Paul’s Pel’meni is a small place near the UW campus serving Russian style dumplings.  The owner, Paul Schwoerer, once lived in Alaska and found that Russian cuisine was good for colder climates.  While there he learned to make these dumplings from a man who wanted to move back to Russia.  Now he and his wife are in their 3rd location having been in business for 18 years.  Everyday in the kitchen downstairs he rolls the dough and stuffs it with mashed potatoes or a savory ground beef mixture.  Sour cream is the standard accompaniment but they still seemed plain to him.  Now he adds a topping of yellow curry, butter, sweet chili sauce with vinegar and cilantro.  They are sold in full and half orders of the beef, potato or mix.  You order at the counter and they are out quickly.  In the next room are tables and a water jug and a room with a bar.  Later in the evening they’ll be serving lots of cocktails and draft beer to go with the dumplings.  It was a quick and very satisfying lunch for us and I highly recommend you check the place out.

Set-Up

Food

We got a combination of the potato and ground beef fillings and really enjoyed them both.  To be clear, that means half of each type in your order, not a mix of fillings.  There are additional bottles of soy, hot sauce and vinegar on the tables but a little dip in the sour cream served me well.  I did try some with extra hot sauce and that was good too.