In The News

Katherine Yurek and her husband Jeremy decided to open their new business, Baba and Pop's Pierogi Kitchen & Bar on Friday, the 13th of March. "Friday the 13th has always been a lucky day for me," she says with a laugh. This was no ordinary Friday the 13th given the pandemic, but Yurek sounds upbeat. After running a food truck for several years, she says, the couple realized a lot of their customers wanted to take pierogis home. In 2016, they began shifting their sales to farmers' markets to meet this demand.

Aurora, Colorado's Baba & Pop's famous handmade pierogies come in a whole smorgasbord of flavors, and this pack allows you to enjoy 4 dozen in your flavor your choice, whether you're looking for traditional or something a bit more "new world." Flavor varieties include traditional potato and cheese stuffed (roasted potatoes and mild cheddar), spinach and feta stuffed, roasted sweet potato (can be served sweet or savory), pulled pork stuffed (18-hour house dry-rubbed slow roasted pork shoulder), chile relleno stuffed (roasted hatch green chiles, Monterey jack cheese), and -- depending on the season -- its Holiday Feast Pierogi, which is stuffed with roasted potatoes, turkey gravy, and stewed cranberries).

For an altogether different brunch vibe, head east to Baba & Pop's, 9945 East Colfax Avenue in Aurora, where the pierogi shop is debuting its Sunday Funday menu on Sunday, October 4. The showstopper? An enormous 50-ounce Bloody Mary (dubbed the Buddy Mary, after the owners' son, who's hopefully old enough to indulge in his namesake cocktail) that comes garnished with fried chicken, an entire kielbasa, pierogi, chiles, cheese curds and (amazingly) more. We repeat: 50 ounces (that's almost a half-gallon of cocktail)! You can get the monstrous morning drink for $48 - or, if you're a coward, quitter or loser, you can opt for the merely bottomless version (without the meat stick) for $16. (Oh, yeah, there's also a delicious double cheeseburger on the menu.) You can snag the drink from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. every - okay, maybe not every - Sunday.

For those who grew up in Polish or other Slavic families, nothing brings back memories of childhood time around the holiday table (or of late-night leftovers eaten in the glow of the refrigerator light) more than a good pierogi - hopefully handmade and slathered in sour cream and buttery onions. But metro Denver has very few options when it comes to pierogies, although those with a good nose have tracked down Baba & Pop's, a mainstay for the past several years on the food truck and farmers' market scenes.

Katherine and Jeremy Yurek, founders of the mobile eatery, are ready to put down roots, so they're launching Baba & Pop's Pierogi Kitchen & Bar at 9945 East Colfax Avenue in Aurora on March 13. Baba & Pop's is named after Jeremy's Polish great-grandparents, Josephine and Charles (Baba and Pop to family members), who came to the U.S. in the early part of the twentieth century, and Jeremy is now the third generation of Jurek men to carry on the pierogi-making tradition. The original pierogi recipe that Baba & Pop's still uses came from Josephine, who first passed it on to her son...

Let's face it: We've been having cookies for breakfast, pasta for the other three meals, and wine in amounts nearing our daily recommended glasses of water. And if you're reading this shaking your head, thinking, but I cook every meal fresh, am certainly not over-consuming and eating better than ever, well, hold on, because I have to refill my wine mug and lick the batter.

For those of us who have fallen into a food rut after a few weeks homebound, here are some quality options to break up the monotony while supporting local businesses. Many of them are comfort foods, some will be a treat for special occasions, others cost under $5...

Denver can have its subway-tiled farm-to-tables, its nationally awarded New American eateries and its sprawling food halls. The city's modern restaurants have made it onto plenty of best-of lists, and deservedly so.

But a few miles away, in Aurora, a diverse - if less broadly discussed - dining scene is thriving with so much to discover and even more on the way...

Denver's officially been told by Mayor Hancock to "stay at home" until at least April 26, but restaurants are continuing to pivot to meet their community's needs. With their status as essential businesses, restaurants (and breweries) can remain open for takeout and delivery only; those that have chosen to continue operations are taking new safety precautions for their staff and for you so they can continue to provide tasty culinary escapes. Along with more typical restaurant dishes, many are also adding brand new options like family-style meals, take-and-bake dishes, and even grocery provisions in case you want to skip the supermarket sweep.

There are a lot of restaurants in the Mile High; we're highlighting some stand out options here, but be sure to check in with your favorite neighborhood spot if you don't see them listed. The hospitality community is getting creative, and each and every local food and beverage business needs support right now...

I was first introduced to pierogi as a kid. Not that my family was Polish, but more that we enjoyed the occasional kid-friendly comfort food night. A little browned butter, some caramelized red onions, salt, pepper, a dollop of cool sour cream and voila! My passion for these doughy, potato and cheese filled dumplings was ignited.

Pierogi are traditionally known to be a Polish cuisine and, while the roots haven't been confirmed, I would still put my empty stomach and full trust in a traditional Polish family recipe.

Baba & Pop's Pierogi began their venture long before selling their first batch off a food truck almost four years ago. Jeremy Yurek-owner and great grandson of Baba & Pop-has been making pierogi for as long as his memory will recall. The family recipe was brought over from Poland almost 100 years ago then passed down through two generations, at which point it reached Jeremy....