KO Catering and Pies87 A Street
South Boston, Ma
Atmosphere: Casual, Cozy
Food: All Aussie, all the time, meat pies, Vegemite, brekky ...
Kid Friendly: What little kid doesn't love their own little meat pie?
Prices: Great place to grab lunch or a casual take out dinner. Cheap eats
I have been meaning to stop by this place for a while, and this week I realized I have incredibly bad timing. I showed up too late on Sunday, Monday they are always closed, but Tuesday.... Tuesday I struck gold and bought every meat pie on the menu.
Let me back up. KO Catering and Pies opened a few months back in the old St. Alphonso's place on A street just off West Broadway. St. Alphonso's hadn't lasted long, and either had the place before that. I was starting to think it was one of those places that goes from owner to owner until eventually they level it and turn it into a parking lot.
I think I have changed my mind though. KO doesn't have a big sign out front. They usually have a small A frame that simply says, G'Day, it's Aussie food and it beckons passersby to "come on in!"
Really simple, so you may think, "How is this affective", but who doesn't love an Aussie accent? I planned on going into this place just to listen to whoever was behind the counter. I didn't care what they were serving, but then I saw an article in The Improper Bostonian, and a picture of the Aussie meat pies. A visit to KO was a win/win situation!
I have never had the pleasure of going to Australia, but I have a cousin who spent a semester abroad there, and she was visiting me this weekend. I couldn't help but think what better time to go and try KO out? Unfortunately, as I mentioned at the beginning of this, I have bad timing. By the time my Tuesday visit to KO came around, my cousin had gone back to Virginia, and I was left having to taunt her on facebook with my plethora of meat pies.
KO has the classic meat pie (ground beef and pie), the classic with cheese. They have an Irish stew meat pie, and a curried vegetable meat pie, and on that special day they had a steak, onion and mushroom meatpie! I ended up buying every meat pie except the classic with cheese. I also grabbed a sausage roll which my husband aptly described as, "Did you see those croissants with the sausage inside?" Yes I did.
There were plenty of other things on KO's menu that I will have to go back and try like the Chicken Schnitzel Burger or fish and chips. They even have Brekky Australian style for the early morning, Aussie eaters. My visit, however, was all about the meat pies.
I bought my meat pies early in the day and I was greeted by the owner Sam. Sam has cooked all over the world from gourmet kitchens to the galleys of yachts. These days he calls Southie his home and he realized there was an enormous opportunity to bring Aussie food to Boston. Sam won't just be sharing his Aussie creations with Southie, he has also joined in on the food truck revolution and will be going mobile. Of course I loved the accent, and not only was Sam nice, so were his customers who insisted I get the meat pie of the day.
The worst part about going to KO was I went early in the day, and these pies were for dinner! They kept nicely though and I heated them up in a 400 degree oven and they were ready in about 15 minutes.
Each pie is about 5 inch in diameter. One pie is probably good for most people, but we were doing a taste test, so we each had about two pies.. Our favorite was the Irish stew, followed by the steak, onion and mushroom special. I am not a big fan of curry, but the vegetable curry pie was pretty good, and the classic, I can see why they call it the classic. I realized after I ate it I should have read the card that Sam handed me "How to eat a meat pie" because it appears most people put ketchup on the classic, but I thought it was still very delicious on it's own. Lou also was a BIG fan of the Sausage roll.
I think I should warn Sam now. He might want to get ready for the St. Paddy's Parade. If news of that Irish Stew pie gets out, he will need to recruit some more local Aussies to "meat" the demand.
