Perogies, holubtsi, and Winnipeg's Ukrainian food scene

Ukrainian immigration to Manitoba stretches back more than a century, and Winnipeg's North End was where much of it settled: railway workers, meat-packing plant hands, and their families built churches, halls, and kitchens that still shape how the city eats. The food scene that grew out of that history is small but real, built around a handful of long-running kitchens rather than a strip of restaurants.

Luda's Deli

Luda's Deli, at 410 Aberdeen Avenue in the North End, is a cash-only diner known for homemade perogies served with kubasa, an all-day breakfast, and a bowl of borscht that regulars point to as some of the best in the city. It keeps daytime hours only, Monday to Friday, so it suits a late breakfast or early lunch rather than a dinner stop.

Alycia's

Alycia's is the name most associated with Ukrainian food in Winnipeg. It opened in the North End in 1971 and ran for about forty years before closing in 2011, its "North End Special" of borscht, perogies, kolbassa, cabbage rolls, coleslaw, mushroom gravy, and sour cream well known enough that visiting celebrities, John Candy among them, would stop in for takeout. After a run outside the city, the Alycia's name is back in Winnipeg, now operating out of the Royal Albert Arms at 48 Albert Street in the Exchange District, with a shorter weekly schedule than the original diner kept. It's worth checking current hours before a visit, since a revived operation running out of a different building is not the same fixed institution the original was.

The cultural landmarks behind the cooking

The North End's Ukrainian food didn't grow up on its own. Oseredok, the Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Centre on Alexander Avenue, occupies a building dating to 1912 and holds one of the largest collections of Ukrainian cultural material outside Ukraine. The Ukrainian Labour Temple, built between 1918 and 1919 largely with volunteer labour, was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 2009. Neither is a restaurant, but both explain why the North End's kitchens exist at all, and a visitor with an afternoon to spare can pair a stop at either with a meal nearby.

Before you go

These are small, independently run kitchens rather than chains, so hours shift more often than a listing gets updated. Call ahead for anything time-sensitive, and don't expect either spot to take cards without checking first.