Given that this is a restaurant with a changing menu, pasties are never guaranteed to be available.
I went out for a nice weekend dinner with a group of friends and all of our tiny children. We wanted a beer and a big enough place to fit us in, which is exactly what Rockford Brewing Company provides. And then I scanned the menu.
“Pasty”
Braised Beef, Mixed Root Vegetables, Herbs, Puff Pastry, Gravy, $16
I didn’t prepare to eat a pasty that night, but I had to do it. Otherwise, I probably would’ve been stripped of my title.
While they were expensive, you can’t sell pasties at a restaurant and have them half the price of every other entree. It’s annoying, but I get it. The two pasties on one plate is what caught me off guard. How many times have you ordered a pasty and got two instead of one?
I picked the first one up and realized why there were two (they’re small). I’ve had plenty of puff pastry pasties and usually you don’t need to make them thin or small enough to have two for a serving.
Puff pastry is always good on its own and usually difficult to mess up. While it’s not used in classic pasties, I often give passes for puff pastry crusts because they almost always taste great. This one was good and because it was so thin, it didn’t take away that much from what was inside.
The ratio was great, as the insides were mostly braised beef and some carrots. The flavor was good, but it was difficult to rank these pasties since they were half the size of normal ones and not really a specific kind of pasty that I’m accustomed to rating. They came with gravy which I only used for a couple dippings and I didn’t think they needed it.
Braised beef pasties are often a “raised-level” kind of pasty that you’ll find in restaurants and not many other places in Michigan. Braised beef is a little more popular in true cornish pasties, but true cornish pasties are also massive and won’t leave you slightly hungry for french fries after finishing.
These weren’t bad pasties, but they almost needed a separate grading scale. Even as a regular meal, I wouldn’t say they blew me away. The flavor was good, but I’m still left wondering why they didn’t just make one larger pasty instead of two.
Taste: 3 (out of 5)
Crust: 3 (out of 5)
Pasty Presentation: 3 (out of 5)
The Shop: 3 (out of 3) Beer!
Would I come back for Pasties?: 0 (out of 2)
Total Pasty Rating: 12 (of 20 points)
(Reviewed Winter 2024)
