Yesterday was my day with Hagan Blount, doing the 93 Plates Project. He’s eating 93 plates (93 different restaurants) in 31 days (January) and that’s impressive. When he first told me about his project, I was like… Why didn’t I think of that? But after about two straight weeks of holiday gorging, I’m near done. I still have a few more lingering holiday dates trickling into January but my stomach, colon, and even my esophagus need a break. (Somehow that didn’t stop me from baking today, but I swear, I have good reason.) He’s only on Day 6 and I think he’s starting to feel it.

Here’s how he looks Day 5, still smiling. I will see him again on the last day, Jan 31st, and possibly once more in between. Let’s see if there’s visible strain.

Tuck Shop Hagan Blount

I happily tagged along for two meals yesterday, starting with lunch at Tuck Shop 68 East 1st Street, New York, NY 10003, where we met Niall and Lincoln, owners of the Australian Pie shop, who have generously provided the food you will see. We started with a sausage roll. Greasy meat rolled up in flaky dough for $3 is a decent but forgettable winter grab and go.

Sausage Roll

Instead, grab a seat (despite it being not too pretty in there) to have the Spicy Meat Pie Floater. The Spicy Beef Pie is turned upside down and pea soup poured right on top. Drizzle with sriracha (as advised by Niall) and it’s so much better than I expected. Sloppy looking mess, but the texture of flaky pie crust, crumbly but moist ground beef, sitting in a pool of mushy peas (not fancy fresh peas) is somehow so comforting. (Perhaps, I could go to Australia and become a trucker. Not!) Along with that slowly building spice, it does cure the winter chills (until your forced outside again by lunch partner who is looking for wi-fi).

Spicy Meat Pie Floater with Sriracha

The Thai Chicken Pie with sweet chili sauce is not bad. Chicken is tender, lighter than the other options, but just didn’t interest this picky gal.

Thai Chicken Pie with Sweet Chili Sauce

For dessert, their vanilla slice, which Naill described as a rustic Napolean, is that, but the cream inside has a controlled sweetness, making the glaze on top actually useful. The resulting balance is nice.

Vanilla Slice

For me, the clear winner is the Meat Pie Floater ($9), and make sure to get one of their fresh house-made orange seltzers. It’s refreshing and cleans the palate.

Orange Seltzer

Stay tuned for our dinner at Caracas Arepa Bar (with their new rum bar) in Brooklyn.

posted by jessica at 01:45 PM Filed under Australian, Restaurants. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.