Basia Piechoczek fell in love with pierogi in her grandmother’s kitchen. The buttery dumplings — typically filled with savory cheeses, meat, vegetables or sweet fruit — have been a staple of Poland since the 13th century. For Piechoczek, the founder of Polish American pop-up Beksa Lala, pierogi are more than just a comfort food, they’re a gateway to her past and present.
Piechoczek spent her early childhood in New Jersey, where she lived with her Polish immigrant parents, her three older siblings (she was the baby of the family until a brother was born when she was eight years old), maternal grandparents and an aunt.
When everyone left for the day, four-year-old Piechoczek, too young for school, stayed behind with her grandma, Maria, who had the mammoth task of feeding the household. Dressed in her robe and bandana, Grandma Maria would throw Piechoczek some dough and tell her to shape her own pierogi. “I would just watch her do it. That’s how I learned,” Piechoczek said.
Since the launch of her pop-up in 2023, Piechoczek’s pierogi have gained a cult following. “I didn’t realize how much of a demand I’d have in Atlanta,” said Piechoczek. “It’s been wild.” She preps pierogi a few times a week in the kitchen of Boggs Social & Supply, a bar in the West End where she also pops up occasionally.
Making pierogi requires precision and patience. On a recent weekday morning at Boggs, Piechoczek stood at a metal counter and pinched a piece of dough about the same size and thickness as a coaster, to show how supple it is. “You want it to stay super cold, you don’t want it to get too stretchy,” said Piechoczek. “If it gets too warm, it’ll kind of melt down.” Though it resembles pasta dough, pierogi dough contains butter and sour cream in addition to flour, water and eggs. “Once the dough cooks, that fat gives a bite to it,” she said.
Credit: Aaliyah Man
Credit: Aaliyah Man
Then, Piechoczek ran a disc of dough through her KitchenAid stand mixer’s pasta attachment on a low speed ensuring a consistent flatness. “How much pressure you put down, if you roll it, might be different by the person making it or how tired you are that day,” said Piechoczek. She ran the disc through again at a faster speed giving it one last good stretch.
Piechoczek placed the stretched out disc on a kitchen scale and dropped a 45-gram scoop of filling in the center of it. Taking the pierog (the singular of pierogi in Polish) in her palm, she folded the dough over the filling to form a half-moon shape.
Credit: Aaliyah Man
Credit: Aaliyah Man
Every pierogi-maker has their own way of sealing a pierog, explained Piechoczek. Some prefer a ruffled pillow look, while others simply crimp the edges with a fork. Piechoczek likes to braid the edges of her pierogi, a method she learned at a pierogi shop in Poland. “I’m so scared they’ll pop open whenever I’m cooking, so I picked the most complicated method,” she laughed.
Cooking the pierogi is the easy part. Standing over a pot of boiling water, Piechoczek carefully plopped them in one at a time. “See how it’s floating already?” she asked after a couple of minutes. “It doesn’t take very long for them to cook.”
Credit: Aaliyah Man
Credit: Aaliyah Man
She serves the pierogi two ways: simply tossed in butter with chives or pan fried with bacon crumbles and crispy onions. And always with a side of sour cream.
Selling pierogi was never part of her plan. After being burned out from teaching middle school literature in Shanghai and Jacksonville, Florida, Piechoczek worked as a bartender in Jacksonville where her parents live. She moved to Atlanta in 2020 and worked as an assistant manager at Cooks & Soldiers before working for a nonprofit. It wasn’t until her friend Andrew Selvagn, beverage director of Burle’s Bar, asked Piechoczek to serve Polish dishes at the bar in December 2023 that she realized it was something she wanted to do professionally.
Credit: Aaliyah Man
Credit: Aaliyah Man
What started as a favor for a friend sparked a deeper passion that allows her to share her family’s story through food, while putting her own twist on it. Now, Beksa Lala (which means “crybaby” in Polish and was her nickname as a child) is her full-time gig with pop-ups twice a week at Burle’s and a forthcoming Monday evening residency at Tio Lucho’s in June, as well as other events and special orders. She also sells frozen pierogi by the dozen at Pure Quill Superette.
While Piechoczek loves cooking, making pierogi keeps her connected to her heritage and helps others connect to theirs, too. Guests come up to her and share how their grandmother used the same plates or how her food reminds them of home. “It’s always nice to share those kinds of stories with people,” said Piechoczek. “Just as much as I love sharing what I’m doing, it really tickles me to hear other people come up to me and say, ‘Finally, someone who understands.’”
Beksa Lala. Instagram: @beksa_atl.
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