ottawa foodies

I was leaving Ikea when I saw the sign "Perogies". I couldn't drive by without checking it out. Since I am a vegan I was happy to find out that perogies can be egg and dairy free. I bought different flavors to try at home. I also purchased the AMAZING looking Cabbage Rolls that looked just like my baba used to make. I picked up a few crepes and baked buns. Once I got home, my husband and the children were so happy to hear whats for dinner. EVERYTHING was TASTY! I loved it so as my family. From now and on, this will be our store to shop :D

Went in with my roommate to introduce her to cabbage rolls. Ordered two, they were really expensive, compared to the price on the prairies - and really they are cabbage and rice and fairly easy to make. They were TERRIBLE. Runny, still half frozen (microwaved them - yuck), flavour and sauce was absolutely sub par.
Also bought some perogies to take home, also really expensive and really really disappointing when we got home and made them.

Saving grace, however, is the Russian place next door. Bought a different kind of frozen perogie there - and they were DELICIOUS and way cheaper. Also, the meat next door is phenomenal.

they also have potato and cheese perogies for vegetarian option.

What a wonderful place - all the food looks homemade with care. Vegetarian options are the mushroom perogies and sauerkraut perogies, mushroom cabbage rolls and beet salad. The mushroom perogies were my favourite and I dream about having them again soon. You can buy ready-to-eat perogies and frozen. The service was very friendly and it is obviously a family-run small business, which feels good to support.

Last autumn, my daughter and I discovered that we could walk to Lakomka and Beryozka, and this became a favourite, relaxing weekend activity for us. One Sunday as the weather began to turn colder, the friendly lady in Lakomka told us that her mother and father were planning to open up a Perohy take out next door. I was very happy to hear about the Ukrainian community making its presence more known in our town. Throughout the long, harsh winter we were unable to make the walk, and when the sidewalks were finally cleared and we had a milder day, we returned to see that the windows were still papered up. We were assured that Perohy was coming soon, and wondered what it looked like inside.

At last came spring, and we made our weekend walks to Perohy. It was a fun treat for my daughter to go ‘out’ to Perohy for supper, as we have never gone out to restaurants often. As we spoke with the family there and got to know them a bit, I began to think at home about the acquaintance and the nature of their business. In particular I was impressed with the Mama of this establishment, with thoughts to the husband/father and their daughters as well. I realised that this is not at all like any restaurant. I promised the family that I would post my comments on their Perohy take out.

What is special about Perohy is that its foundation is love. It is a business that feeds their family; but it is created out of love and with a mandate to share that love. This mother works to feed the community as she works at home for her family. She puts the love of her hands into the perohy or pirojki or holubtsi that you buy, as she has done for many years at home and has passed this on to her family. Go to the restaurant at College Square and see if you find love in a greasy pizza or frozen veggie burger. When I haven’t our own perohy at hand, or as a treat for my daughter, a bit of a tradition for a weekend lunch, I am comfortable that she is eating good quality food with the love of honest people that I would create for her at home. I am happy to support their family’s business.

As well, it must be noted that this mother is worthy of honour as a woman who has balanced life for her large family and shares with the community. In health research women’s paid and unpaid work are now given serious attention as societal determinants of health. The father and husband is a gentleman who has put his heart and determination into his family, and the daughters are kind.

We enjoy and fully appreciate our visits to Perohy and the efforts that the family puts into this remarkable, pleasant place.

Found out the hard way that they close at 5 on Mondays, and 8 every other weeknight :(

I was so happy to find this place today when I visited the Russian store Lakoma. It is right next door.I tried the cabbage rolls, cabbage salad, blines, salad oliver and of course perogies and everything was delicious! I thought the cabbage rolls and perogies tasted familiar and I read below that it is the same woman from the Ukranian Orthodox Church who did the cooking! This made sense as I went every year to the bazaar just for her food. The food is even better then the ones I tried in Europe. The staff was very pleasant and helpful. I am thrilled that I no longer have to try so hard to make it myself (which never turns out) and can buy it there.
My daughter loves it too and it makes a nice healthy alternative to all those hamburger fast food places.

