British Food Is Here

"There is an art to a proper meat pie, according to the Seattle chef and butcher Kevin Smith. The American pot pie frustrates him because it lets the pot do the heavy lifting. "The real way of doing it, for me, is to make a freestanding pie," Smith says. The pastry should hold itself up, a technique cooks in England have honed over centuries. "That is so much more theatrical.""

"Smith's goal is to truly recreate a quintessential English pub. This, to him, meant rustic, a little dark, not at all fancy - just the kind of place where people can "come in and sling their coat over the back of a chair," Smith says. So far, his homey pub has been a hit: Eater Seattle named Little Beast its Restaurant of the Year in 2025."

Freestanding meat pies with sturdy pastry and fillings like beef shank in Guinness gravy or chile-tinged lamb korma anchor the Little Beast menu. The pastry is meant to hold itself up, offering a theatrical presentation distinct from American pot pies. Little Beast recreates a quintessential English pub atmosphere: rustic, dim, unpretentious, and cozy enough for patrons to hang coats on chair backs. The restaurant pairs a butcher shop and additional eateries under one operation. British-style pubs and country restaurants are proliferating across the United States, with notable examples in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New Orleans, Fort Worth, Chicago, and Philadelphia.

Read at Eater