Taste With Tori: Chef Jake Bukowski Adding Creativity To Family's Traditional Pierogi Dish At The Galley
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- When you think of a pierogi, you probably think of dumplings stuffed with potatoes or a few other fillings. But in this week's Taste With Tori, we introduce you to a local chef that added some creativity to his family's traditional dish and the results are delicious.
Pampered perfect crispy little pouches pumped with big flavorful fillings have just parked themselves for good inside of The Garage in Fishtown. So if you're hungry for pierogies, get a move on it and get to The Galley, where this guy might be giving your Polish grandmother a run for her money.
Chef-owner Jake Bukowski did go to Masterman, but he's not a little kid anymore. He's all grown up and taking the traditional pierogi and turning them up a notch.
The one traditional thing he does do?
"We do them all by hand," Bukowski said.
Bukowski has spent his culinary career working for some of the biggest chefs in the city, but it's during COVID-19 when he had to shift gears in a pinch because the restaurant he was working at was closing.
But it just so happened when one door closed, another opened.
"Unfortunately, we had to liquidate our inventory and pierogies so immediately my suggestion was let's go online and it spun off from there," Bukowski said. "I think it was meant to be and honestly, it's the support of my family and friends that have given me the confidence to get where I am today. I used to get off every day and walk home, thinking, 'Wow, this is where I am now, I have solidified this corner.' It's pretty amazing."
Watch the video above for more on The Galley.
