For the Love of Pierogies opened in Bellaire back in March to much fanfare and a good bit of business.
There was so much business, in fact, that owners Bonnie Vetanze and Iryna Kharchuk realized their home on Belmont Street wasn’t quite big enough.
They went on the hunt, finding a new home at 110 West Main St. in downtown St. Clairsville, across from the Belmont County Courthouse and a couple of buildings down from the library.
Vetanze noted they thought about keeping the Bellaire store open as well. The people and business in Bellaire were great, but she was unable to find anyone to run the store in order to keep both open.
In addition to the larger space, Vetanze and Kharchuk gave in to demand to add a restaurant element to their store, which previously only sold pierogies frozen and not cooked.
“We saw what the valley was looking for,” Vetanze said. “There are some people that want to buy them frozen, but others that want to eat them here. Some people have never even tasted pierogies before that come in.”
For the people that prefer to purchase the frozen pierogies, take them home and cook them in their traditional family way, that’s still an option.
“A lot of people like to cook it themselves in their own way,” Kharchuk said. “They have a traditional way they’ve cooked them with their grandparents or their parents. They just want the frozen ones. But we decided to have them available two ways.”
When you enter For the Love of Pierogies, you’ll notice the left side is the deli side, offering a large assortment of fresh and frozen pierogies, meats, pasta, and even seafood.
There are also a number of European products available, along with some items Kharchuk brought back from her native Ukraine.
The store now offers an even larger assortment of items from State Meats in Parma, Ohio. There are multiple types of kielbasa available, but there’s also Italian sausage, Kizka (blood sausage), cottage ham, and more.
“All of our kielbasa comes from State Meats, which is a family-owned business in Parma,” Kharchuk said. “Once you taste it, you’ll know why it’s the only type of kielbasa we serve or sell. It’s an all-natural casing, and people from this area drive up to Parma to purchase their kielbasa.”
That’s no longer necessary as For the Love of Pierogies carries a full line of their products.
The packaged fish in the grill box: mahi, salmon and tuna steaks. 
Some of the breads, bratwurst, and pasta available. 
Different types of State Meats meat, along with cakes, pepperoni rolls, and nut rolls.
More than Pierogies, Pasta, and Kielbasa
Now you can also purchase far more than just the above-referenced items. For the Love of Pierogies has multiple coolers with frozen items for purchase in its deli, including seafood.
Vetanze was excited to talk seafood, which all comes from Western Edge Seafood. This is fresh, premium quality seafood available in a variety of options.
She pointed out a value pack called a Grill Box, which features six pieces of salmon, eight mahi, and six tuna steaks.
But now you can also purchase bratwurst, different types of bread and pasta
They also sell homemade pepperoni rolls in limited quantities. But pierogies are still the big selling point, and Vetanze and Kharchuk both wanted to point out they are taking preorders now for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Last Thanksgiving, they ended up selling 10,000 pierogies for Thanksgiving, and they wanted to make sure their customers, both current and potential, knew to order in advance. There will be a cutoff date in order to allow the staff to create enough pierogies to meet the anticipated demand.
“Once we get past that cutoff date, we won’t be able to take anymore holiday orders,” Vetanze said. “People can call in an order, pay, and make sure they are on the list. We will announce a pickup day too prior to Thanksgiving.”
Now You Can Dine In
The right side of For the Love of Pierogies houses the eatery portion, where customers can place their order and enjoy their food at a number of tables. The food is ready fairly quickly, but you’ll dine using proper plates and cutlery.
The menu consists of pierogies, kielbasa, different types of pasta, and different types of ravioli.
“As our product line started to grow, we knew we needed a bigger space anyway, and this came along and had this great kitchen and we were able to get two great people to work with us to allow us to open up a bit more,” Vetanze said. “But we knew we were offering items from Ohio City Pasta and State Meats along with our pierogies, so we kind built our menu out of that. We were selling frozen pasta and meat, so why not cook it too. We could sell a few things from each of the product lines.”
While samples were cooked up at the Bellaire location for customers to try, actual dine-in eating wasn’t an option. That’s no longer the case.
But has the public responded well to the freshly cooked food?
“The restaurant has really taken off more than what we thought it could have,” Vetanze said. “Most of the time, we’re busy from 10 a.m. until we close the kitchen at 5 p.m.”
“It’s been an amazing two weeks so far,” Kharchuk added. “People have been coming in, and they are such nice people and they have welcomed us here in town.”
For the Love of Pierogies is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m., with the kitchen closing up at 5 p.m. But it did open for its first second Saturday in town to an amazing response. It will also be open for the final second Saturday event of the year in October, as well as featuring increased hours for the holiday season.
For more information, stop in or visit For the Love of Pierogies on Facebook.
