I work at Pelmeni Restaurant in the wharf.
Pelmeni is actually the name of the food that we serve.
It also happens to be the name of the business that we run.
About 16 years ago, a couple of Russians came up here and opened up a Pelmeni shop,
which is a very common food over in Russia.
And for whatever reason, whether it was because of the late night,
or the atmosphere, what have you, it's just taken off.
And now in 2013 we're going strong.
It's like one of the only late night places.
Part of it is the simplicity of it.
It's basically two things. It's a dumpling shell, with either meat inside,
which is beef, or it's potato filled.
You just boil them up for 6 or 7 minutes.
And really I think it's the toppings that make it.
The works, I suppose, would be curry powder, then butter.
And we put a mixture of our hot sauce, which is a sriracha sauce,
if you've ever heard of it, it's a chili sauce mixed with rice vinegar.
And you top it off with a little bit of cilantro,
throw a piece of rye bread on there, and you're good to go.
It can go from bone dry dead, you have nobody in there, you're prepping things up,
And then bam, you can be, you can have like 10, 15 people in there,
ordering maybe 20 orders, 25 orders max.
And you only have 5 pots of boiling water, so it kind of becomes a juggling game.
Because you are the only man there, you're in charge of the store.
You're the cook, you're the server, you name it. We do it all.
You really kind of have to find a rhythm that works for you.
And every employee has their own.
But I guess a good way to describe it is it's like being on auto pilot mode.
You know what you need to do, and you just kind of work through it.
You got this one coming up, and then in 40 seconds you have the next one.
And the next one, the next one.
And if you stay in your rhythm, you can be quite efficient.
It's a community place. We get a lot of regulars, and they really hype it up.
So even the tourists come into town, and they hear about the dumpling shop.
They don't know exactly where it is, but they go searching for it.
It intrigues them, so we get a lot of them coming in.
They'll ask me questions about it, and I'll tell them,
and try to get them to try it.
But generally they don't really go for it.
It's not something that everyone has experienced all the time.
You could go to any city and have McDonald's, or any fast food joint you choose.
But we offer something a little bit different.
But recently, a lot of the locals or seasonal workers are plugging our business
And this year and a little bit last year, I'm starting to see an increase
in actual tourists buying the food and enjoying it.
Pelmenis opened up when I was in high school.
And I used to go there for lunch, or late night with friends.
And so, I didn't know any of the people that worked there.
They were all a little bit older.
One person got in, and actually a great friend of mine became the manager.
And so then our close buddies, I think about 3 of us, joined on in the crew.
It's a job, you know, so you have your good days and your bad.
I think as long as that business sticks around, even if I'm not working there,
I can go in there, even if I don't know any of the workers,
and have those memories, and just kind of feel like at home.
So I have my job, and my other job, school.
Well, I'm studying to be an IT guy, for right now the state,
but it really doesn't matter where. That is my goal.
I go to UAS here in the fall. So I'm plenty busy.
I'm having trouble letting go of these seasonal jobs,
because they make a decent amount of money, they keep you busy,
you really get to meet a lot of people, and they're just fun.
And I'm kind of like, a little worried to take that next step,
and get the career job, you know?
You can't do it forever, or you could. But I probably won't.