050 Rebecca and Autumn Post Pittsburgh's Food Scene

What happens when foodie culture, engagements, modeling, and generations-old pierogi recipes collide? Our latest episode of The Pittsburgh Dish! 

(01:09) Rebecca Hansborough @The_41_Chew reveals a surprising truth about why she abandoned her chef school dreams and opted for Instagram food content creation. "I think I would have hated being a restaurant owner," she confesses, highlighting the unseen challenges of the restaurant industry. Her genuine concern about recent restaurant closures shows how today's food influencers are becoming advocates for the industry they document.

(13:35) Then model and foodie Autumn Pawelec joins the conversation. Breaking stereotypes about models and food, Autumn embraces both worlds unapologetically. "If I want a dish of pasta, I'm going to eat the pasta," she declares, advocating for balance rather than deprivation. Her Polish-Italian heritage created "the best of both worlds" at holiday tables, informing her sophisticated palate and appreciation for diverse cuisines. 

(25:16) Later in the show, Chef Jonathan Homer sharing his grandmother Sophie's cherished pierogi recipe, capturing how food traditions connect generations and preserve cultural heritage in Pittsburgh's diverse food landscape.

Transcript

Doug 0:01

Welcome to the Pittsburgh Dish. I'm your host, Doug Heilman. Is it better to be a foodie instead of the restaurant owner? And when does fashion and food come together? This week is a special spotlight episode on two of our latest contributors. Plus, would you like to get your hands on Grandma's pierogi recipe? We sure would, and that's exactly what we're getting from Chef Jonathan Homer. All that ahead, Stay tuned.

Rebecca Hansborough: The_41_Chew

Doug 0:31

We want to thank Chip and Kale Plant-Based Meals for being an ongoing supporter of the Pittsburgh Dish and we're welcoming a new member, Chef Alekka Sweeney. You too can become a monthly supporter by visiting our website at wwwpittsburghdishcom and just hit that support tab. You can sign up for as little as $3 a month and cancel anytime. And if you want to advertise your food-related business on the show, use our get in touch form on the website or just DM us on Instagram. All right on to the show. The website, or just DM us on Instagram. All right on to the show. First up is our friend Rebecca Hansborough of the 4-1-Chew. Let's do this. Let's do some get-to-know questions. Sure Would you introduce yourself to our listeners.

Rebecca 1:15

Absolutely. I am Becca Hansborough, also known as the 4-1-Chew of your Chewing Food.

Doug 1:20

Yeah that's how.

Rebecca 1:21

I love that that On Instagram. Yeah, thank you. I um I wanted it was. It was an original thought, like I did come up with it on my own, but there was an account um that was similar, so I think I ended up putting like underscores or something in my name to try to like separate me from the other guy that had it, and I don't even know if they still use theirs.

Doug 1:44

So if folks out there are interested in following you, it's at the underscore four, one underscore two. Yes, that's right, Absolutely.

Rebecca 1:53

And when did you start that account, oh my God. So I started, I think, um right before the pandemic. I think it was like 2018 or 2017. And the first place I was at I was at bar marco oh and um, I was celebrating a friend's I can't remember.

Rebecca 2:10

We were out for a friend's dinner and um, I still, I still, uh, we'll scroll back and see like the very first photo and it's very crappy, like it was the lighting I don't know if you've ever been there, but the lighting in there is very like stark, dim and aesthetically, and so I'm pretty sure I used flash, which is like a. Now that I'm like been doing this for a little while, that's kind of like a no go for good photos unless you really have to. But yeah, my friend was like we eat out a lot and like you're always going out to eat, like why don't you just like start documenting it? And I was like who's going to care about my photos of food?

Rebecca 2:46

that I eat, you know so, yeah, I've, I've garnered a very small following, but, most importantly for me, I've made some really great you know relationships, and before we started recording, you know, I was throwing out names and you were like, oh, I know that I know that person, and so, yeah, I've just developed some really great foodie relationships and they've kind of developed into actual friendships as well, and so I think that's kind of why I continue to do it. Yeah, for sure.

