Anelia's Kitchen & Stage

11/24/2021

This year has been one of fulfilling big dreams.

It started with saying goodbye to our lovely little restaurant and then to our La Conner home & community that has been part of our everyday for the last eight years to live a nomadic life for three months.

We got to experience our beautiful country and all its culture and spend much needed time with family and friends on the east coast. We stayed in lots of great places and did some cool things but kept longing to be back in Washington…everywhere else still felt like we were just visiting.

That said, when we were traveling, it became clear that opening another restaurant or food truck was not going to be in our eminent future. In fact, we decided to take a break from cooking professionally altogether.

We appreciate our friends who took us in upon our return in the fall while awaiting our new abode in Mount Vernon. And we appreciate Chris & Jen at Terramar Brewstillery for inviting us to work on their team,
allowing us to hone in our skills and to learn a lot more too. If you travel through Edison, stop by and say hi! We are both in customer facing roles there, so don’t expect pierogi on the menu….but a Pierogi Pizza??? (maybe someday:) They seriously have an amazing space, great beer & spirits and delicious food. All made with love and dedication to our local resources. We are proud to be there.

While we take this break, we are going to mark Anelia’s as permanently closed on FB and take down our website. We will keep our Instagram page up so use it if you want to stay in touch, share a picture or memory, be in the know when we finally write a cookbook, a blog, or host a cooking class…or whatever we decide to do…and you are also welcome to follow our personal pages.

We sincerely appreciate every one of you for the support and for following us on this journey. Happy holidays & we hope to see you soon.

❤️ Anelia’s
Jennifer Volek-Ferry &
Matt Farrell

09/06/2021

Happy Labor Day! We just spent a month with our east coast family and friends (plus a visit with a few friends from Skagit Valley!)

We’ve been honing our skills and learning new tricks while cooking and mixing cocktails with family (plus, both of our moms are awesome cooks so we’ve also enjoyed just snacking on whatever they have in the fridge). We also went to lots of delicious restaurants, returning to old favorites and trying new fare in the Pittsburgh region. We are blown away by the gentrification in some of the neighborhoods; once run down areas are built up with homes, shops and fun eateries and breweries. Pittsburgh is all grown up now and worth a visit if you find yourself nearby.

We are still committed to posting a blog upon our return and will get specific with our favorite spots if anyone cares to read…in the meantime, we are hitting the road this week - hoping for good weather as we take the long southern route to California and up the coast to Washington. We will be stopping often to visit with more family and friends and look forward to being inspired by more breathtaking scenery, awesome people and, most importantly, amazing regional flavors that we hope to transform into something fun for you to enjoy after we settle back in and decide what’s next.

Stay safe and enjoy the fall and all the bounties of the Valley. We miss you and look forward to seeing you again soon!

❤️ Jen & Matt

07/10/2021

Hello friends! We are off on our adventure East. Spending a lot of time in the woods and on the water, taking pictures, writing, eating and getting inspired. Since we have little service, we will work on a blog when we return to civilization and will share it for anyone interested in what we’ve been up to!

In the meantime, we hope you take a minute to try out the Fork at Skagit Bay in our old location in La Conner, vote for Joe’s sugar scrub “Funky Fresh” at Handmade La Conner (we smelled it and it’s perfect for cleaning up and feeling fresh after a long hot day) and enjoy some pictures of our previous two weeks on the road.

Note: if your summer travels take you to Wyoming - or you find these things at a store- our current recommendations: Snake River Brewing (Earned it IPA - easy drinking after a day in the sun), Farmstead Cider Company (crisp, dry cider that starts sour and finishes sweet - trust us it’s amazing) and Bovine & Swine Meats (Black Pepper and Blue Cheese sausage: now Matt’s #1 since he can’t have Anelia’s.)

Stay cool and enjoy the summer!

06/04/2021

Hello! Summer is in the air...and our road trip is just around the corner. We will post plenty of pictures and blog about food, libations, nature and music along the way.

We are delighted that some of you are interested in cooking classes! After looking into it, local space availability was a constraint and COVID protocols are still pretty strict, so we decided to wait and will set up more formal classes with dates when we return in the fall.

More to come…🍓😎❤️🍻

05/15/2021

Parting is such sweet sorrow. .. selling the sweaters (not some of my favorites that WILL be reworn). 9-6 tomorrow on Rainier street in LaConner. Follow the signs and let’s talk ugly Christmas sweaters!!

05/01/2021

Hello out there! Now that the beautiful flowers are gone, we welcome in May and enjoy seeing the local farmers prepare the crops to grow Skagit’s amazing berries and produce. We are spring cleaning and getting our vaccines taken care of this month but hear that some of you would enjoy learning to make Anelia’s favorites through cooking class parties, so we are currently looking into that!

In other very exciting news...if you don’t already know, 513 1st Street (fka: Anelia’s), is soon to become a sister restaurant to The Fork at Agate Bay called The Fork at Skagit Bay.

We are so excited to see how this excellent group of people will make the space their own and encourage you to check it out too! They plan to open in mid May...and may need to expand their team, so reach out if you’re looking to work in the cool new spot in town!

04/11/2021

Thank you Skagit for an awesome 7 years!! Stay tuned for our next adventure much ❤️!!!!

04/01/2021

As promised, here is your Anelia’s April update! The “Matt and Jen show” will continue for the first 2 weekends in April, but there is a catch. We will only offer walk up take out through our take out window (no pre order calls or reservations-think “food truck” but with a big building attached).

Matt will fill your clean growlers and make to-go cocktails as long as supplies last and Jen will turn your frowns upside down with a new Anelia’s “Pierogi” Kitchen menu (remember National Pierogi Day?). We will be open Friday-Sunday 12-5 with limited quantities of each pierogi each weekend.

Thank you to everyone who took the time (publicly or privately) to share your thoughts and memories of Anelia’s. We are overjoyed to think that we built a place as special to you as it is to us ❤️

03/25/2021

So here we are...the last full weekend of dine in service at Anelia’s. Our hearts are full of appreciation for all the love, support and amazing memories you’ve helped us create through the years.

We will post again next week about April, but for this week, we will only offer first come-first serve dine in service. Unfortunately, we are not staffed to handle the both influx of calls for take out and increased seating capacity.

We will be open 12-8 Friday-Sunday (or until the food runs out). ❤️

The La Conner Weekly News has the unique legacy of continuing the tradition of publishing weekly in La Conner since 1879 - the longest continuous weekly publish

03/17/2021

Hello friends! Stop by Anelia’s over the next two weekends for a last taste of your favorite Polish dishes! We will be operating only Friday, Saturday and Sunday 12-8 for limited seating and will accommodate take out orders as much as we can.

In April, we will transition to a quick bite menu/walk-up-cafe for a few weekends (using only our take out window for orders), and begin to say farewell to our magical little space in La Conner.

03/04/2021

We have updated our menu for the upcoming daffodils and will continue offering limited dining inside and offering takeout (as long as we can keep up with orders). Hours will stay the same this month Thursday - Sunday 12-8pm last call is at 7:30 for dining inside. Last call for takeout orders is at 7:00. As always, thank you for your continued support!!