An unsavory pot pie from an LA pop-up that shall go unnamed

 Homemade chicken pot pie

Pop-up restaurants in LA can be hit or miss.  Last weekend, my friends and I went to one that seemed very promising, but ultimately, it ended up being the most unfortunate of misses.  Overall, the plates weren’t quite service-worthy, especially the chicken pot pie with its stringy meat and uber-doughy, unseasoned sauce.  And the crust… oh, no, the sad, sad, crater pool crust!  I, for one, expect my pot pie crust to triumph and shine atop its serving vessel.  I mean, let it flow, really let it flow!  Let it gloriously cascade and drip, or at least let it confidently wave from the ledge.  Just don’t give me some unintended biscuit topping, please.

One must find a way to recover from a disappointing pot pie encounter, so in this particular case, I decided it was time to make my own, so I made My-Ina Garten’s version, meaning I slightly tweaked the Barefoot Contessa’s solid recipe, which you can find here.  Specifically, I added thigh meat because dark meat adds a wealth of flavor, and I earthened up the sauce with a healthy sprinkling of fresh sage, nutmeg and celery seed.  The resulting pot pie was way better than the one I had paid for a few nights before, especially the crust.  Lesson here?  Don’t judge a book by its cover; judge it by its crust!