Todd and Laura Saulle are the co-owners of Stickler’s Ice Pop Company (formerly The Pop Stop). Stickler’s offers small-batch ice pops made with fresh fruit and all natural ingredients. Unique flavors like The Elvis (peanut butter, banana and honey) and Honeydew Pistachio are among their best-sellers.
Todd started the company back in the summer of 2013 with some coolers strapped to a bike. Since then, Stickler’s has become a summertime staple at farmers markets, festivals and weddings throughout the Pittsburgh area. The business has grown to include a food truck, a wholesale operation and a soon-to-open pop shop in Millvale.
Todd and Laura love being a part of Pittsburgh’s incredible food scene and look forward to dishing out more delicious ice pops this summer. When they got some time off from readying their new storefront for popsicle season, Laura told us about the best meal they ate last week.
Todd is a card-carrying carnivore, and I’m a newly minted vegan. Finding restaurants that we both love can be a challenge. He may not run away screaming when I make tofu anymore, but at the end of the day, he’s still a guy who loves his Wendy’s and I’m still a girl who cries during Babe: Pig in the City.
That’s why we were psyched when Apteka, the new all vegan Eastern European joint, opened its doors in Bloomfield a couple weeks ago. If there’s one thing that can bridge our dietary chasm, it is our shared passion for pierogi.
We ordered a plateful of the doughy wonders and some kanapki on the side. The pierogi came in two flavors, potato/greens and sauerkraut/mushroom, jumbled together and generously dolloped with yogurt, as pierogi should be. We were both feeling jittery after a long, snackless afternoon and wasted no time tucking in. It was love at first bite. The pierogi were smoky, rich and perfectly spicy. The best part was the tender, melt-in-your-mouth dough. It was hard to believe this was all dairy-free.
The kanapki consisted of three open-faced sandwiches, in the realm of bruschetta, each smothered with a different vegetal spread. They ranged from zesty and vinegary to earthy and sweet. I couldn’t tell you exactly what the ingredients were—all I can say is these were totally unique flavor combinations, and they rocked!
After making short work of the pierogi, we were both too stuffed to finish the kanapki, so we asked for a doggie bag. I’m not too proud to admit that not more than fifteen minutes after arriving back home, I cracked open the to-go box and ate the leftovers for dessert.
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