Deep Cut Pierogi & the Wedding Singer at Monday Night Foodball
Whoopity Do! Deep Cut Pierogi does Wedding Singer at the next Monday Night Foodball at Frank and Mary’s Tavern.
Posted inMonday Night Foodball
Check out Chelsea Pickard’s dumpling-shaped valentine to the Barrymore-Sandler rom-com at the Reader’s weekly chef pop-up at Frank and Mary’s Tavern.
by Mike Sula February 6, 2025
The Better Man, Deep Cut Pierogi Credit: Chiara Tadeo
Chelsea Pickard has always had a soft spot for the mutants over at table nine. There have been times she’s identified with waitress Julia Sullivan, with puke in her hair and church tongue in her mouth, and she’s certainly vibed with former Final Warning front man Robbie Hart.
Without a doubt, she’s related to drunken groomsman David Veltri—not the best man, but the better man.
“At any time in my bullshit love timeline, I’ve related to one of those characters,” she says of the Adam Sandler-Drew Barrymore rom-com The Wedding Singer, which she figures she’s seen more than 60 times since its 1998 release.
Pickard is, of course, the Wednesday bartender at Frank and Mary’s Tavern in Avondale, and also the front woman behind Deep Cut Pierogi, emceeing a valentine to the film in dumpling form for the next Monday Night Foodball, the Reader’s weekly chef pop-up at Frank and Mary’s.
Pickard is once again getting weird with it, with a menu to the movie in four parts: beginning with the Eight Men, a meatball-stuffed number with spicy giard-spiked tomato sauce garnished with shaved parm, crispy “Julia Gabagoolia,” and cherry-giardiniera-pickled black garlic leather hearts. You have to eat this one with your hands.
The Better Man is Pickard’s living nod to Steve Buscemi’s soused wedding-bomber, stuffed with Hagen’s smoked trout dip with creme fraiche and salmon roe. “This ugly-ass pierogi is really going to be trying hard to look really pretty,” she says.
The Whoopity Do is the embodiment of Robbie’s broken heart, with raspberry-chipotle bacon from Jake’s Country Meats, medjool dates, and goat cheese swirled with strawberries, lemon, thyme, and hot honey, as if to say, “We don’t give a shit, Cindy and Scott.”
Finally, the Church Tongue approximates the taste of the space between Barrymore and Sandler’s first kiss: a gluten-free spinach and artichoke–stuffed pierogi with smoked mozzarella and black garlic sour cream.
The reception starts at 5 PM this Monday, February 10, at 2905 N. Elston in Avondale.There’s just one more day to vote for Monday Night Foodball in the Best Pop-up category in the Chicago Tribune’s 2024 Reader’s Choice Food Awards. Meantime, somebody kill me, but there are only four more Foodballs before a new spring schedule starts:
Take a bite out of Chicago's delicious food scene.
Abandoned storefronts are prevalent across the city and often remain vacant for years after a restaurant closes.
January 29, 2025
The nine-year-old magazine is the only U.S. publication devoted to the Palestinian diaspora.
January 23, 2025
January 8, 2025
The Nation of Islam’s iconic dessert is still around, if you know where to look.
December 26, 2024
A veteran airport restaurateur teams up with a Kentucky master distiller to craft a bourbon for finding common ground.
December 12, 2024
Uduimoh Umolu’s Jon Basíl Tequila is an ode to Chicago, family, and legacy.
December 4, 2024