Doug 3:14

I've found the same thing. Yeah, what about food? In your life, I mean, has food always been sort of like a thing or an important thing?

Rebecca 3:23

Yeah, so I work in public relations and marketing, but when I was looking for school opportunities, I actually applied to Drexel University for a chef program. I wanted to cook, I wanted to open up a restaurant and I got waitlisted. And so then I ended up going to another school and taking a different path which, honestly, now that I think about it, I think I would have hated. Being a restaurant owner.

Rebecca 3:49

I really especially just kind of you know being in this scene of going to the restaurants and interacting with, you know, with some of the owners and you know the wait, the wait staff and just everyone. It's so stressful and I don't think people realize how stressful it is stressful and I don't think people realize how stressful it is. I really do think that you're kind of like the under deserved, uh, like servants of the world, because you know they are providing a service, they're making sure that that we eat and that we have food in our bellies, um, but there's so much more than that Like there's there's so much more um, just the marketing alone, which is, you know, I have experience and I can't imagine doing it.

Rebecca 4:25

So you know, this was like a good opportunity for me to still have that love of food Right and kind of compartmentalize that with what I do. You know Right Day to day and you can promote other places that you really love Absolutely and. I did go through like a home cook phase, mostly during the pandemic pandemic, because I wasn't eating out as much. So I did start kind of posting uh meals that I cooked at home, but not so much anymore now that restaurants are back open.

Doug 4:51

Right, I feel like we're back. Yeah, 2025, we're definitely. I feel like we're definitely back, fully back, yeah fully back um.

Rebecca 4:58

It has hurt my heart a bit to see an increase in restaurant closures right um, and I I do think that's something that you know.

Rebecca 5:05

I think me and a couple of other people, um, who do this, you know, as a hobby, are interested in hearing from owners of like what can we do to support? Because I just feel like recently, every time I opened Instagram, there's another restaurant announcing a closure and it's just really heartbreaking, you know, as someone and some of these are like favorites you know of like, oh my God, I love that place, sir, I never got a chance to try that place, you know. So that's definitely kind of maybe one of the downsides of it, but, you know, hopefully the things that we do can help restaurants not close.

Doug 5:37

Yeah.

Rebecca 5:45

And kind of exactly, kind of shine a light on some of these smaller mom and pops or, you know, some of these larger places that need people in the door.

Doug 5:49

I couldn't agree more. I mean we're recording right now in the end of January and a couple of my favorite places they had. We had some very cold weather in Pittsburgh and had pipes freeze and they were closed for a whole weekend. So I cannot wait to go back and visit third space bakery, which is open again.

Rebecca 6:03

But they have some frozen pipes. I'm like, oh no, and visit Third Space Bakery, which is open again, but they have some frozen pipes.

Doug 6:06

I'm like, oh no, it's a small business, it's killing you, right, and Soju and, I think, lola's, they all had some water problems recently. So you gotta go support those places.

Rebecca 6:14

Absolutely.

Doug 6:15

I just wanted to ask one more sort of get to know question. Sure, so it sounds like food is, in your life right now, always quite a big thing. What about growing up? Did you cook as a youngster, or who cooked for you?

Rebecca 6:30

Both my parents cooked, but my dad actually worked at a grocery store. I'm from Maryland, so he worked at a chain called Giant.

Doug 6:38

Not Giant.

Rebecca 6:38

Eagle just Giant.

Doug 6:39

We had those in State.

Rebecca 6:40

College.

Rebecca 6:41

Really, I did not know that.

Rebecca 6:43

I thought no one had ever heard of those before. Um, and so, yeah, he cooked. And then I came from just like a very kind of like, I guess, stereotypical big black cloud family where, you know, thanksgiving and christmas were just like, essentially, food competitions. Like you know, my aunt, you know, would make rice pudding and collard greens and I learned how to make, you know, collard greens from my mom and then my brother kind of perfected my mom's recipe. So, you know, it was just all about sharing, you know, sharing those moments with one another. And it was in the kitchen. Not a huge fan of doing dishes because of my upbringing, but I, you know, me and my fiance love cooking, like, it's a it's a big part of our relationship.

