The Humble Potpie Gets a Decadent Makeover
Did somebody say comfort food?
By Kathleen Squires
Once a lowly frozen convenience food, potpie is showing up in restaurants across the country—and with fillings that transcend chicken (think pheasant, oxtail, and pork). Robbie Arnold-Starr of Belcampo in Los Angeles says, “There’s a bit of serenity making a stew and then rolling out the dough for it—it’s almost like meditation.” Mindfulness aside, these golden, puffed stunners are on menus mostly because “people want to have that emotional experience that comfort food can bring,” says Daniel Humm of the NoMad Bar in New York City. And what’s not to get emotional about when you’re forking through a hot, buttery crust to reach a rich, tender stew on a cold night? Here’s where to dig in.
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Belcampo Meat Co.
LOS ANGELES
This butchery-restaurant sources meat from its own cows in the Shasta Valley, and Arnold-Starr thought that using their tails was a great way to avoid wasting an underutilized cut. “Oxtail has a lot of collagen and gelatin that comes out when slow-cooked,” he says. “It creates a great base.” Acorn squash, leek, and fried sage round it out.
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Le Pigeon
PORTLAND, OREGON
Two of the most popular dishes here: the smoked-rabbit-Cheddar pie with a mustard-infused savory “ice cream” and the bacon-and-eel pie with broccoli ice cream (the candylike eel, salty bacon, and cooling ice cream are delicious). The latter nods to a British eel pie, except Gabriel Rucker makes his with unagi marinated in soy, sugar, and mirin. It’s “about layering flavors,” he says. “Smoky, sweet, savory.”
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The Forge
MIAMI
Christopher Lee had the subversive idea to put a vegetarian dish on a steak-house menu. His black-truffle mac-and-cheese potpie (technically a side, but often ordered as an entrée) forgoes bread crumbs for a crust and combines Parmesan, mascarpone, Cheddar, raclette, and preserved black truffles. “We go through 20 to 30 a night,” Lee says.
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Clio
BOSTON
Ken Oringer pays homage to a French cooking legend with his black-truffle-and-abalone pie, a play on the truffle soup Paul Bocuse made for French president Valéry Giscard d’Estaing in 1975. Oringer’s version includes a truffle fondue of pigs’ feet and chicken fat. “It has that rich mouthfeel,” Oringer says. Bonus: Servers score the top and pour in a slow-cooked egg at the table.
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High West Distillery & Saloon
PARK CITY, UTAH
The two surprise ingredients in Ashley Chapman’s chicken version? Rye whiskey, which “brings a sweet, slightly spicy character to the broth that gives the dish a lighter finish,” he says, and locally hunted pheasant.
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The NoMad Bar
NEW YORK CITY
Your waiter will crack the crust of this chicken potpie, stir in black-truffle cream, and slide in a skewer of foie gras. “The foie gras and black truffle bring luxury to a dish that’s often sedate,” says Humm, who was looking for the bar equivalent of the famous truffle-and-foie-gras-stuffed roast chicken served at the NoMad, the sibling restaurant. “I want diners to feel warm and full and, when done, ready for a nap.”
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photo: Joseph De Leo
