Drive-thru dumplings: Baba's Homestyle Perogies pinches 12,000 daily to prepare for holiday rush
Social Sharing
When the holiday season comes calling, one particular potato dumpling becomes an important fixture on many dinner tables: perogies.
That's certainly the case at Baba's Homestyle Perogies, where they are hand-pinched at a rate of 12,000 per day during the holiday season — up from the usual 5,000 to 8,000.
"We never stop making perogies. We're making them every day," said Baba's owner Rob Engel. "Cabbage rolls pick up as well. We do maybe 3,000 a day normally, and at this time of year, we do closer to 5,000 a day. So it's really busy, and we can't let up. The demand gets high at Christmas time."
Located at 720B 51st St., Baba's opened in 1984. Rob, his wife Chelsea and their family have owned it since 2006, and carry on the hand-pinched perogie tradition.
"It's grown over the years from what started in a Baba's kitchen, to 20 people working full time, pinching perogies all day, every day, Engel said."
Pinching perogies isn't the only all-day, every-day job at Baba's. There's also the perogie drive-thru. The window has become an iconic piece of the restaurant's identity. It's especially popular with lunchtime customers looking to enjoy a filling, homemade meal in the comfort of their car.
Engel says Baba's is currently the only perogie drive-thru he knows of in Canada.
"It's such a great concept," he said. "I can't say there's a slow time for the drive-thru — it's always busy."
WATCH | Take a look inside Baba's Homestyle Perogies:
Take a look inside Saskatoon's perogy drive-thru
8 minutes ago
Duration 2:20
The making of a stand-out perogie
The perogie recipe at Baba's hasn't changed. The dough consists of flour, water, oil and salt — staples that Engel says lay the foundation for a stand-out perogie.
"There's been some tweaking, but you don't need to mess with a perogie recipe. The ingredients are basic, and that's part of what makes us special," he said. "You can put whatever you want in a perogie, but the filling of the perogie, it's almost like a base."
Baba's offers seven regular perogie flavours including potato and onion, cottage cheese, Saskatoon berry, and potato and cheddar cheese, the most popular. They've also experimented with other flavours, like apple cinnamon or pulled pork. Engel says there's an eggs benedict perogie in the works.
The most important element, however, is every potato dumpling being made by hand.
"Everything we do here is by hand. We peel the potatoes. We stretch out the dough. We cut the dough. Pinching the perogies, cutting up the cabbage, rolling the cabbage rolls — it's a lot of hand work," Engel said. "I think that's what makes it a special food. When you're making perogies by hand, there's just a tenderness and a touch to them that you don't get with a machine-made perogie."
Tradition at the heart of the business
Saskatoon has a history of hand-pinched perogies. Prior to Baba's, a business called the O&O Drive-in sold handmade Ukrainian food and had a perogie drive-thru.
"The O&O has been closed for over 30 years now, but people still come in here and ask us, 'Hey, do you have anything to do with the old O&O drive-thru and their perogies?'" Engel said.
"We don't — we're kind of our own thing. But it's neat to be compared to an iconic thing from Saskatoon's history that people still think of."
That history is a testament to Prairie folks' commitment to this humble but mighty potato dumpling. It brings people to Baba's year-round, but Engel says there's an especially strong connection during the holiday season.
"At Christmas time I think we really focus on families and traditions, and something that we all connect with is being around the table with family, maybe pinching perogies, maybe doing Christmas cookies, maybe making sausage. It's as much about the family and the tradition as it is about the food and being able to connect with others over a shared meal," he said.
From cabbage rolls to the signature mushroom dill sauce, Baba's has all of the homemade fixings to complement perogies perfectly. The take-home freezer is always well-stocked in the lead-up to Christmas, as customers look to bring a bit of that handmade tradition home.