Rebecca 7:32

It's something that we bonded on of, just like having an opportunity to make one of a kind dishes and just, you know, taste things that we never thought we would want to make. Um, it does make going out to eat sometimes a little difficult. Um, we kind of have this role where we tend to not order anything that we feel like we can do at home much master at home.

Rebecca 7:56

So I typically don't order a lot of salmon at restaurants because I feel like I'd make a pretty pretty decent salmon. Yeah, um, you know same thing with like, we're getting pretty good at making steaks and it depends on where it is. If I'm at Fig and Ash, I'm never going to say no to a steak because their steak is very good.

Rebecca 8:14

But we don't typically go to steakhouses a lot. I can't remember the last steakhouse I went to, just because it's kind of something that we feel like know, we feel like we could make pretty well Right.

Doug 8:25

You've perfected it.

Rebecca 8:26

Yeah, but when it comes to specific cuisines, like Indian, like I can't, I can't make it. We typically go to Prince of India.

Doug 8:35

We love Prince of India. Where's Prince of India?

Rebecca 8:37

It's in Oakland, okay, and by go there I mean delivery. I don't think I've ever actually stepped foot into that restaurant. It's a I mean it's I don't want to use the term hole in the wall, but it is. You know, it's just kind of like a very low key Indian spot.

Rebecca 8:51

Not a lot of bells and whistles, but the food is very good they have.

Rebecca 8:55

you know I don't want to shout out Grubhub, so feel free to. It's fine. Okay, take this part out if they're not giving you sponsor money.

Doug 9:01

they're not we could use sponsors.

Rebecca 9:04

We don't have them, um, but they have like this like two chicken dish special, where you get like two chicken dishes, a big thing of rice and like naan for like maybe 45 bucks. Oh so that's kind of like our go-to for like a day like this it's um it's a rainy day today, um a day like this, that's like probably like our go-to, we'll do something like that so, and you said that maybe you were cooking tonight.

Doug 9:26

What did you want to make tonight?

Rebecca 9:27

Oh God, you're putting me on blast, so I bought soba noodles a really long time ago have you ever made them before?

Doug 9:35

Never made them before, and they're supposed to be fairly easy.

Rebecca 9:38

I think you just kind of boil them and then you can either prepare them cold or hot, and I'm going to try to do them some type of soup and I have, like this leftover piece of steak that I was going to maybe slice thinly and try to see if it turns out okay. Maybe put a boiled egg or something in there.

Doug 9:52

You know what you're doing? I have. No, I have no idea.

Rebecca 9:55

I have no idea what it's going to taste like. I guess I'll pandemic and can't remember if it was a birthday or an anniversary, but he made cheesecake from scratch and he was like so excited about it, like the crust and everything he was. He was just like so excited and I remember just being like wow, like I think I like this guy just because he's so excited about this cheesecake.

Doug 10:29

How long you've been together. Five years and you're getting married.

Rebecca 10:32

Yeah, yeah, I'm married, uh, at the end of next month, okay and um somewhere in 2025. Yeah, somewhere in 2025 and um, yeah, it's so funny. One of our friends, rsvp'd, and you know we have dietary restrictions and you know where it says like do you have allergies or anything? They go, no, the food just better be good.

Rebecca 10:55

And it's really funny because I do feel like a lot of people know that both of us are really into food and are really strong foodies. We are doing a destination wedding, so we haven't even had an opportunity to taste the food which is a little stressful because I'm just like we're going to be held accountable for this good food right. For food we haven't tasted, but we did our research when we were choosing, so I think we'll be okay, you'll be fine.

Doug 11:18

I think we'll be okay. It'll be a great day. Yeah, I'm really excited. Congratulations ahead of time.

Rebecca 11:22

Oh, thank you so much.

Doug 11:22

But I will tell you that food tasting is one of the best parts of the whole wedding.

