Tuck Shop (115 St. Mark's)

Is there anything nobler than a pie filled with meat, delicious meat? I've been spending a fair amount of time at the St. Mark's branch of Tuck Shop (the original is located at 68 1st St. Between 1st & 2nd Avenues).

I honestly was not sure what to expect as I'm so used the English meat pies & Cornish Pasties etc. There is a definite difference & I think that the Aussies have a wider variety of fillings. As soon as you walk into the joint, there's a waft of 'pie-goodness' & generally a tray or 2 of pies coming out of the oven.

I went straight for the Traditional, a ground beef pie which is still my favorite. I've tried the Steak & Guinness (thick & incredibly rich... just how I like my women!), Thai Chook (a spicy Thai Chicken concoction) & the Pork & Sage (nothing extra to say about that one).

Last weekend, was the St. Mark's Block Party to benefit the George Jackson Academy. Loads of restaurants on St. Mark's participated & Tuck Shop held the 1st Annual Pie Eating Competition.

11 'maniacs' lined up & tried to scoff as many pies in their entirety in 4 minutes. Needless to say, I was looking forward to this & was taking action on the number of pies that could be eaten.


The competitors lined up & off they went. There were 2 clear leaders after a few minutes (#2 &#3), but watching grown men (& 1 brave woman) dunking pies into glasses of water & shovel them into their gobs was great fun. Thank God for Charity!


Our Champion!

They also had a Mac & Cheese pie which I got to try for the first time. We all had great fun @ the competition & I'm sure a lot of money was raised for the Academy. Check Tuck Shop out if you want a quick snack or want to try something new.