Often I joke about ordering the entire menu at a restaurant, but once I actually did. A few months back when John and I were starving in our food-less apartment (we desperately needed to go grocery shopping), we decided to eat first in order to avoid buying everything in the store. After hearing so much about it, we visited District Hand Pie & Coffee Bar on the corner of Arabella and Magazine Street and ordered one of every hand pie they had. Was this a wise decision? Probably not, but it sure was a tasty one. Plus, when we went shopping afterwards, we were too stuffed to fill the buggy with items that were not on the list.
While ordering the entire menu might sound like a boat load of food, it really wasn’t as much as it seems. The day we walked into District Hand Pie & Coffee, they seemed a little short seeing as there were only six actual pies on display. To be perfectly honest, here were a couple of items (muffins, croissants, etc.) that weren’t hand pies that we didn’t order, but we did get one of everything else which resulted in a shared meal of four savory pies and two sweet. C’mon, who can’t eat three hand pies? Am I right?
The first, and arguably the best, was an Eggs Benedict hand pie with a soft-boiled egg, thinly sliced ham and Hollandaise sauce all nestled within a flaky, buttery crust. John and I actually fought over this one, partially because we were both incredibly hungry and partially because it was so freaking awesome. If we didn’t have five more pies in front of us, it’s likely we would have walked back in to order another.
The rest of the savory pies included a Kung Pao Chicken, Korean-style turkey neck topped with kimchi and a rabbit pie with sauce piquant and brown rice. After one bite of the turkey neck, I pushed the little paper dish towards John who happily wolfed it down after trading for the Kung Pao Chicken, which was my favorite of the three. Don’t get me wrong, I love turkey neck usually, but there was a bitter flavor that didn’t jive with me. We both liked the rabbit, but it seemed a bit bland after tasting the other two. I’d like to go back and try that one again on its own, not to mention all the new pies they’ve been making.
We both really enjoyed the sweet pies, though I was all about the apple strudel while John hogged the “Brookie,” a hand pie version of the popular chocolate chip cookie/brownie amalgam. The strudel was light and crisp and covered in powdered sugar, while the brookie was topped with chocolate frosting, caramel sauce, a chocolate chip cookie and a brownie. Jeepers, now I want a hand pie.
Eat all the pie!
