Americans generally like their pies stuffed with fruit or sugary fillings, not chunks of braised meat. But that’s changing as meat-pie mania sweeps through Gotham. Quintessentially British meat-and-pastry combos — savory pies, sausage rolls, toad-in-the-hole — are popping up on menus all over town this spring. At the Breslin, the uber-hip restaurant in the Ace Hotel, beef-and-Stilton pie is served at dinnertime. And Tuck Shop, the East Village hole in the wall that sells a handful of different pies (and a fabulous pork sausage roll), has been so successful that its Australian owners opened a second location earlier this year.
It’s not just a Manhattan phenom, either: At Saltie in Williamsburg, there’s a different pork pie up for grabs each day, and just two weeks ago, “Top Chef Masters” challenged its celebrity cooks to make shepherd’s pie and toad-in-the-hole.
“People like pies,” says chef and restaurateur David Burke, who is serving his own trio of terrific pies until the end of May at David Burke Townhouse. “There’s a lot of bad frozen ones out there, but if you do it well, it’s an excellent dish.”
Here are four restaurants making meals out of meats and pastry.
Pot pie
David Burke Townhouse, 133 E. 61st St.; 212-813-2121
Since March, David Burke has devoted every Sunday night to a special pie-centric prix-fixe menu ($35 including an appetizer and a dessert), where diners can choose from three different pies: a chicken pot pie, served in a copper pot (above); a beef cheek or short rib version with a potato border; and a seafood pie filled with shrimp, lobster and scallops.
“It’s a bargain and a half,” says Burke. “It’s rustic English pub food — but it’s wearing lipstick and mascara!”
Lamb-and-stout pie
The Monday Room, 210 Elizabeth St.; 212-343-7011
Brad Farmerie knows what makes a good pie. “I’m a huge meat-pie fan,” says the chef, who worked in England before returning to the US to open his own eateries. “I spent many years watching rugby and soccer with a pie and a pint.”
His lamb-and-stout pie ($10), served at The Monday Room, is made with lamb shank, fennel, mint and stout encased in puff pastry and served with confit vine tomatoes.
“It is a good brunch or lunch dish, or small main course,” says Farmerie, who occasionally lists it as a special at Public, his Michelin-starred eatery, next door.
Toad-in-the-hole
The Clerkenwell, 49 Clinton St.; 212-614-3234
The owner of this Lower East Side eatery admits his toad-in-the-hole isn’t going to win any beauty contests: “It’s not the nicest-looking dish, to be honest,” says Stefan Ching. “But it’s a novelty.”
The hearty meal is made of sausages (supplied by high-end butcher Pat LaFrieda) and baked in Yorkshire pudding. Once cooked, the $13 dish is served with mashed potatoes, gravy and caramelized onions. It’s popular with British diners, says Ching, and delicious when washed down with a pale beer like Double White Ale from Southampton Brewery on Long Island.
Lamb sausage roll
Highlands, 150 W. 10th St.; 212-229-2670
Most people might visit this West Village gastropub for the malt whiskey and smoked salmon, but the sausage roll is the star of the show.
The $9 appetizer, made from lamb and pork, is seasoned with harissa, smoked chili flakes and paprika, then wrapped in flaky puff pastry, and served piping hot with harissa aioli.
“It’s a classic British dish, but we’ve giving it a North African spin,” says chef William Hickox, who fell in love with sausage rolls on trips to London. “It’s one of the biggest sellers,” he says. “It’s easy to eat at the bar with a drink in your hand.”