Author: John Fladd

News from the local food scene

• New tiki bar: What The Pho! (836 Elm St. in Manchester), described on its website whatthephorestaurant.com as an “Asian Noodle Bar & Bamboo Tiki Bar,” had its ribbon-cutting ceremony Aug. 16. The food has an East Asian focus, including pho (a spicy Vietnamese noodle soup), noodle bowls, rice bowls and banh mi sandwiches. Beverages include tiki drinks, specialty craft cocktails, local craft beer and wine. Reservations and takeout orders can be placed over the phone; online ordering will be available soon, according to the website.

• Oktoberfest: To Share Brewing (720 Union St, Manchester, 836-6947, tosharebrewing.com) will hold its annual Oktoberfest Saturday, Sept. 14, from 1 to 9 p.m. Celebrate the release of To Share’s October Altbier, with special food, branded dimpled mugs and draft specials, a stein-holding competition and more.

• Ice cream and the arts: The Friends of the Audi will host their 34th annual season-opening Gala, Arts Fair and Ice Cream Social, Sunday, Sept. 15, at 6 p.m. at the Concord City Auditorium (2 Prince St., Concord, 228-2793, theaudi.org). This will be a free, ticket-less, fun family event. Enjoy Arnie’s Ice Cream and visit displays of the area’s exciting arts groups, and don’t forget to take a chance on the $2,000 Gala raffle. Visit the Auditorium’s website.

• Old blue eyes: Fulchino Vineyard (187 Pine Hill Road, Hollis, 438-5984, fulchinovineyard.com) will host a five-course Sinatra Wine Pairing dinner, Sunday, Sept 15, from 5 to 8:30 p.m. Chris Jason and Joelle Rhigetti and the nine-piece Sinatra Live Big Band perform classic favorites from Sinatra to Dean Martin and more. Tickets are $189 through the Vineyard’s website. Space is limited.

• Buzz buzz: Tuscan Market (Tuscan Village, 9 Via Toscana, Salem, 912-5467, tuscanbrands.com) will host a class Thursday, Sept. 19, from 6 to 8 p.m.: Espresso Martini, Coffee Cocktails & Dessert. Mixologist Anthony Pino will bring participants through cocktail basics while teaching how to make a classic espresso martini along with other coffee cocktails. A dessert will be paired with the martini. A server will be available to take orders from the full menu. Tickets are $85 and available through the Market’s website.

The Pot Pie Bar takes being flaky very seriously

Like many recent food businesses, The Pot Pie Bar (132 Bedford Center Road, Bedford, 432-1927, thepotpiebar.com) got its start during the Covid-19 lockdown. Caroline Arend, owner of the Pot Pie Bar as well as Caroline’s Fine Food (132 Bedford Center Road, Bedford, 637-1615, carolinesfood.com), a well-established catering company, explained, “I found that some very loyal patrons of Caroline’s wanted to help us because we were basically shut down because we couldn’t cater. So they started purchasing meals for first responders. We found ourselves making a lot of pot pies and in fact it became just insanity. We kind of made a joke out of it and said, ‘Oh, I bet we can make anything into a pot pie.’ And we started just developing recipes. That was the birth of it, I guess. And then we opened up the pot pie bar.”

The original thought was to take orders online and ship frozen pies throughout the Northeast, but that turned out to be impractical. “Our shipping carriers were not reliable,” Arend said, “and the cost of shipping was prohibitive. I had no control over those costs because we’re a small company. So we switched gears and we sell all of our pies frozen out of our storefront.” Now customers place orders, either online or over the phone, and pick up their pies in person.

Although pot pies are a classic comfort food, Arend said a lot of work is involved to make them to her standard.

“Everything in the pies is made from scratch,” she said. “For example, for our braised short ribs [pot pie], we take the ribs, we put them in a rondeau [a short, wide pan similar to a Dutch oven], we sear them, we take them out, then we put the mirepoix [a mixture of chopped onion, celery and carrots] in, we deglaze with red wine, bring that down, and then put the bones back in, and braise it in the oven for three hours. Then we pull the meat off the bones, we reduce the braising liquid, and we mix it in with the filling. The only thing we don’t make from scratch is the puff pastry. And each pie has a different little puff pastry logo on it. So, for example, the chicken pie has a cutout of a chicken. The beef stroganoff has a cutout of a cow. The veggie [pie] is a carrot. So they’re all different.”

Arend is a classically trained chef, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), and a veteran of fine dining restaurants in the Boston area. She eventually branched off into high-end catering.

“And then I moved to New Hampshire,” she said. “I didn’t do it for a while and then I missed it.”

As of now, The Pot Pie Bar offers 14 different pies, from classic chicken or vegetable pot pies to more innovative choices such as a bratwurst, beer and cheddar pie, or a lobster pie made with whole lobster claws.

“We did a beef Wellington for the holidays,” Arend said. “It was delicious. It’s a duxelle [a French paste made from mushrooms, herbs and onions] in a thick layer on top of the beef. You have the puff pastry, then you have the duxelles, and you have the grainy mustard and the beef.” Arend said she and her team kept the beef from overcooking by just searing it before putting it in the pie. “And since it’s tenderloin, it’s not going to get too tough. It’s a center cut, muscle that’s not really exercised. It’s not like a shoulder.”

The Pot Pie Bar’s customer base has been surprising to Arend.