"[Perogies] taste like home. They taste like love. I find that people have an emotional connection to perogies when they're handmade because it tastes like growing up. It tastes like Baba's house or Grandma's house. There's a tradition in it that people connect to, and that's really special about what we do."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
2 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
New German leader plans to discuss Ukraine and trade with Trump in Oval Office visit
WASHINGTON (AP) — Germany's new leader is meeting President Donald Trump in Washington on Thursday as he works to keep the U.S. on board with Western support for Ukraine, help defuse trade tensions that pose a risk to Europe's biggest economy and further bolster his country's long-criticized military spending. Trump and Chancellor Friedrich Merz have spoken several times by phone, either bilaterally or with other European leaders, since Merz took office on May 6. German officials say the two leaders have started to build a 'decent' relationship, with Merz wanting to avoid the antagonism that defined Trump's relationship with one of his predecessors, Angela Merkel, in Trump's first term. The 69-year-old Merz is a conservative former rival of Merkel's who took over her party after she retired from politics. Merz also comes to office with an extensive business background — something that could align him with Trump. A White House official said topics that Trump is likely to raise with Merz include Germany's defense spending, trade, Ukraine and what the official called 'democratic backsliding,' saying the administration's view is that shared values such as freedom of speech have deteriorated in Germany and the country should reverse course. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the discussions. Merz will want to avoid an Oval Office showdown of the kind that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa experienced in recent months. Asked about the risk of a White House blow-up, Merz spokesperson Stefan Kornelius said on Monday that the chancellor is 'well-prepared' for the meeting and that he and Trump have 'built up a decent relationship, at least by phone' and via text messaging. Keeping Ukraine's Western backers together Merz has thrown himself into diplomacy on Ukraine, traveling to Kyiv with fellow European leaders days after taking office and receiving Zelenskyy in Berlin last week. He has thanked Trump for his support for an unconditional ceasefire while rejecting the idea of 'dictated peace' or the 'subjugation' of Ukraine and advocating for more sanctions against Russia. The White House official said Trump on Thursday will stress that direct peace talks must continue. In their first phone call since Merz became chancellor, Trump said he would support the efforts of Germany and other European countries to achieve peace, according to a readout from the German government. Merz also said last month that 'it is of paramount importance that the political West not let itself be divided, so I will continue to make every effort to produce the greatest possible unity between the European and American partners.' Under Merz's immediate predecessor, Olaf Scholz, Germany became the second-biggest supplier of military aid to Ukraine after the United States. Merz has vowed to keep up the support and last week pledged to help Ukraine develop its own long-range missile systems that would be free of any range limits. Military spending At home, Merz's government is intensifying a drive that Scholz started to bolster the German military after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In Trump's first term, Berlin was a target of his ire for failing to meet the current NATO target of spending 2% of gross domestic product on defense, and Trump is now demanding at least 5% from allies. The White House official said the upcoming NATO summit in the Netherlands later this month is a 'good opportunity' for Germany to commit to meeting that 5% mark. Scholz set up a 100 billion euro ($115 billion) special fund to modernize Germany's armed forces — called the Bundeswehr — which had suffered from years of neglect. Germany has met the 2% target thanks to the fund, but it will be used up in 2027. Merz has said that 'the government will in the future provide all the financing the Bundeswehr needs to become the strongest conventional army in Europe.' He has endorsed a plan for all allies to aim to spend 3.5% of GDP on their defense budgets by 2032, plus an extra 1.5% on potentially defense-related things like infrastructure. Germany's economy and tariffs Another top priority for Merz is to get Germany's economy, Europe's biggest, moving again after it shrank the past two years. He wants to make it a 'locomotive of growth,' but Trump's tariff threats are a potential obstacle for a country whose exports have been a key strength. At present, the economy is forecast to stagnate in 2025. Germany exported $160 billion worth of goods to the U.S. last year, according to the Census Bureau. That was about $85 billion more than what the U.S. sent to Germany, a trade deficit that Trump wants to erase. The U.S. president has specifically gone after the German auto sector, which includes major brands such as Audi, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Porsche and Volkswagen. Americans bought $36 billion worth of cars, trucks and auto parts from Germany last year, while the Germans purchased $10.2 billion worth of vehicles and parts from the U.S. Trump's 25% tariff on autos and parts is specifically designed to increase the cost of German-made automobiles in hopes of causing them to move their factories to the U.S., even though many of the companies already have plants in the U.S. with Volkswagen in Tennessee, BMW in South Carolina and Mercedes-Benz in Alabama and South Carolina. There's only so much Merz can achieve on his view that tariffs 'benefit no one and damage everyone' while in Washington, as trade negotiations are a matter for the European Union's executive commission. Trump recently delayed a planned 50% tariff on goods coming from the European Union, which would have otherwise gone into effect this month. Far-right tensions One source of strain in recent months is a speech Vice President JD Vance gave in Munich shortly before Germany's election in February, in which he lectured European leaders about the state of democracy on the continent and said there is no place for 'firewalls.' That term is frequently used to describe mainstream German parties' refusal to work with the far-right Alternative for Germany, which finished second in the election and is now the biggest opposition party. Merz criticized the comments. He told ARD television last month that it isn't the place of a U.S. vice president 'to say something like that to us in Germany; I wouldn't do it in America, either.' ___ Moulson reported from Berlin. Associated Press writer Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.