Rebecca 11:26

You know just like having time of the guest list is always the hardest part and that's usually kind of like an easier way, I guess, to quote unquote trim the fat. But yeah, I think that's definitely what I'm missing out on is to be able to do like the tastings. I will say this might be controversial. We're not having a wedding cake. We both despise wedding cake.

Doug 11:53

Okay.

Rebecca 11:57

And I think I brought this up and someone's like oh, you just haven't had good wedding cake, so by all means, um, I hope I don't get like 15 cakes sent to my. Well, you would have to have. You know my address, but you know dm me, I guess, on instagram, if you would like to convince us that we just haven't had a good wedding cake when you're over, yeah, we typically just like rich desserts, what?

Doug 12:17

are you going to do?

Rebecca 12:18

So we actually asked them to give us an additional dessert, and I think we're going to go with Oreo mini cheesecake. Okay, oh, my God Sounds delicious.

Doug 12:28

Will there be any cookie table set up? No Well, you're not having it in Pittsburgh.

Rebecca 12:34

We're not having it in Pittsburgh either. We're not having it in Pittsburgh, so we might let that slide. It would kind of be hard to ship a cookie table.

Doug 12:41

You can come and you need to bring two dozen cookies or whatever.

Rebecca 12:44

Yeah, I think so we're not doing a cookie table. But, yeah, okay, yeah.

Doug 12:50

I did have a final question then, so you said you grew up in Maryland. How? I did have a final question then, so you said you grew up in Maryland.

Rebecca 12:55

How long have you been in Pittsburgh? About 10 years, believe it or not.

Doug 12:57

Okay so you're here, yeah, and your fiance, where was he?

Rebecca 13:00

from Pencil Tucky, what he likes to call it.

Doug 13:02

I have heard this before, yeah.

Rebecca 13:05

So just like middle PA.

Doug 13:07

Middle PA, that's probably the best way to describe, for sure. Well, I'm glad you guys met, bonded over food.

Rebecca 13:12

And.

Doug 13:13

I love what you're doing right now.

Rebecca 13:14

Yeah, thank you. I appreciate that. This is Rebecca Hansborough of the 41 chew, and you are listening to The Pittsburgh Dish.

Autumn Pawelec: Modeling and Food Content

Doug 13:23

Since our recording, Rebecca and her husband tied the knot on that destination wedding. We're wishing them all the best. Now let's check in and learn a little bit more about our other friend, Autumn Pawelec. Thank you so much for coming over and for being on the show Of course.

Autumn 13:39

Thank you for having me.

Doug 13:41

Would you introduce yourself to our listeners and what you have going on in terms of the food world?

Autumn 13:48

Yeah, absolutely so. My name's Autumn Pawelec. I've been doing content creation specifically in the food world for about, I'd say, a little over a year now. Um, and I love to showcase anything and everything Pittsburgh related. Um, doesn't matter the food category, I just I love it all. Um, I love to, you know, go to more fine dining experiences in Pittsburgh, but I also like to support, you know, local mom pa shops. So, yeah, I mean that's what I've been doing. I have a few exciting collaborations coming up with a few things. So, yeah, just super excited and happy to be here.

Doug 14:22

Now Autumn when I first noticed your feed. You're not really just doing food, you're into modeling and lifestyle. I mean, that's really the main part, so it's a little different than some of the other guests we've had on. When did you start that whole modeling career?

Autumn 14:39

So modeling I've been modeling since 2017, 2018. I was actually scouted in my hometown bar.

Doug 14:47

And can I ask where that is?

Autumn 14:48

Yeah, Monessen PA. Oh in Monessen.

Doug 14:50

That's where you grew up.

Autumn 14:51

Yes, yes, greyhound, you know 15062. So yeah, I was actually scouted in my hometown bar and it was a pretty crazy experience. I had this guy just approach me and he was like hey, like I love your, look, blah, blah, blah, like, what are your measurements? And I'm thinking this is a really odd thing to say to somebody especially at one o'clock in the morning in a bar.

