144czyk found himself throwing parties while running Bj\u00f6rk\u2019s official Polish fan club in the early days of the internet. Running Bj\u00f6rk release parties in Poland was, as it turned out, an early experience in the artisanal food business.<\/p>\n

\u201cI even had a contact with the Icelandic embassy in Poland, and they supplied us with fish oil,\u201d Ki\u0144czyk says. Now, they run a restaurant and stock their own artisanal grocery store, the Pierogi Boys Market, selling their favorite brands of mayonnaise, imported snacks, craft beer, and canned fish.<\/p>\n

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The mural at Pierogi Boys<\/p>\n

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The market is one aspect of the Pierogi Boys location in Ridgewood, 57-34 Catalpa, at Onderdonk, that is also a daytime cafe and nighttime restaurant. It\u2019s relatively spacious, framed by windows, and an enormous mural painted by the illustrator Gosia Herba<\/a> from Wroc\u0142aw. Bright and stylish, it\u2019s not like the cavernous wood-paneled Polish spots of the likes in Greenpoint of the last half-century.<\/p>\n

Poluchowicz and Kinczyk are familiar to New York\u2019s pierogi aficionados, who have visited them since 2017 at pop-ups and at Dekalb Market Hall. Poluchowicz calls their early takes on the food of their homeland \u201cpainfully classical.\u201d At their downtown Brooklyn stand, the Pierogi Boys developed a following among celebrities like Jimmy Kimmel<\/a>; Ki\u0144czyk even says he would spot the actor-turned-Polish citizen<\/a>, Jesse Eisenberg, regularly stopping during the press run for his Poland set, A Real Pain<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With the Ridgewood restaurant, the pair has shifted to a more modern and stylish take on Polish food.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt really does feel, for us, that we\u2019re representing Polish food and culture to non-Polish people,\u201d Poluchowicz tells Eater. \u201cAnd what\u2019s happening with Polish food right now, it\u2019s just fascinating.\u201d<\/p>\n

The owners say the bold yet minimal menu claims inspiration from modern Polish chefs like Beata \u015aniechowska, whose M\u0142oda Polska<\/a> sits in Ki\u0144czyk\u2019s hometown of Warsaw.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re also inspired by the pioneering Pittsburgh vegan spot Apteka<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot in terms of being vegan, but they just create these beautiful Polish flavors by smoking everything,\u201d Ki\u0144czyk tells Eater.<\/p>\n

The Pierogi Boys menu includes seasonal plates like heirloom tomatoes in summer, and cold beet salads as fall turns to winter. Deviled eggs are a year-round option, bright yellow fountains crowned with trout caviar. Instead of serving it with a plate of potatoes, they\u2019ll serve a pork schnitzel with an endive-and-anchovy salad.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome Polish people find this controversial, but it\u2019s not gonna leave you in a food coma after you\u2019ve had it,\u201d says Poluchowicz.<\/p>\n

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Matt Oliver, who used to run the kitchen at the shuttered Fern\u2019s in the East Village, is also there most afternoons, putting together a playful sandwich menu with items like a Polish banh mi that combines carrots and liver pate with traditional Polish ham in a creative fusion of lunch meats.<\/p>\n

Consistently on the menu, of course, are the pierogis. Shaped like miniature puffy hats made of soft dough, they\u2019re filled with potato and cheese, mushroom, or a blend of pork and beef.<\/p>\n

The drinks menu includes the cocktail named szarlotka, named after a traditional Polish take on apple pie, as well as a pickle martini made with a literal pickle.<\/p>\n

When they moved here, they had been skeptical of the kind of old-fashioned New York Polish spots. They wanted to build something more true to themselves that resonates with their upbringing in Poland.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes we do get the question: Why do you guys not have a Polish flag?\u201d Ki\u0144czyk chimes in. \u201cIt\u2019s very old school, but you know it\u2019s not necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

The szarlotka<\/p>\n