Winnipeg Free Press
3 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Take two
Last summer, Couple Chef Restaurant moved into a location that's seen its fair share of flavours. The eatery tucked into the trees at 1199 Fife St. was built in the 1970s and made to look like a country inn, with brick masonry and a tall cedar shake roof. Its first occupant was Samovar — where Ukrainian food reigned supreme — and it has since hosted several steakhouses, Thai cuisine and, now, Filipino and Canadian comfort food. The couple behind Couple Chef is as big a draw as the food. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Couple Chef Restaurant owners Arlene and Nelson Olegario opened a casual dine-in Filipino-Canadian eatery in the Maples. 'He's become a celebrity chef,' Arlene Olegario says jokingly about her husband Nelson, who can often be found in the large lounge gabbing with customers. 'Sometimes it's not the meal anymore; they're coming to see me,' he adds with a smile. Originally from the Philippines, Nelson never intended to make cooking his career. An electrical engineering graduate, he got a job as a dishwasher on a cruise ship and, despite attempts to transfer into the mechanical department, kept getting promoted within the galley. Food service 'became a passion,' he says. 'I enjoy meeting different kinds of people.' When the couple moved to Winnipeg, Nelson worked in hotel kitchens and opened Jeepney — one of the city's first full-service Filipino restaurants — with two partners in 2014. The Olegarios have been cooking together as Couple Chef for nearly a decade — first operating as a catering service, then opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant in the Nor-Villa Hotel on Henderson Highway in 2020. They were prepared to retire from restaurant ownership when their lease expired last spring, but faithful customers wouldn't hear it. 'Some of them were asking, 'Why are you closing? Look for another location,'' Nelson says. 'It's very overwhelming,' Arlene says of the support, adding that many regulars have followed the restaurant to its new home on the residential edge of the Inkster Industrial Park south of the Maples. The building was attractive for its location and 140-seat capacity, even if the interior was a little quirky. The decor hasn't changed much over the past 50 years. The space has a large lounge and a formal dining room with red walls, faux brick partitions and a working fountain topped with a brass cherub. The Olegarios are leaning into the quirks and their Filipino roots, while continuing to serve Western diner staples such as omelettes, caesar salads and Reuben sandwiches. 'We are in the heart of the Filipino community, so we added more special meals,' Nelson says. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS The event space at Couple Chef Restaurant is a holdover from its past iterations. The Couple Chef menu now includes longanisa (garlicky sausage), lugaw (rice porridge) and pancit (stir-fried noodles), as well as traditional family meals served with multiple pork, chicken or fish entrées, rice, iced tea and dessert. 'It's all authentic Filipino dishes,' says Arlene, who's in charge of the restaurant's growing dessert menu, among other things. 'She's like my boss, always pointing something out. I'm so busy,' Nelson says with a laugh. In addition to keeping everything ship-shape, Arlene works full-time in health care and went back to school several years ago for a culinary arts certificate. Leche flan, a creamy caramel dessert, is her specialty and she has recently added some seasonal sweets to the menu — including gulaman at sago, a kind of Filipino bubble tea, and halo-halo, a shaved ice dessert loaded with fruit, ube, sweet beans and coconut. The couple's first year on Fife has been good, but they're looking to attract more people to the out-of-the-way location with special events. Every Second Friday The latest on food and drink in Winnipeg and beyond from arts writers Ben Sigurdson and Eva Wasney. 'You know the concept park-and-fly? We're making it park-and-snack,' says nephew Keith Salazar, who moved to Winnipeg in February to help out with the business. Salazar explains that customers who buy something to go are welcome to use the restaurant's wrap-around parking lot while visiting any of the neighbouring green spaces. The business owners are also hoping to hold outdoor barbecues this summer and plan to add Friday-night karaoke to the weekend schedule, which is often full of catering gigs and large events. 'If you go to any Filipino house, they love karaoke,' Nelson says. Eva WasneyReporter Eva Wasney has been a reporter with the Free Press Arts & Life department since 2019. Read more about Eva. Every piece of reporting Eva produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Cision Canada
3 days ago
- Cision Canada
Fidelity Investments Canada expands All-in-One ETF lineup with two new income-focused ETFs Français
