This week I went downtown, which continues to grow. If you haven’t been there in a while you should check it out as there are a lot of cool bars and restaurants to try.
We went to the Cornish Pasty at 10 E. Charleston Blvd. It’s a cool bar and restaurant. The building is an old warehouse complete with church pews around the wooden tables. They have a very large beer selection on tap including a great selection of craft beers for the aficionados.
Now you might be wondering just what is a Cornish Pasty? It originated in the country of Cornwall in southwest England. Mining was a thriving industry there. When the miners were working, they needed to eat many times with one hand. Usually that hand was covered in dirt, dust and arsenic from the mine.
The women would make their men pasties to eat. A pasty is a pastry dough pie filled with different meats, potatoes and vegetables. When they closed the dough pastry up, they put a thick crimp in the outer edge. This thick outer edge became a handle for the miners to hold their meal. They would eat the pasty all the way till they got to the outer edge and discarded the handle. It was a convenient way to get an entire meal while eating on the go in the mines.
Now we can get these same pasties and we don’t have to work in a mine. They have several different combinations on the menu and each one is a complete meal in itself. I have tried several of them and so far my favorite is the Reuben Pasty. It is everything you would get on a Reuben sandwich baked right into the pasty.
My wife’s favorite is the Chicken Pot Pie Pasty and it comes with a chicken gravy to dip it in. I have also had the Roast Beef Sarnie Pasty which is filled with roast beef, red and green peppers, Portobello mushrooms, onions, Swiss and cheddar cheese. This was a very tasty one as well. When in the mood for a Thanksgiving dinner, order the Pilgrim as your entire meal including stuffing that’s all baked inside.
These pasties range from $10.95 to $13 and are very filling. My wife took half of hers home and finished the other half later that night. Lori usually doesn’t eat leftovers, but she liked it so much she finished the rest that night.
The food was very good with nice size portions and it was reasonably priced. The wait staff was friendly and very attentive to all our needs. I give the Cornish Pasty a rating of 3.75 Forks.