I’m a miner (retired), so about once a week my wife and I have to head to the Cornish Pasty Company for our fix of a robust, traditional miner’s food. One of our favorite meals is a pasty (pronounced pass-tee). A pasty is a free-standing meat and potato pie baked on a cookie tin. They are typically made using diced round steak, diced potatoes, and chopped onions, generously seasoned with black pepper and salt, all wrapped in a wonderful firm pastry shell. They are simply delicious. Pasties came from Cornwall, England to American western hard-rock mining towns as Cornish miners migrated in large numbers in the early 1900’s. These miners’ wives would send a pasty each day in their lunch buckets.
We grew up in the mining town of Miami, Arizona where pasties were common. Not only do wives make them, but community organizations and churches have pasty sales to raise funds. In the 1960s the LDS Church in Claypool was built using funds raised by selling pasties, baked goods, and serving sit-down meals. It is said that a pasty was sold for every brick in the building.
Several years ago while having a business meal at Rosita’s Mexican restaurant I discovered a pasty restaurant next door, The Cornish Pasty Company. This, the first location for Cornish Pasty Co., is in a strip mall on Hardy on the northeast corner of University and Hardy in Tempe. There is now a larger version of the restaurant on Dobson at the southeast corner of Dobson and Guadalupe in Mesa; it is neighbors to a Pakistani/Indian restaurant and a Peruvian restaurant and across the street from a Rosita’s Mexican restaurant. (No, Rosita’s and Cornish have no connection they just happen to be near each other at both locations.)
The traditional pasties at Cornish Pasty Co are very good, the restaurant calls these Oggies. The meat is well-trimmed, the proportion of meat to vegetable is just right, and the pastry wrap is perfect, just like having a homemade pasty. They serve it with a red wine gravy or ketchup; I like mine without any condiments, but my wife quite likes the gravy (it’s a bit tart for me). For those used to eating the Globe-Miami version of a pasty, you will be surprised to find rutabaga included in the Oggie; apparently this is common when making a pasty in Cornwall, where the owner is from. I imagine that miners’ wives in reality used what they had; rutabaga was not a readily available item in old Miami, but is common in Cornwall. We normally pick most of the rutabaga out, which is easy enough since it is in fairly large slices.
This is not a single dish restaurant, but has a very large and interesting menu and a full bar. In addition to the “true” pasty, the Oggie, they make a wide variety of dishes using the same pastry shell, but different ingredients. They make vegetarian, pork, ground beef, chicken, and have Italian, Mexican, Greek, curry, and several other versions of the Pasty. They also offer seven salads and four soups, a selection of side dishes, and six deserts; the garden salad is wonderful with ranch or red wine dressing, and the proportions are very generous.
Both restaurants have a mining/industrial theme in the décor. The Tempe location creates the feeling of being in a mine, being long and narrow with black walls and interesting period mining pictures. The Mesa location, while still maintaining the industrial feel, is lighter, larger, and has a lot more seating both inside and on the patio. The atmosphere is dynamic, young, and loud. In fact most of the employees are pierced, tattooed, and alternative in appearance; kind of a freak show. The music is nothing short of weird, sometimes sounding more like a machine shop than music. This is sort of strange, because the clientele is largely middle-class, middle aged couples or families.
Don’t be fooled by appearance, the staff is efficient and pleasant, service is good. We prefer the Mesa location because it is easier to get to, has more parking, is a lot lighter, and has more seating. The Tempe location is more thematic and quirkier. Both are good places to eat and great places for people watching.
You can order by phone for takeout. Pasties work great for this, since they hold up well and keep their heat for a long time. For takeout they will provide them half-baked, so you can finish cooking them at home, or freeze them and have them later. If you order them the day before, they will leave out ingredients you don’t want, such as perhaps onions, or rutabaga.
Prices range from $7.00 to $9.50; deserts are $5 to $6 dollars. For the quality of food and the portion size, the prices are a real bargain.
If you are a pasty lover, you will love this food. If you are just a food lover, there are sure to be several dishes you will like. I highly recommend Cornish Pasty Company.
Locations:
1941 W. Guadalupe, Suite 101, Mesa, AZ. (Easiest access off Dobson, not Guadalupe.) 480-894-6261
960 W. University, Suite 103, Tempe, AZ 480-894-6261