I ordered a variety of their perogies last night and brought them home to have for dinner with the family. Everyone was impressed with the size and quality of them. My fav. was the potato and cheddar cheese, but my boyfriend swears by the pork ones.

We will definitely be back...soon!

WOW! those are A+ perogies!
Mine never look like that. They're sealed so pretty!!
It's odd that they wouldn't have the original cottage cheese and potato ones. That's the only one's I've made.
I'm def going to have to try these beautiful works of art now. Thanks for the pic!

I can asure you all that these pierogis are not only made of food, but love as well.

Not only can you taste the love, but you can see the Rudenesque Polish ladies fingers in the sealing dimples.

I bet they would be open to the idea of making dry cottage cheese/potato ones. No harm in asking. They have an email address.

perogiestakeout@hotmail.com

After seeing the comments here last week, my husband and I had to try out the eats. I agree that the perogies are great but I was not overwhelmed by the cabbage rolls. I guess it is the usual problem that I grew up with a mom who made them and everything gets compared to that. She made them quite small and they were stuffed with rice, onions and bacon....yum! She put lots of tomato sauce on it and cooked it until it was fairly thick...I actually prefer it that way.

This is the first time I have found cabbage rolls without pork in them, which I prefer...so I definitely give them credit for that, and they are the best store/takeout ones I have had ....now if i could just get mom to sell hers.

I've had both the rice & mushroom and rice & meat (contains pork), and they were both delicious. The sauce is the most authentic I've found. Most cabbage rolls from grocery stores have a tomato sauce that is too thick, and sweet.

Hi there, Sourdough. My husband felt that I had to defend his love of ketchup on his perogies, lol. He is in fact the only one in his family that eats them that way, but then again, he is not a fan of sour cream in general. That said, I am not of Ukranian descent, and I also prefer them that way - you should try it, seriously.
And, his mom always made them orange inside. She got that from HER mom straight from the Ukraine. Just one of those things, people make them differently.

In the ones from Perogies Takeout, there apparantely was no cheese flavour at all (I didn't eat them myself). Don't know if it is from whatever cheese they used, but it certainly wasn't the chedder we use.

You should give them a go if you get a chance - you can also order them singley (spelling?) at $1.49, so you don't have to spend too much. Try the "cheese" ones.... :)

can't comment on the quality of the perogies, they are however expensive. However - bonniegirl, I don't know how long your husband has been away from Eastern Europe -but
#1 - no one eats perogies with ketchup! Bacon/sourcream/white sauce/butter, no ketchup.

#2 - orange inside a cheese perogie - should not be. Cheese perogies are traditionally made with something close to cottage cheese. The cheese and potato perogies are made with a pale cheese, not a bright orange one. The bright orange ones you see from the frozen food section are coloured for north american expectation that cheese should match the colour of cheeze whiz.

Just gotta clear that up! Again whether the perogies are good or not, they do look quite authentic, but in my opinion are over priced.

Ok. We came here today for the first time, hoping for some great perogies. My husband is half Ukranian half Polish. He grew up with his mom making them. That said, we know that it's always hard to find ones "just like mom's" - we know that. But we found these, although better than most store bought, lacking. When we walked in there, the perogies were just sitting in warming bins. Not exactly the fresh ones we were looking to buy. When we told her what we wanted, they only had 3 of the onion ones I wanted, so the rest was bacon. My husband wanted cheese ones, but they only had 6 of out the 12 he wanted. So instead of just making more, when really, it is supposed to only take a couple of minutes, he also took the rest in bacon. Then, they were just re-warmed in a microwave, in styrofoam containers of all things! We got to the cash, and asked for ketchup to go, and nope, didn't have any. That's a big part of the perogies for us, lol! We were still hoping for the best, but when we got to the car to eat them, found them smelling good, but very doughy. So much so that the folded ends were actually chewy. And, the cheese ones - where was the cheese? The inside had barely any orange colour to it! And all this (1 and a half dozen, 2 small milk) came to $32 something! We figured out at home that she had overcharged us by $5... :(

We were hoping for great things here, but sadly, we will not be going back...

