*Update: As of October 2019 RU’s Pierogi closed their restaurant to focus on the manufacturing and wholesale business. You can still find their pierogi at RU’s Pierogi food truck, in local grocery stores, and being served up at some local restaurants.*
It had been on my list of restaurants to try for a long time before we made our way into RU’s Pierogi in Buffalo. Between friends giving it rave reviews and my sister giving my husband a gift card for his birthday, we finally had to go. RU’s is known for their delicious and creative pierogi served up in their food truck and restaurant.
What’s a Pierogi?
If you’re not familiar with Polish or central European cuisine, you might be wondering what a pierogi is? To simplify it, they’re filled dumplings made by wrapping unleavened dough around a filling which can be savory or sweet. Then they are cooked in boiling water or pan-fried. Most people in Western New York are familiar with pierogi as Buffalo is home to a large population of Polish-Americans and the descendants of Polish immigrants.
Located on the ground floor of 295 Niagara Street, the historic building has been renovated with 40 loft apartments above, and behind the restaurant is the commercial kitchen and wholesale production facility where the pierogi are all made. The wholesale operation means you might spot RU’s Pierogi in local grocery stores as well as on the menus of other area restaurants.
After finding some street parking just past the restaurant, we walked into a small lobby area which has is a wheelchair lift for those who can’t use the stairs up into the main area of the restaurant. While you can order at the counter and sit at the tables, we chose to sit at the bar instead where they serve up wine and beer with an emphasis on local craft beers on tap.
The bartender, Trey, really made the experience for us that night. He was fun and engaging, providing us with fun facts as we perused the menu and made our choices. Clearly a proud Buffalonian loving the city’s renaissance as much as us!
Local Sips
My husband went with one of his favorite local beers, Big Ditch’s Hayburner IPA since he enjoys unfiltered IPAs with citrus flavors to balance the hops. I ordered New York Beer Project’s Supernatural which is a passionfruit sour as my sister had highly recommended I try it. Trey strongly approved of my choice and told me that it was voted the Most Refreshing Beer in America by Brewing News in their annual Global Warming Open (where they compare the summer releases for the most refreshing). My sister and Trey were right, it was delicious! I’m not a big beer drinker, but fruity sours can be pretty tasty.
Menu Madness
The menu has nine different pierogi flavors, along with salads, sandwiches, sides, dessert pierogi, and a small kids menu. They also offer frozen pierogi to take home with you to cook yourself.
Everything sounded so good and we wanted ALL the pierogi. To that end, we decided to order a couple different flavors, and share so we could try it all. We also ordered the Brisket Bomber sandwich that was on special with banana pepper pierogi, chopped brisket, peppers, caramelized onions, mozzarella cheese, and steak sauce. When it first came out, the pierogi were pretty hot since they’d just come out of the fryer, but once it cooled down we really got to enjoy the flavor or it and the caramelized onions were so good!
First Round of Pierogi (Yes, there was more than one):
Cheddar Potato – These were really good, with bacon that added a really savory flavor.
Chicken Wing – Finely chopped chicken made it easy to bite into these, and we liked the crispy finish from the deep fryer. My husband loved the really chunky bleu cheese that was served with this one.
Pulled Pork – These stood out as one of our favorites of the night. The pork was finely chopped which like the Chicken Wing, made it easy to bite into. Served with apple chunks on top to add texture and the barbecue sauce was sweet and tasty.
Bartender Mash-up
While we’d been chatting with the bartender, he had recommended mixing our two beers together, (his IPA with my sour) which actually made it taste a little grapefruit-y. While my husband loved the combination, it was still too hoppy for me. For our second round of drinks that was what he ordered while I went for a different combination from Trey’s bag of tricks behind the bar. It was Blackman Cider Company’s Old Orchard Select cider mixed with a riesling wine. The result was light and fruity with a subtle bubble.
Time for Round Two (AKA the first round was so good, we decided to try the rest on the menu):
Banana Pepper & Cheese – Ok, so technically we’d already tried this one since it was on the Brisket Bomber sandwich… but it was really good so we wanted to try it by itself. The filling was creamy with the zippy flavor of banana peppers. The crisp deep fried shell gave it the perfect combination of textures.
Goat Cheese – The creamy, tangy goat cheese filling paired beautifully with the balsamic glaze, and the chopped red peppers on top added a nice, crisp freshness. This might have been my husband’s favorite of the night.
Potato Ricotta – While it’s a pretty standard flavor, we found this one a bit bland compared to rest. Since we were ordering them a la carte, maybe it needed the kapusta that is served with the regular order.
Asian Pork – We thought this was pretty similar to the Pulled Pork, but with a sweet pineapple barbecue sauce & sesame seeds. It was good, but the Pulled Pork edged it out just a little bit for me.
On to the Dessert Pierogi!
The dessert menu offers Cookies & Cream or Apple pierogi that are served with ice cream. Naturally we got one of each to share and sample! They were both good, especially with the ice cream for that classic hot and cold sweet combination.
Having finished our dessert, we were companionably watching Jeopardy with another couple at the bar after the Wheel of Fortune had been on through most of our dinner. We then realized that we had forgotten to try the Jalapeño Popper pierogi that was on special! At this point we had to order one to try since we weren’t about to leave any pierogi behind! My husband thought it was pretty spicy, but I thought it was perfect balance of the creamy cheese and spicy jalapeño. Yum!
Date Night with a Side of Buffalove
We considered our visit to RU’s Pierogi a smashing success as we managed to order every pierogi on the menu (in addition to the sandwich that was on special), enjoyed some fun drinks, and didn’t over-stuff ourselves. Sharing all these pierogi ended up being a perfect date night for us since we compared notes on our favorites. Add in the friendly conversations with other patrons and the bartender while watching the Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy (with everyone yelling out any answers they knew). It made for a really fun, low-key night in the City of Good Neighbors.
Pierogi might not have made it onto my list of Must Eat Food in Buffalo, NY, but I’d definitely recommend a visit to RU’s Pierogi when in the area!
Another great date night in Buffalo during the summer months is enjoying an evening of the bard’s plays at a performance of Shakespeare in Delaware Park.
What’s your favorite local date spot?
Woah!! I love pierogis, so do my boys, but I’ve never made them or had them at a restaurant! Just the frozen ones, which I’m SURE pale in comparison to these!! Such a great post, if I ever find myself in Buffalo…I’m TOTALLY checking out RU’s Pierogi!
Oh my goodness, the frozen ones you find in most grocery stores don’t even compare (those were my only pierogi for a long time too)! Definitely try out RU’s if you get to Buffalo or Niagara Falls (which is only about 30 minutes north of Buffalo)!
I’ve never seen Pierogi server like this. Sounds interesting. From my experience in Poland (my ex of seven years was Polish) it was usually served with bacon or cottage cheese. But I could definitely give a go to some of these. Pulled pork Pierogi sounds yum. Completely unrelated I never heard the expression Buffalonian before but it’s great. Thanks for sharing
They are sooo good, if you ever visit Buffalo (or more likely, nearby Niagara Falls) definitely give RU’s Pierogi a try! Not going to lie, I had to go back through my post to see where I’d used Buffalonian, glad you enjoyed the new term!
It was my new entry for word a day that day.