New ETFs designed to provide single-ticket solution to diversified portfolio of global fixed income and/or global equities TORONTO, June 3, 2025 /CNW/ - Fidelity Investments Canada ULC (Fidelity) today launched two new All-in-One ETFs and four mutual fund versions of existing Fidelity ETFs. The ETFs listed below will begin trading on the Cboe Canada exchange today, adding to Fidelity's growing All-in-One ETFs which consists of four investing strategies at $7.1 billion in assets under management (as at May 20, 2025). New products: Fidelity All-in-One Conservative Income ETF (FCIP) & ETF Fund Fidelity All-in-One Fixed Income ETF (FFIX) & ETF Fund New mutual fund versions of existing products: Fidelity All-American Equity ETF Fund Fidelity All-International Equity ETF Fund Fidelity U.S. Value ETF Fund Fidelity International Value ETF Fund "At Fidelity, we take pride in listening to our clients' needs and evolving our product lineup to help them reach their financial goals regardless of the investment vehicle," said Kelly Creelman, Senior Vice President, Products and Marketing, Fidelity. "With today's launch and expansion, we're excited to provide Canadian investors with a larger suite of All-in-One options and mutual fund equivalents of some of our most popular ETF strategies, giving them more opportunities to tailor their investment journeys." Why consider All-in-One ETFs: Fidelity's All-in-One ETF lineup provides investors with the convenience of a single-ticket solution to diversified portfolios. Broad market exposure: Global multi-asset strategy, designed with equity factors and active equity, systematic and active fixed income (may provide a small amount of exposure to cryptocurrency depending on the fund). Strategic diversification: Diversified across regions, asset classes and investment styles. Simple lower-cost solutions: Designed with built-in strategic asset allocation and annual portfolio rebalancing. Why consider these funds: Fidelity All-in-One Conservative Income ETF (FCIP) & ETF Fund Aims to achieve income and capital growth through total returns by using a strategic asset allocation approach. Provides exposure to a diversified portfolio of global equity and fixed income securities, with generally more emphasis on Canadian fixed income securities. Fidelity All-in-One Fixed Income ETF (FFIX) & ETF Fund Aims to achieve income by using a strategic asset allocation approach. Provides exposure to a diversified portfolio of global fixed income securities, with generally more emphasis on Canadian fixed income securities. Fidelity All-American Equity ETF Fund Provides a mutual fund version of the ETF that aims to achieve capital growth through total returns by using a strategic equity allocation approach. Aims to provide exposure to a diversified portfolio of U.S. equity securities. Fidelity All-International Equity ETF Fund Provides a mutual fund version of the ETF that aims to achieve capital growth through total returns by using a strategic equity allocation approach. Aims to provide exposure to a diversified portfolio of companies located or principally operated outside of Canada and the U.S. Fidelity U.S. Value ETF Fund Provides a mutual fund version of the ETF. Invests in large- and mid-capitalization U.S. companies that have attractive valuations. Fidelity International Value ETF Fund Provides a mutual fund version of the ETF. Invests in large- and mid-capitalization foreign companies that have their principal business activities or interests outside of Canada or the U.S. and that have attractive valuations. Learn more about the funds and get expert insights Advisors: Tune into FidelityConnects at 11:30 a.m. EST on June 11 to hear Director of ETFs and Alternative Strategies Étienne Joncas-Bouchard discuss what's new in ETFs. Investors and advisors: Tune into The Upside at 12:30 p.m. EST today (June 3) to hear ETF Strategists Vince Kraljevic and Mark Verrilli discuss the new ETFs and mutual funds. A French language show will also be available at 4:30 p.m. EST today (June 3) with ETF Strategist Sebastien Faucher. Questions or comments: Reach out to us on Reddit. About Fidelity Investments Canada ULC At Fidelity Investments Canada, our mission is to build a better future for our clients. Our diversified business serves financial advisors, wealth management firms, employers, institutions and individuals. As the marketplace evolves, we are constantly innovating and offering our clients choice of investment and wealth management products, services and technological solutions all backed by the global strength and scale of Fidelity. With assets under management of $289 billion (as at May 26, 2025), Fidelity Investments Canada is privately held and committed to helping our diverse clients meet their goals over the long term. Fidelity funds are available through financial advisors and online trading platforms. Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees, brokerage fees and expenses may be associated with investments in mutual funds and ETFs. Please read the mutual fund's or ETF's prospectus, which contains detailed investment information, before investing. Mutual funds and ETFs are not guaranteed. Their values change frequently and investors may experience a gain or a loss. Past performance may not be repeated. Each of the Fidelity All-in-One ETFs except Fidelity All-in-One Fixed Income ETF has a neutral mix, which includes a small allocation to Fidelity Advantage Bitcoin ETF® ranging between 0.5% and 3%. Additionally, if the portfolio deviates from its neutral mix by greater than 5% between annual rebalances, the portfolio will also be rebalanced. In the case of the Fidelity ETF's allocation to Fidelity Advantage Bitcoin ETF ®, if the portfolio weight exceeds twice its neutral weight, the allocation will be brought back to its neutral weight with any proceeds being reallocated to the other Underlying Fidelity ETF's at their approximate strategic allocations. Such rebalancing activity may not occur immediately upon crossing that threshold but will occur shortly thereafter.
