WCCO Viewers' Choice For Best Pot Pie In Minnesota

ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) -- These days eating out can be a real challenge. We have so many trendy food options. A person can get lost in all the confusion.

Maybe the best thing we can do is get back to the basics. Like a freshly made, right out of the oven, chicken pot pie at the St. Paul Grill, your pick for the best pot pie in Minnesota.

"I think that pot pie is the ultimate comfort food, personally, because when I eat one it reminds me of being a kid and being outside in the cold and coming in and having that warm glass of hot chocolate and have grandma or mom pull one out of the oven. And it just feels like a warm hug," St. Paul Grill's head chef Rick Frazer said.

That was so eloquently put by Frazer. And I might add, if Currier and Ives ever created a cookbook, his picture should be on the back...just saying. But it does seem like this wholesome dish has been lost in the shuffle.

You don't see pot pies on every menu, so what are people's reactions when they see it?

"Most of the time people are just like, 'Ooh, pot pie, I haven't had that in a while,' and then they go for it," Frazer said.

The St. Paul Grill has a stellar reputation as one of the finest restaurants in the state, so why chicken pot pie instead of some trendier option?

"We wanted to keep what everybody knows about the grill, it's about comfort foods, the things that everybody's been coming here for years to get," Frazer said.

What makes St. Paul Grill's pot pie the best?

"I think it's just a tried and true recipe," Frazer said

Just cut into it and it pretty much says it all. Wow!

"We start with a chicken stock base, we add a little bit of cream to get that nice velvety mouthfeel. Large chunks of vegetables and large chunks of chicken, just like grandma would make," Frazer said.

Just one bite and I can see why someone would really crave this.

"Somebody wanted us to send two of them to California for them, along with a gallon of our wild rice soup," Frazer said. "We couldn't."

I'm not so sure it wouldn't have been worth the drive.

"It's the love that we put into it," Frazer said.

The love, the ambiance, on a beautiful winter night with the best pot pie in Minnesota seems like the perfect combination to me. Maybe I'll just get a room.