Greg Bedik and his friend Nestor Lewyckyj had the idea to create a place where Ukrainians and Montrealers could meet around a comforting dish, pierogis, while giving a little boost to the Ukrainian war effort.
This newly opened place is located on Fairmount Street, near Saint-Urbain Street, in Mile-End, where many Ukrainian immigrants set down their suitcases when they arrived in Quebec after the Second World War.
What do they serve? Pierogi and nothing else.
The classics: potatoes and soft cheese. And the desserts: cheesecake and coureur des bois.
Pierogi – or Varenyk in Ukrainian – are ravioli stuffed with potatoes or a mixture of potatoes and cheese, which are accompanied by sour cream, fried onions, fresh chives, dill or, why not, bacon and maple syrup!
Here, they are served in a small cardboard container, in a size of six or nine. Customers can eat them on site, sitting at a stool, or order them to take away.
“We have a lot of customers from the surrounding area,” says Marika Melnyk-Nadeau, behind her counter.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Marika Melnyk-Nadeau
It’s heartwarming to see that people like it and come back.
Marika Melnyk-Nadeau, restaurant employee
The restaurant is called Perogie Lili, in homage to Nestor Lewyckyj’s mother, who settled in Montreal in the 1950s. A woman born in the former Czechoslovakia, “into a family of Ukrainian dissidents and intellectuals,” as can be read on a poster hanging on the wall. It was on Waverly Street, a stone’s throw from the new Ukrainian counter bearing her name, that she rebuilt her life “from scratch.”
“We absolutely wanted to open in Mile End,” explains Greg Bedik, born in Quebec to a Ukrainian father and a Quebec mother. “We even wanted it to be on Fairmount Street and not somewhere else.”
For what ?
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Perogie Lili co-owners Nestor Lewyckyj and Greg Bedik
The Ukrainian National Federation is on Hutchison and Fairmount. I grew up there. I danced in a Ukrainian troupe, in that hall, for 25 years. And Nestor stayed on Waverly. So he knows the area well.
Greg Bedik, co-owner of the restaurant
In the small, completely renovated space, a huge work painted on a black wall represents the four seasons of Ukraine. It was created by a couple of Ukrainian artists, Fedir Kurkchi and Alexandra Kulinenko, at the request of the co-owners.
On the opposite wall, a tapestry in shades of red reproduces a motif originally created by a Ukrainian, that of the “tree of life”, with its branches that never cross.
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PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Perogie Lili co-owners Nestor Lewyckyj and Greg Bedik
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PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
A mural by a couple of Ukrainian artists, Fedir Kurkchi and Alexandra Kulinenko, decorates the restaurant.
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PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Perogie Lili also offers sweet pierogies, such as cherry cheesecake pierogies.
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PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Marika Melnyk-Nadeau makes a pierogi.
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PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
The restaurant is located a stone’s throw from the Ukrainian National Federation.
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PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
The restaurant even offers “coureur des bois” pierogis, a Quebec-Ukrainian fusion that combines bacon and maple syrup.
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Two percent of the restaurant’s proceeds will be donated to the Canada-Ukraine Foundation, which will send the money to Ukraine.
“We were all affected by the Russian invasion,” explains Marika Melnyk-Nadeau. “There are a lot of people among us who still have family there. We always want to help as much as we can. So why not do that with the restaurant?”