the discovery of this place in 2004 forever changed my tastebuds. since it's closed now, i can finally review based on the store when it first opened and i fell in love with it, and not after the shady change in business owners where i boycotted the last year or so anyway.\n\n$5 for delicious plates of dumplings, either beef or potato, either butter or spicy. i always got spicy half and half (half potato, half beef), never with sour cream tho cuz i don't like the stuff. just 1 extra dollar for a soda and it was among the cheapest, most filling dinners in town. as a campus \"safewalker,\" i stopped here nearly every night i worked for my dinner.\n\nbefore they closed, i bought up several orders for freezing (which they let you do), and rationed them out for months after their closing. they let me in on the secret for the spicy toppings.\n\n~butter\n~a little rice wine vinegar\n~cilantro\n~curry powder\n~sriracha\n\ntop that with a piece of pumpernickel, and you have nothing short of pure magic. 5 years later i still have dreams about this place, and once even tried requesting a pel meni mold for my birthday (still waiting on one of those - HINT HINT people)!\n\nwhen i moved to boston, i was thrilled to find a russian grocery store that had frozen pel meni. tho i have tried both their packaged and their home-made varieties, nothing has come close to the madison gem.\n\noriginal pel meni genious - if you're reading, please PLEASE come to boston! i will eat dinner at your store and bring throngs to this mecca - just please make this dream a reality! i suppose i'd settle on just learning your pel meni recipe if nothing else...
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