Autumn 15:16

So I was like a little leery. But as I got to know him, I was like, oh, I'm like, okay, you are a, you're a talent scout for a you know agency in New York. So I was like, all right, let's you know, continue the conversation. Long story short. He flew me out to New York. I did a couple test shoots, um, and then I got signed with Doherty agency here in Pittsburgh. Um, and I've been, yeah, I've been modeling since, yeah, 2017, 2018. And then I also am signed um by JL model management up in New York city, in Miami. So, yeah, it's been really cool. Um, I do that in. You know, I post all my modeling adventures. I got to shoot for a really awesome client here in Pittsburgh, Kiya Tomlin.

Autumn 15:59

So that was super cool, probably one of my favorite Pittsburgh shoots to date.

Doug 16:04

If we need to remind, this is Mike Tomlin's wife. Yes, and she has a fashion line yes.

Autumn 16:07

Yes, and she has a awesome collaboration right now with the NFL. So she's not just making like Pittsburgh Steeler gear, she does. She does so many other teams. I can't remember the exact number of teams, but I mean there. If you are subscribed to her email list, you'll see me in Atlanta Falcons gear. Oakland Raiders gear Um, I will say, modeling. It was a little strange because I felt like I'm like, oh my gosh, like I have, like you know, enemies on me.

Doug 16:38

No, but you know what I mean, not your hometown team.

Autumn 16:40

Yeah, so it was a little weird but super cool. So you know I work with her pretty consistently and I do do lifestyle things too, like I'm super into jewelry, as you can tell. I love.

Doug 16:51

I love my gold. She's showing me today and she's, you know, just a casual afternoon. She's decked out. I love my gold. Ten rings and three bracelets on each side.

Autumn 17:02

And then I'm super into skincare and things like that, because I love to be preventative when it comes to aging taking care of myself. We only have one body, so I try to do as best as I can to upkeep self-care, self-care is important.

Autumn 17:18

Yeah.

Autumn 17:18

Yeah, Self-care, you know physically and mentally too. So yeah, that's pretty much it, I think, in a nutshell.

Doug 17:25

Yeah Well, and what I've noticed getting to know you is that you've been doing maybe a little bit more on your feed with food and with restaurants. Yes, and we have just so happened, I think, three times now, and I know this just because I was having dinner with the two of you. But you're engaged right now. Is that right yeah?

Autumn 17:45

Yeah, we got engaged in October early.

Doug 17:48

October. This is your fiance, Kevin.

Autumn 17:50

Yes, you guys have been together a while. We've been together for a while. It will be seven years in March, so we've been together for a while. He actually popped the question at the rib room, at the rib room. At the rib room. Yeah, so the rib room is literally right behind Meat and Potatoes. It's very intimate, very quiet. It's a very tiny little joint back there, Also super good. So my friend Devin Colbank everybody knows him as DC. He does all of the marketing for Richard Deschamps' restaurant group. We love meat and potatoes.

Autumn 18:25

Kevin and.

Autumn 18:25

I have been going there for, oh my gosh, since we started dating for years and Devin calls me and he's like, hey, I need you to model a few things for meat and potatoes Kind of dress, nice, maybe a little black dress. We kind of want to maybe have a little bit more upscale vibe to the shoot. So in my mind I'm like, okay, this is just normal.

Doug 18:45

It's a setup.

Autumn 18:47

It was a setup. So I'm there, I'm posing with, you know, certain drinks, certain food, and then he's like, okay, we're going to do, we're going to shoot some content back in the rib room. So I'm back there and I'm sitting there with a red glass of wine and I'm like, okay, where's Devin at? I don't see him. And then all of a sudden, kevin comes out and you know, the lights are there and Devin's taking pictures of us and he asked me to marry him literally right there in the middle of the river. It was really it was, it was cute. And then it meant a lot to me because it was so personal, cause that was like, you know, that's a spot that we've been going to.

Autumn 19:24

Yeah, it was super cute.

Doug 19:27

And we do love ourselves some meat and potatoes as well.

