For the love of perogies

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/10/2016 (3521 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Rob Naleway knows a thing or two about perogies.

Naleway is the owner of Perogy Planet, which has just opened a second location at 11-845 Dakota St. There will be a grand opening on Oct. 20. He also has a flagship location at 1411 Main St. in West Kildonan, which opened last fall.  

In the few weeks since opening its doors, Naleway said business is already booming at the new location.

“We’re already selling as many perogies here as our other store,” Naleway said. “By the second week, we’d started to match sales.”

The perogies are made at the Main Street location and brought to the Dakota store — a location chosen by Naleway, in part, because it’s in a “high-density, high-visibility area,” and also because it’s far enough away from the other location to tap into a new customer base.

As well as more traditional forms of the product, Perogy Planet has come up with a mouth-watering range of different flavours. While the crowd favourite is the classic cheddar cheese and potato, some of Naleway’s other bestsellers include loaded baked potato, sweet potato brie, chorizo, and blueberry.

The selection of flavours have been inspired by experimentation, trial and error, and suggestions along the way, but the success of the product owes a lot to both traditional recipes and the homemade approach, Naleway said.

“We try to make perogies like grandma would make them. They’ve already been cooked and the dough is super tender. We also use all real ingredients and make everything from scratch. We have equipment such as potato peelers and food processing equipment, and we cook off everything, such as the roast beef” he said.

Naleway is also the owner of Naleway Catering, a business he took over from his dad, Bob, who got into the perogy profession courtesy of his late mother, Anne.

“I went to the school of hard knocks, and I think all the lessons I’ve learned in the last 16 years in the catering business are now going into this new venture,” Naleway said.

“I think we’ll go for a year and see where we end up. My catering business is also having a crazy year, so I’m hoping to get around to doing more perogy flavours and sauces in the future. Back in the early 2000s I worked like crazy, then had a somewhat normal life, and now I’m back to working like crazy again. But don’t get me wrong — it’s a good, workable problem to have.”

When asked about the perfect accompaniment to eating perogies, Naleway didn’t hesitate.

“Sour cream is essential, especially with the more basic flavours, and then there’s butter, onions, and fresh dill. When it comes to the debate on how to cook them, I enjoy them both pan-fried because of the crunchiness and boiled because of the tenderness,” Naleway said.

Go online at www.perogyplanet.com for more information, including a full list of flavours and store opening hours.

simon.fuller@canstarnews.com

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