Photo courtesy Ryba’s
History: Six years ago, Ned Curry began cooking and selling Eastern European-inspired dishes at local breweries through his pop-up and catering company, Gold Cart. One of his favorite foods to make, and a pleasant reminder of his childhood in Detroit, was his mother Christine Ryba’s version of pierogies, a family recipe that she had spent years perfecting. Ned took notice of people’s response to the warmth and nostalgia of the traditional Polish dumpling, and in 2019, he and his family introduced Ryba’s, dedicating themselves to sharing the homemade, half-moon-shaped comfort food.
Specialties: “Our potato and cheese pierogi will always be a nostalgic and classic comfort food loved by all,” says Andrea Curry, Ned’s spouse and co-director of Ryba’s. Other varieties include mushroom and leek, plus vegan potato and dill.
Production: Ned is the head chef and bakes out of Hatch Kitchen. The team is currently working on launching a Kickstarter campaign so that they can ramp up production. “If successful, we can go from producing about 1,200 pierogies a day to thousands of pierogies a day," Curry says.
Buy: Outpost Richmond, Union Market, Shields Market, RVA Big Market, Birdhouse Farmers Market and Seasonal Roots online farmers market.