Autumn 19:30

Oh yeah, oh yeah. Literally one of the best dirty martinis in the city. Shout out to Riley, he's the bar manager there and it's so good. The blue cheese, or it's not. It's not like a blue cheese, it's like a pimento Am.

Autumn 19:42

I pronouncing that correctly, yeah.

Autumn 19:45

Stuffed into the olives.

Autumn 19:55

So good, I do think.

Doug 19:56

Raquel holiday said the same thing. Yeah, we talk her and I text about meat potatoes all the time, especially the dirty martinis.

Doug 20:00

She's like you have turned me into a dirty martini connoisseur and I'm like, yes, well, I love that entire story and congratulations.

Doug 20:05

Thank you so much.

Doug 20:06

I would say I didn't peg you for a foodie, yeah. But, now I think I would.

Autumn 20:10

Yeah, no, I definitely. People definitely are like oh, when I first started following you, I didn't think you kind of fit into the foodie category. But the more that I get to talk to you and the more that I get to know you, you're like, yeah, like you kind of are a foodie. How it all started was my fiance, Kevin, and I. Every other Saturday, we would do date night, so we would go and pick different restaurants, different spots in the city. And he was like you take all these pictures and these videos, why not start posting about it? And I was like, oh, I'm like that's a really cool idea. So at first it just started with simple like carousel pictures on Instagram. Then I was like all right, let me up my game and start doing reels. So that's been super fun. I love the creative side of like the whole editing process, Um. So, yeah, it's been super fun.

Doug 21:00

You can come do some of my editing.

Autumn 21:03

I love to edit. Hey, send it my way.

Doug 21:07

Autumn. I'm just going to say one more thing that I love about this combination that you're dispelling the myth that a model doesn't eat, or eat properly or take care of themselves.

Autumn 21:17

Yeah, it's all about balance. Like you know, I am pretty strict during the week with what I eat. I go to the gym three, four times a week. It's all about balance. But I'm not like if I want to order a pizza, I'm going to eat a pizza. If I want a dish of pasta, I'm going to eat the pasta. In the modeling world, it's, it's been, it's really weird right now with what we got going on. But the stigma is oh, models don't eat, they can't eat carbs, this and that, yes, you can, it's just all in moderation. It's all in moderation and I don't.

Autumn 21:49

I don't deprive myself, especially when it comes to like creme brulee, which is one of my favorite desserts, like, if I have room at the end of dinner for creme brulee for a dessert, I'm going to get the dessert. But yeah, it's just all in moderation. You know.

Doug 22:04

Yeah, it's so much healthier. Yes, your approach, I love it, yeah.

Autumn 22:08

Yeah, thank you, of course.

Doug 22:10

All right, I'm going to move us on to some business. Okay, you came over to give us some restaurant recommendations today. I'm so excited to have you. I do want to clarify my own. I keep saying Pollock, how do you, how do you pronounce your last name Pa-vel-ic?

Autumn 22:24

So the W is supposed to sound like a V, it's Polish. Yeah, Back way back in the day, when you know my, I want to say like great, great grandparents came over you know, on the boat it was, it was originally spelled with a V and then it was changed to a W again. I don't know all the logistics about what happened back then but, it's Pawelec, it's Polish. Oh, that makes a lot of sense.

Doug 22:48

Yes, in German the W is pronounced a, v as well so mentioning that you grew up in this Polish family. What was food like growing up?

Autumn 22:57

Oh my gosh. So I am split Italian and Polish.

Doug 23:00

Polish is on my dad's side.

Autumn 23:02

Italian's on my mom's side. So for Christmas and Easter I got the best of both worlds. I bet, oh my gosh, Like especially for Christmas, we, you would still get the pierogies, the halupki, the halushki, but then you would also get, you know, the pasta, the fish, on Christmas Eve, for you know the seven fishes. Yeah, it was incredible.

Doug 23:24

Did you do much cooking or did people just cook for you Back when I was younger?

Autumn 23:29

no, I didn't do really much of the cooking. I mean, I would help my mom and my gram in the kitchen with little things, but they mainly did all the cooking. But as I'm getting older I've noticed I've been going back home more to be like hey mom, can you teach me how to do your wedding soup? You?

