October 30, Special Sections Β» Best of Rochester. Newbury Park Pastries hand-made chicken pot pies, sold at the Brighton and Canandaigua farmers markets, and the year-round outpost in Rochester, are as close to the Platonic ideal of a chicken pot pie as anyone has gotten. Purchase one and invite some friends over for a "home-cooked meal.
An hour before it's time to eat, take the pie out of the box and destroy the cardboard evidence. Pop the pie in a degree oven, and leisurely set the table, put on some music, and make a green salad. While you're puttering around, the pie is getting hot, perfuming the house with its browning butter scent.
When your guests arrive, cut into the beautifully golden brown crust, flaky and fluted just right. Set the slices on each plate so that the filling, creamy and rich, packed with chicken and vegetables, oozes out tantalizingly.
Then stand back, watch your friends take a bite, and wait for the compliments to roll in. When you're hungry β "I could eat like a horse" kind of hungry, or "Dear God, I need something to offset the gallon of alcohol I consumed last night" kind of hungry β only a hearty, hefty burger will do. But good burgers can be hard to find, and burgers that are both good and unique can be near impossible to get your hands on.
Main St. Elvis would appreciate the combination of Angus beef, smoky bacon, tangy red-pepper jelly, and chunky, savory peanut butter, and you will, too. Some of the patrons will look at you funny; maybe even some of the waitresses. This is a burger concocted by the guys in the kitchen. But trust them, they're on to something.
