CALGARY: Prorogued = perogies

It started off as a joke. But the more times we heard and saw the word “prorogue” this morning — and believe me that’s a lot in a newsroom — the more we envisioned a warm, solid plate of perogies for lunch as the country falls apart around us.

Or as Perez Hilton calls it, some crazy shit.

Anyway, I’ve never seen a room of journalists work faster in tracking down some appropriate perogies.

Margaritas’s Dishes at the Calgary Farmers’ Market was out because it’s now on winter hours that don’t include Thursdays. Edelweiss Imports got mixed reviews; someone was sure they had schnitzel but not so sure about perogies.

We finally settled on Heritage Deli & Bakery, after an adamant recommendation from Marian, who even phoned to make sure they had hot lunch specials.

We knew we had come to the right place; the smell of steamy cabbage and garlicky sausage hit our noses as we stepped out of the cold. We were just ahead of the lunch rush.

The deli does the hot lunches with perogies, sandwiches, borscht and soups (the day’s special was sour cucumber), but you can also take bigger, unheated quantities home for later.

I spent most of the afternoon eating my combo no. 1: perogies, hunters stew, garlic sausage and a cabbage roll ($7.95). There was no way I was throwing out any leftovers.

The perogies were the old-school, gut-sticking potato and cheese kind. There were about seven, thick slices of sausage, and a large cabbage roll. I like my cabbage rolls with more sauce, but I still ate the whole thing.

The hunters stew — or bigos as this is a proud Polish business — is all savoury cabbage and sauerkraut and I’m really wondering why I haven’t eaten this before.

It pretty much stank up the office, but it was ridiculously good. And I mean the perogies lunch, not necessarily the proroguing.

Heritage Deli & Bakery, 1912-37 St. S.W., Calgary, (403) 686-6835. Open weekdays 9 a.m.-6 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Closed Sundays.