LF_080918

LakeForestLeader.com DINING OUT
the lake forest leader | August 9, 2018 | 23
Ewa’s Pierogi puts new spin on old recipes
Erin Yarnall
Contributing Editor
Ewa’s Pierogi, a new
Eastern European restaurant
in Glenview, is there
by accident.
While owner Ewa Zapolsky
has always wanted
to open a restaurant, she
thought she would open it
in Arlington Heights, closer
to her home in Des Plaines.
But one day when she
was picking up her daughter
from St. John Brebeuf
School in Niles, she got
distracted, then lost, and
she found herself in front
of a strip mall on Harlem
Avenue in Glenview,
where she spotted three
spaces available for rent.
Zapolsky took a photo
of the “For Rent” sign,
and then enlisted help
from her former employers
at Golden Duck, a restaurant
in Chicago that is
now closed.
“I thought everything
would be fast and easy,”
Zapolsky said with a
laugh.
She said her former employers
have been helping
with paperwork and setting
up the kitchen. But
when it comes to the recipes,
it’s her own ideas.
Zapolsky is inspired by
the food she grew up eating
while living in Bialystok,
Poland. She first remembers
loving to help in
the kitchen when she was
a child.
“I was always watching
when my grandmother
The restaurant’s menu has several fruit pierogies, like
this strawberry option ($8).
Ewa’s Pierogi
976 Harlem Ave.,
Glenview
(224) 616-3430
11 a.m.-8 p.m.
Monday-Friday
11 a.m.-9 p.m.
Saturday
and mother were cooking
and helped them,” Zapolsky
said.
She came to the United
States with her family in
2002, but moved to Costa
Rica for two years. Zapolsky
has been back in the
United States since 2013,
but credits her time in so
many countries to her love
of all foods.
“I can do whatever
you’re thinking — Italian
food, French, German,
Russian, Ukrainian,
Chinese,” Zapolsky said.
“Every day, something
different.”
But at Ewa’s Pierogi,
they specialize in Eastern
European — specifically,
pierogi.
Pierogi, the national
food of Poland, are dumplings
made by wrapping
dough around a filling and
either cooking it in boiling
water or frying it.
Zapolsky tries out recipes
at home before adding
them to her menu in
the restaurant, and has
her daughter help in the
kitchen as a taste-tester,
just as she used to help her
grandmother and mother.
“My daughter likes
[macaroni] and cheese,
and Nutella,” Zapolsky
said. “I tried them at home
in [separate] pierogi and
she liked [them].”
While Ewa’s Pierogi is
the first restaurant Zapolsky
has owned, she plans
for more in the future.
“It’s my first restaurant,”
Zapolsky said, “I
hope it’s not my last.”
The stuffed cabbage rolls ($10) at Ewa’s Pierogi in Glenview comes with mashed
potatoes and assorted salads. Photos by Chris Pullam/22nd Century Media
When a group of 22nd
Century Media editors
visited the restaurant last
week, we sampled some
of Zapolsky’s recommendations.
We started, of course,
with the pierogi. We chose
the pan-fried spinach and
mozzarella option ($8 for
10). Ewa’s Pierogi has six
options for savory pierogi,
including macaroni and
cheese, sauerkraut and
mushrooms, and a variety
of meats. They can be
served either pan-friend,
which leaves the dumpling
crispy on the outside, or
boiled, so the dumpling is
softer.
The restaurant also features
a Nutella pierogi
and four varieties of fruit
pierogi. We chose to sample
the strawberry pierogi
($8 for 10), which was
boiled.
Zapolsky also recommended
we sample the
beef pelmeni ($8), a traditional
Russian dumpling
that is slightly smaller
than a pierogi.
The stuffed cabbage
rolls ($10) remind Zapolsky
of Poland.
“We always had so
much cabbage,” Zapolsky
said of her adolescence in
Poland. “We use sour cabbage,
and we make salad.
We make many things
with the cabbage.”
The cabbage rolls are
made with a choice of
meats (or for vegetarians,
potatoes) and rice,
wrapped in boiled cabbage
leaves, and served
covered in a tomato sauce
with a large helping of
mashed potatoes on the
side. Each order comes
with three cabbage rolls
and three large scoops of
mashed potatoes.
CHURCH
From Page 21
the Mount of Olives, is the
main medical center serving
the West Bank.
Church members Mike
and Carol Bennett, of
Highwood, were among
the audience who will be
part of the October tour
group. They had a great
experience on the previous
St. James Church trip to
Israel in 2014, so they are
returning to see and learn
even more this time.
Ross and Carla Peterson,
of Mt. Prospect, also
attended the presentation
to prepare for their different
upcoming interfaith
Hands of Peace tour to Israel
and Jordan with ME-
JDI. They are interested
in learning as much in
advance so they are better
informed once they get to
the Middle East.
Sarah, who is also a
writer, has been published
in “The New York
Times”, “The Jerusalem
Post” and others and has
served as an analyst for
CNN, Aljazeera and Fox.
He has co-authored the
book, “Strangers, Neighbors,
Friends” with Kelly
Clark, a Christian professor
of theology, and Nancy
Fuchs Kreimer, director of
a Jewish seminary, which
is due out this fall.
“If you’re not thinking
positively, you’re not going
to make things better,”
Sarah said. “It’s incredible
working in tourism and
realizing you have more
power than you thought
to bring change to areas
where it’s needed.”