Spring on the East End is a time to find comfort — the weather remains frustratingly chilly and inconsistent, and most are looking at the horizon and toward the warmer days of summer. Those looking to bring a little warmth and home-grown love into their kitchens can look no further than a cozy restaurant in Baiting Hollow, serving pot pies that are developing quite a following.
In the fall of 2020, Cooperage Inn owner Jonathan Perkins doubled down on the success he and his wife, Rene, have found over the last two decades, and launched NoFo Pot Pies, offering one of the restaurant’s most popular items — its savory chicken pot pie — at a new “to go” window in the rear of their building.
A move to diversify the restaurant’s offerings during the COVID-19 pandemic created an intensely popular new brand for the Cooperage Inn and for the North Fork — there was already a small line of patrons gathered at the opening on a cloudy and cold Sunday in late March, eager to access what is now an expanded menu of pot pies and desserts.
In addition to seasonal offerings — corned beef and shepherd’s pies were available in March in honor of St. Patrick’s Day — NoFo Pot Pies offers chicken, short rib, turkey and vegetarian pot pies, in both large and small sizes. The pies are packaged frozen, and can be stored up to six months, although those who have already experienced a NoFo Pot Pie may have trouble not sliding it into the oven as soon as they get home.
The traditional chicken pot pie is filled with freshly roasted chicken, carrots, celery, onions, red potatoes, corn and peas, topped with a buttery and flaky puff pastry. The turkey version is similar, with sherry and green beans creating a slice of pie reminiscent of Thanksgiving, while the short rib pie is savory decadence at its best, marsala wine and button mushrooms complementing the large chunks of short rib nestled under the crust. The vegetarian pie is a rainbow of flavors — carrots, celery, onions, potatoes, corn and peas are married with broccoli, cauliflower, red and green peppers, butternut squash, parsnips, turnips and herbs, with vegetable stock, ensuring this is truly vegetarian, although not vegan because of the crust.
The pies are beautifully packaged, complete with an orange card advising patrons how best to heat and serve their meal, and the directions are right on point. Pies came steaming out of the oven, the crust lightly golden and the fillings everything you want a comforting dish to taste like during these cool days of spring.
Staff Writer on Apr 14, 2022