“I thought it was going to be primarily men because it’s like comfort food,” she said. “But it’s an older crowd. A bunch of people take them to dinner parties, which I didn’t even think of, but it makes sense. And one woman came in last week and she ordered four of them, [so she could have] people over for dinner at four different times.”

Arend has just purchased an existing restaurant in Goffstown and is hoping to move into it soon. “We’re currently looking into building out a USDA kitchen so that we can wholesale the pies,” she said.

The Pot Pie Bar
Orders for pot pies can be placed online at thepotpiebar.com or at 432-1927. Walk-in customers are welcome, but are advised to call ahead to find out what pies are in stock, as they sell out daily.

News from the local food scene

• Sue’s is open: Sue’s Kimbap House (Bank of NH Stage, 16 S. Main St., Concord, 731-9085, Sueskimbaphouse.com) is officially open. Owner and chef Susan Chung will be Capitol Center for the Arts’ Culinary Artist in Residence for the next year. The new Korean street food-inspired restaurant will be open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. The Kimbap House website will be up soon.

• Chocolate factory tour: Van Otis Chocolates (341 Elm St., Manchester, 627-1611, vanotis.com) will host a tour of its chocolate factory Thursday, Sept. 5, from 11 a.m. to noon. Tours are approximately 45 minutes long and are recommended for ages 6+. All children must be accompanied by an adult. Tickets are $15 through eventbrite.com.

• Herbal tea class: Herbalist Maria Noël Groves will lead a class called “Make Your Own Herbal Teas for Flavor, Immunity and Digestion” at Bedrock Gardens (19 High Road, Lee, 659-2993, bedrockgardens.org) on Friday, Sept. 6, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 for members, $35 for non-members. The cass includes a day pass to Bedrock Gardens that day. Visit eventbrite.com.

• Dinner in a barn: Sanborn Mills Farm (7097 Sanborn Road, Loudon, 435-7314, sanbornmills.org) will host a Farm to Table Dinner on Saturday, Sept. 7, from 5 to 8:30 p.m. The evening will include a cocktail hour on the terrace followed by dinner and dessert in Sanborn Barn. Email [email protected].

Planteray Rum, rebranded from Plantation Rum and owned by Cognac Ferrand, makes an excellent rum. One of its most recent releases has been something called “Stiggins’ Fancy” Pineapple Rum, named after a Charles Dickens character who liked to drink a pineapple rum or three. Although this rum has been infused with pineapple in a couple different ways, it does not taste too fruity. It is sweet but not syrupy, and very smooth.

It goes very well with watermelon.

Watermelon Punch

• 2 ounces rum of your choice — I recommend Planteray’s “Stiggins’ Fancy” Pineapple Rum (see above)
• 3 ounces fresh watermelon juice (see below)
• 3 ounces fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1 ounce simple syrup

Juicing a watermelon

Choose a small, ripe, flavorful watermelon. It should have a pronounced pale spot where it used to rest on the ground when it was growing in the field. Try to find one with stripes spaced the width of two fingers across.

Cut the melon in half, and scoop its flesh into a blender with an ice cream scoop. Blend the melon thoroughly — slowly at first, then really put the spurs to it during the last few seconds. Watermelons are 92 percent water, so it should liquify beautifully. Strain it with a fine mesh strainer, and discard the small amount of pink pulp and seeds. It should last for about a week in your refrigerator.

Making the punch

Fill a mason jar halfway with ice, then add the rum, juices and syrup.

Screw the top on the jar, and shake thoroughly. Remove the lid, fill the jar the rest of the way up with ice, and add a straw.

How sweet and flavorful this punch is will depend largely on the quality of your watermelon. At worst this will be a refreshing take on pink lemonade, but at its best the lemon will take the lead in the front end, followed by a deep fruitiness from the melon.

Featured Photo: Photo by John Fladd.

News from the local food scene

• Another Friendly Toast: On Monday, Aug. 26, there was a grand opening of the newest branch of the Friendly Toast, at 18 Via Toscana in Salem. The new Salem location spans approximately 4,500 square feet and seats up to 170. The Friendly Toast has 13 locations across New England, including, in New Hampshire, Portsmouth (its original location), Bedford, Nashua and Salem.

• Pumpkin martini and cupcake: September’s martini and cupcake pairing at the Copper Door (15 Leavy Drive, Bedford, 488-2677; 41 S. Broadway, Salem, 458-2033; copperdoor.com) will feature a pumpkin martini made with vanilla vodka, rumchata, pumpkin liqueur and cream, with a caramel and cinnamon sugar rim, for $14. It can be paired with a pumpkin streusel cupcake made with pumpkin spice cake, a streusel crunch topping, cinnamon cream cheese frosting and caramel sauce for $11.

• Try this cooking challenge: The Nashua Public Library (2 Court St., Nashua, 589-4600, nashualibrary.org) will host Cooking with Kendra on Thursday, Aug. 29, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Meet at Soel Sistas, where Chef Kendra Smith will coach you as you prepare a meal from low-cost mystery ingredients. Park in the lot at 30 Temple St. No registration is necessary. Open to ages 18+.

• Make a charcuterie board: Wine on Main (9 N. Main St., Concord, 897-5828, wineonmainnh.com) will host a Charcuterie Board Making Workshop & Wine Tasting Wednesday, Sept. 4, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. This workshop is $65 and includes all materials; register online.