The perogies are fairly tasty here, though paying a dollar a perogie seems to be too expensive (especially for the quality). The quality was good here and if you are nearby with time at a premium, it might be worth it. In my opinion though, I am better served to buy the cheaper handmade ones from the competition or to make my own.

No doubt the perogies here are good... there certainly have been others OF Members who have said so over the last year. BUT, when a NEWBIE (or two) comes along and posts a Review and a half dozen Forum topics and they all rave on about the same thing (no matter the topic at hand)... well it's plain & simple... "There is a SHILL in the house".

Ottawana - Ya might want to stop now... time has proven that this type of interaction will actually work against your business.

Ottawana is right. Healthy and quality home-made food is hard to find these days. This is espeicially true when you have a family with small children. Before we heard of perogies-takeout, we used to buy the regular perogies you'd find in a grocery store. After my kids tried the perogies from perogies-takeout, they don't want to get anywhere near the grocery-store-perogies. They ask me every week to get them the potato bacon and potato cheddar perogies. The difference in the taste and quality is evident even to small kids. Since my kids are so crazy about these perogies, it is a good excuse for me to treat myself to some quality food :-D. My only wish is that they would be open 24 hours a day, so that I could satisfy my craving for perogies even at 2am.

I have been buying their perogies for over a year now...their perogies (and other food) is delisious and worth every SINGLE PENNY I pay... I'm a mother of 3 children and it use to be a huge headache for me too cook Ukrainian food espesialy perogies... I'm glad we have such store in Ottawa, is saves lots of time for me and I know that I feed my children with good home made healthy food. The price is very good for such work, it is home made and hand made..for me to make perogies would take almost the whole day (not to count the shopping for ingediences) and they would finish in less that one day...
+ their price is different, it is not only $11.99 there are cheapper and more expensive ones, depends on the filling (I usually buy cheddar cheese $10.99), sometimes potato cottage cheese, those are $11.99 and if you are not familiar with the price for cottage cheese it is over $16/kg in the store...
I realy love that store and I advice all my family and friends to go there...

There are definately better perogies than others. I am just shocked by the price of $11.99/doz, especially given that this is take out.

I mean, the contents are fairly inexpensive- cheese or bacon being the most expensive ingredient. The bacon in most perogies is in extremely tiny bits. Cheddar cheese is not overwhelming and for the record cheese here in Ontario is MUCH cheaper than in Manitoba.

Labour- well yes they are made by hand but experienced ladies hammmer perogies out in no time flat.

I guess I just can't get over the mark up enough to pay alot of dough for well, dough.

I would gladly spring for $10 of Pascal's ice cream though.

Pan Bagnat, my wife was taken to a place in Winnipeg that was supposed to have the best perogies in town. For what it's worth, she found the reheated ones from Perogies Takeout to be superior to what she had there. Disclaimer: she isn't a big fan of Eastern European cuisine anyway, so you may not agree.

WOW! $11.99/doz! That is steep. I'm used to Manitoba where the Ukrainian ladies get together and make perogies for a fundraiser and sell them at like $3/doz. Or someone's Baba might even give you some for free.

Screw university, perogie making is a gold mine here.

Agree on the borscht...very yummy. Never seen beans before, but yummy none the less.

You can get frozen or hot borscht, in various sizes. This is the first borscht I've had that's contained beans (!), but it was delicious nonetheless!

I've had the cabbage, jam, and cherry filled pirojki (pronounced pee-ro-shkee). All make for a delicious snack, and for $1.99, it's a good cheap eat!

I had a stuffed pepper and it was FILLING. Lots of rice and meat in these, and lots of sauce in there. My SO was not a fan, as she doesn't enjoy ground meats or green peppers very much. All the more for me to enjoy!