Tomasz Skowronski

The Path

At Apteka, the role of chef and co-owner has carried more than management since Tomasz Skowronski took it on in 2016. The restaurant has become a reference point for Vegan Central and Eastern European cooking, with regional memory filtered through a contemporary restraint. What reads as a title on paper is, in practice, a sustained hand in shaping a dining room and menu where heritage is treated as active material, not decorative reference.

The Work Today

Scratch-made technique is central to the kitchen’s Vegan Central and Eastern European line. Under Tomasz Skowronski, Apteka’s cooking moves through beetroot sweetness, mushroom depth, barley chew, and the sharp lift of pickled vegetables, with texture given the same attention as flavor. The plates are built from familiar elements, but the interest lies in how they are assembled and held in balance. Tradition here is not quoted, it is worked. Sour cream sits in the flavor vocabulary, sage brings its green, resinous edge, and doughs, roots, grains, and preserved vegetables form the core structure of the menu. The discipline is in keeping the cooking legible without flattening it: letting the ingredients stay recognizable while composing them with enough care that their details read clearly at the table. In 2024, Barszcz Ukrainski appeared on the August guest chef menu at Community Kitchen Pittsburgh. In that setting, the dish carried the same regional register outside Apteka: deep red, familiar, and built to be sustaining as well as expressive. The format changed, but the underlying approach did not.

Career - chef and co-owner — Apteka, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (2016–present)

Signature

Tomasz's signature dishes include Sauerkraut-Mushroom Pierogi, kartofle z jogurtem migdalowym, and Barszcz Ukrainski. Taken together, they sketch the contours of his cooking: the comforting pull of pierogi, the composed simplicity of kartofle z jogurtem migdalowym, and the resonance of Barszcz Ukrainski, each plate carrying the same balance of memory, precision, and a disciplined sense of flavor.

In Their Words “I like to say that the uncle or neighbor who homebrews here would be making nalewki in Poland.”

Acclaim

Tomasz's honors include James Beard Awards Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic finalist (2023), James Beard Awards Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic semifinalist (2022), and StarChefs Rust Belt Rising Stars Award (2016).

FAQ What recognition has Tomasz Skowronski received? James Beard Awards Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic finalist (2023). What is Tomasz Skowronski known for? Vegan Central and Eastern European cuisine.