Engine Co. No. 28
644 South Figueroa St., Downtown

We visited Engine Co. No. 28 on Thursday night @ 8pm
Dish we will try to cook – Roasted Chicken Pot Pie $17.75

Restaurant Visit
Engine Co. No. 28 has a long history in Downtown Los Angeles. The building itself dates back to 1912 when it was the most expensive fire station in Los Angeles. For five decades the firehouse served the area, closing in 1969. After going unused for several years, the building was restored in 1983 and five years later the Engine Co. No. 28 Restaurant opened its doors.

This rich history is partly what makes a visit to the restaurant so rewarding. Upon walking in you notice antique firehouse décor on the walls, the original tin roof ceiling tiles overhead and the red brick flooring below. On the Thursday night we visited, the restaurant was pretty quiet with only a few tables filled. We were able to walk in without a reservation and sit immediately. Our one complaint is that with so many empty tables, we were seated in a tiny 2-person table where we barely had room for our coats and ourselves. We would have appreciated one of the 4 top tables that were empty. The crowd was also on the older side, with downtown businessmen as their usual patrons. However, the crowd is usually much more diverse when there are games going on at Staples Center or performances at the Disney Concert Hall.

We started with two cups of their roasted sweet corn chowder. True to their down home food reputation, the chowder was warm and comforting. The soup itself wasn’t too thin and the corn was nice and sweet. The dish consisted of fresh corn, potato, yellow onion, bacon and roasted red pepper with a savory mix of seasoning.

We also went with comfort food for our main dishes, ordering the southern style pan-fried chicken and the roasted chicken pot pie. The southern style chicken was served with mashed potatoes and sautéed spinach. Our sense of smell picked up notes of hot sauce as the dish was placed on our table, which we think was used both in the sauce on the plate and possibly the chicken batter as well. The portion size was quite large, both a breast and wing piece and a thigh. The batter was not overly crispy as you’d expect with fried chicken, but more of a cake-like, buttermilk and flour coating. We enjoyed the dish and the potatoes were nice and creamy.

However, our favorite dish of the night was the roasted chicken pot pie with buttermilk biscuit crust. The waiter acknowledged when we ordered the dish that it wasn’t the traditional style pie with the crust acting like a piecrust, over and above the filling. But rather, the dish is more like a stew with a large biscuit on top. We decided to still go for it and were pleasantly surprised to see what he meant. The stew is served in a good sized bowl with a large, donut shaped biscuit on top, even having grill marks on it.

If you are hungry for food your grandmother use to make, this is the dish to order. There were huge chunks of tender chicken, sliced carrots, peas, potatoes, and mushrooms. And while the biscuit isn’t a crust, there is enough of it to have some in every bite. The plate was very well balanced, not thin and runny but not thick and dry either. Visually, it is plated with a modern feel to it but the taste is down-home traditional.

Shopping
(prices reflect the cost of the package, not the portion we used.) The rest of the ingredients we already had in the kitchen.

Whole Foods-
Chicken Stock $3.99
Whipping Cream $3.39
Baby Bella Mushrooms $3.99
Carrots, 1 bunch $1.99
Celery, 1 bunch $2.49
Garlic $.84
Yellow Onion $1.99
Parsley $1.29
Russet Potatoes, 2.81lb $3.91
Frozen Peas, 1 bag $1.39
Chicken Breast, 3 $13.92

Recipe
Below is our recipe for chicken pot pie with buttermilk biscuit. While we have no idea exactly how they cook theirs, we researched many “from scratch” recipes and used ingredients we recognized in the original dish.

Serves 6

Buttermilk Bicuits-

3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 TBSP white granulated sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/3 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1 cup buttermilk
Vegetable oil (to grease grill grates)

hardware
6”x2” flan ring or cutter
1.5” cutting ring
(Optional: panini grill)

In food processor or large bowl, mix flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda and butter. Mix together until mixture becomes a coarse meal. Add buttermilk and mix until moistened, sticky dough forms. Chill dough in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Dust a board with flour. Press dough out until it’s 1/3” thick. Use the 6”x2” ring to cut the dough into rounds. Use the 1.5” ring to make a hole in the middle of each round. Place dough rounds on a cookie sheet about 1” apart from each other. Bake until biscuits are golden brown on top, about 10-12 minutes. Cool slightly.

Preheat grill to medium. Grease the grates of the grill with vegetable oil. Place biscuits top-side down on the grill and cook for about 2 minutes, or until grill marks show. Rotate the biscuits 90 degrees to make diamond shaped grill marks along the top of the biscuit. Cook for an additional 2 minutes, or until the grill marks show. Serve warm. (Note: For best results use a panini grill. Gas and charcoal grills work, but the results may vary).

Pie Filling-

3 chicken breasts, bone-in with skin on
3 TBSP olive oil
5 cups chicken stock, heated
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1 large yellow onion, chopped
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup whole milk
2 cups medium carrots, diced
2 cups celery, diced
1 leek, white part only, chopped
2 cups russet potatoes cut into 1” cubes
2 cups of crimini (baby portabella) mushrooms, sliced
2 cups fresh or frozen peas
1/2 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a baking dish, coat chicken breasts with olive oil. Generously sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in oven and roast for 35 to 40 minutes, or until cooked through. When done, let cool to room temperature, or until cool enough to handle. Remove the skin from chicken and pull meat apart from bones. Dice the chicken into 3/4” cubes.

Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil. Add the potatoes and cook for 5 minutes. Strain.

In a large pot, melt butter on medium heat. Add onions and sauté for 5 minutes. Add carrots, leek and celery and sauté until the onions are translucent, about 5-7 minutes. Add flour and stir constantly for about 2 minutes. Whisk in the hot chicken stock and cook for 1 minute. Add cream and milk and turn the heat to low, whisking occasionally for 5 minutes. Add chicken, potatoes, peas, mushrooms, parsley, and salt and pepper. Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through.

Plating
Place warm filling into individual bowls and top with biscuit.

Rating- We give our dish 4 out of 5 stars.

Our thoughts- Overall we feel we had lots of success with this dish. Most of the components seemed to be the same as Engine Co’s, however, we did feel there were a few things missing that we couldn’t quite put our finger on. One of the main ingredients that was a complete mystery to us was an herb that went into the pot pie filling. Other than that main hurdle (which we never really did figure out) everything more or less seemed to match flavor for flavor.

Our most successful moment of the dish was the biscuit. In terms of flavor, texture, shape and size, everything matched pretty well. The only thing that didn’t work to our advantage was not having a panini grill, which we feel gave the restaurant’s biscuit those perfectly lined char marks.

All in all, we were completely happy with how everything turned out. We would definitely make this dish again, as it’s fairly easy to make as long as you take the time to organize and prep. If you ever do make this dish at home, we promise this comfort food will make you feel like you’re eating something straight from Grandma’s kitchen.

How would you rate our recipe? Feel free to email us if you have any questions on the cooking instructions and don’t forget to vote for next week’s restaurant!

Tags: Chicken, Engine Co No 28, Pot Pie

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 28th, 2010 at 1:08 am and is filed under Poultry. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.