Visitors to the Beer Hall marvel at the pierogies. Based on a dough recipe from Surly Chef de Cuisine Tom Beheba’s grandmother, they’re filled with a creamy blend of potato and gruyere cheese and dressed in horseradish crème fraiche, buerre blanc, and frisee.
Sounds delicious! But you still need someone to execute the recipe. And given that it’s one of our most popular items, you need someone to do it quickly and at volume.
Enter Dario Dominguez.
A veteran of restaurant kitchens since 1995, Dario has mastered the art of the pierogi over the last two years at Surly. He is a blur of dumpling construction. There is no wasted movement. He stretches the dough, dusts the surface with flour, cuts the shapes, adds the filling, folds, pinches, and repeats. On a typical day, that means 150 cups of flour, 22 trays, and 900 pierogies over a 4-hour period.
“When he’s out or needed elsewhere in the kitchen, two or three of us have to pick up Dario’s slack,” said Surly Executive Chef Ben Peine. “If we have to train someone on how to make them, Dario will pelt them with a shot of flour so they know what they’re in for. It’s pretty amazing.”
“I told Ben to call them Dariogies,” said Dominguez. “If enough people read this, maybe he will.”