Autumn 23:43

know Love it.

Autumn 23:43

Yeah, so it was. I definitely had the best of both worlds. I would be in a food coma. It was always when we would have Christmas Eve at my grams. We'd go to church, then we'd go to, you know, back to my grams for dinner, and then afterwards I was so full I remember just passing out no blanket, no pillow in the middle of her living room, pass out for an hour, wake back up, and then I'd be like, okay, I'm hungry.

Doug 24:08

This sounds like some of our family holidays. I love that you and I will have to go to Polska Laska, oh my gosh.

Autumn 24:17

No, but I've been following her on Instagram since the jump and I'm so excited to see a true Polish spot in the Burgh, like it's crazy that we haven't had anything like that before anything new like that before, but I am so excited I got to go check her out. I know. Olive is great.

Doug 24:36

I can't wait to have on the show yeah, awesome. All right Autumn, if people do want to find and follow you on Instagram. What is your handle?

Autumn 24:43

Yeah, it's my first and last name, autumn Pawelec, and I will spell it out A-U-T-U-M-N. N as in Nancy, p as in paw, a-w-e-l-e -C as in cat. So Autumn Pawelec on Instagram. Yeah, thanks.

Chef Jonathan Homer's Grandma's Pierogies

Doug 24:58

Autumn and thanks for being on The Pittsburgh Dish. Thank you for having me. We're looking forward to hearing more from both Rebecca and Autumn on upcoming episodes and up next, since Autumn got us thinking a little bit more about Polish food. That reminded me of a conversation we had recently with Chef Jonathan Homer. Hey everybody, we're joined today with Chef Jonathan Homer. John, last time you were here, we talked about your amazing career throughout the culinary industry, but something you brought up and I wanted to know a little bit more about was your grandma's pierogies.

Jon 25:31

So, grandma Sophie, every Christmas, every Easter, every holiday, she was making thousands and thousands of pierogies, handing out these big Ziploc bags. She had a chest freezer in her garage, to the left of her Cadillac, that you just knew. There was a pumpkin roll, nut roll or pierogies in that freezer. But yeah, grandma's pierogies, man, that's something that just never leaves your mind. I want to raid that chest freezer in her garage.

Doug 25:59

So tell me a little bit more about her pierogi. What was the filling? It was?

Jon 26:04

traditional, it was potato and cheese, you know, but then boiling them and then, just you know, always sauteed onions. Yes, Just a traditional Polish. You know the simplest of dishes Tons of butter.

Jon 26:15

Yes, oh, my gosh, of course.

Doug 26:18

Do you have a recipe you could share with them?

Doug 26:20

Oh, of course. Yes, I would love to get grandma's recipe for these pierogies.

Jon 26:24

That's the only way to do. It is through grandma Sophie's recipe.

Doug 26:27

I think that you had mentioned once that you had started making pierogies in your infant hands. Yeah, exactly, pierogi in one hand, meatball in another.

Jon 26:35

There's a picture of me and a picture of my dad, about the same age as three four-year-olds making pierogies with our grandmas.

Doug 26:42

I couldn't think of a better picture. Yeah, chef John Homer, thanks so much for the recipe for Grandma's Pierogies and thanks for being on the Pittsburgh Dish Of course Anytime.

Doug 26:53

Jonathan Homer is the executive chef at Pizzaiolo Primo in Market Square. You can find his Grandma's Pierogi recipe on the recipe blog of our website. Do you have a recipe? Share it with us. Just visit our website at wwwpittsburghdishcom and look for our share a recipe form. If you enjoyed the show, consider buying us a coffee for this episode or supporting the show monthly. You can find links to those options at the bottom of our show description. And if you want to follow my own food adventures, you can find me on social media at DougCooking. That's our show for this week. Thanks again to all of our guests and contributors and to Kevin Solecki of Carnegie Accordion Company for providing the music to our show. We'll be back again next week with another fresh episode. Stay tuned.