Always coming back for more

Church of the Assumption volunteers prepare to serve 25,000 pierogi during lent

by Melissa Martin

On Friday nights in the weeks leading up to the Easter holiday, Church of the Assumption has, for decades, been the hottest meal ticket in town.

Week after week, locals from all parts of Northeast Ohio travel to Broadview Heights to sample what has been hailed as the number one fish fry in the Greater Cleveland area. That title, bestowed upon the church by the Catholic Diocese of Greater Cleveland four times, most recently in 2020, is one that’s not taken lightly. After all, this is a community where churches of all denominations – Catholic, Orthodox, Methodist and the like – serve up similar menus as annual church fundraisers.

Though regulars rave about Assumption’s baked orange roughy and fried cod entrees, all of which are served up with a side of slaw, French fries, crab cakes, haluski (cabbage and noodles) and more, they can attest that’s truly not what separates this fish fry from the many others in the area. Instead, it’s the other meatless menu item the church offers that packs the parking lot and has vehicles lining Broadview Road before the doors are even open – handmade, old-world pierogi.

While pierogi is a simple dumpling-style dish comprised of unleavened dough and filled with everything from cheese and potatoes to sauerkraut, onions and even fruit, making the dish is truly a labor of love. From cooking the fillings and rolling out the dough, to boiling, frying and serving up the finished product, the process is undeniably a time-consuming one for even the smallest of batches.

But when you’re serving up a hungry congregation and guests from all corners of Ohio, small batches just don’t cut it. Instead, the church’s team of 25 to 30 volunteers, spearheaded by Jack Wahl, collectively prepares over 25,000 pierogi that sell out completely year after year.

Allyn Pytel, business manager for Assumption Church, said volunteers can be found inside the church kitchen twice a week, cranking out more than 1,500 pierogi a day. Using an authentic Polish recipe handed down by a former parishioner decades ago, the volunteers have perfected the process over the years and work together in assembly line fashion with different stations set up to accomplish a variety of tasks.

“When it comes to our pierogi, everything is handmade and made from scratch using pure ingredients – all the fillings, the dough, everything,” Pytel said. “Nothing we use is pre-packaged.”

Fortunately, Pytel said, many hands make light work. One team peels, cooks and mashes approximately 70 pounds of russet potatoes, while another team sautés large frying pans full of sauerkraut and onions. Next to them, two individuals use a commercial-sized mixer to combine the dough and separate it into balls that are eventually run through a dough roller.

Once the dough is flattened, several other individuals are at the ready to fill and seal the dough before the pierogi get passed to the stove where yet another team boils them for approximately a minute. The pierogi are then removed, placed on trays and stored in the freezer overnight. They are bagged the following morning, labeled according to variety and stored in the church’s walk-in freezer awaiting final preparation the night of the fish fry.

Volunteers Steve Benedick and his wife, Rita, have been volunteering on the pierogi line for more than a decade.

“We’re retired and we’re the type that never go south to Florida,” Steve said. “Because January is probably the most [uneventful] time of the year, this gives us something to do and gets us with people and helps us enjoy ourselves.”

Rita agrees that the sociability that comes along with volunteering in the kitchen is her favorite part, too.

“We’ve met a lot of people this way and we’ve made a lot of new friends,” she said. “It’s a good way to do something nice while getting out of the house and having a little fun.”

Church pastor the Rev. Justin Dyrwal said that even through the pandemic, the church never lacked the large number of volunteers needed to make the fish fries possible. The church uses the funds from the six fish fries to supplement the funds it receives in its weekly offertory collections to operate the parish and its ministries.

“Our fish fries are fabulous because of the hours of labor given by people who love their parish who give the best of who they are to make things work,” Dyrwal said, noting that volunteers continue to wear masks and follow other COVID-19 precautions while working in the kitchen. “They put their heart and soul into everything they make. That’s why you can taste the difference. Over the years, many friendships were forged so that among those who work at the Fish Fry there is a certain fraternity that develops and often lasts a lifetime.”

Church of the Assumption’s fish fries begin Friday, March 4, and continue every Friday through April 8. Menus, pricing and ordering information pertaining to Church of the Assumption’s 2022 fish fry season is available on the church’s Facebook page and on the church’s website, coabvm.org. ∞