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Business & Tech

Made In Vienna: Pure Pasty

Made in Vienna is a series about locally-grown businesses. U.K. native Mike Burgess brings traditional Cornish cuisine to a place that feels like home

Michael Burgess came to the Metro D.C. area from the United Kingdom to sell pasties. But it wasn't until he found Vienna that he knew he had the right place to set up shop.

“It reminds me of my home town," said Burgess, who originally hails from the historic market town of Nantwich. "Same kind of size, same demographic. Comfortable.”

Pasties are, in their simplest forms, small meat pies. When he moved to America with his D.C.-born wife, Burgess was capitalizing on a thriving passion for pasties already shared by many both in the U.K. and, in the U.S., the upper peninsula of Michigan. 

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But Burgess has taken the traditional food of Cornish miners and built upon it at his shop "Pure Pasty," introducing pasties (pronounced “past-ees”) with Indian and fusion ingredients, vegetarian options and special seasonal treats like pork and apples. The shop also offers soups, salads and the quintessential British sausage roll.

Burgess isn’t just interested in making a delicious pasty, however.

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“Always at the forefront of our mind [is] to be sustainable. Chicken is free-range, the pork is free-range pork, and we have a wide variety on menu," he said.

Among other things, the sausage rolls come from a local specialist butcher.

A former IT troubleshooter and support manager for HSBC in the U.K. and Europe, Burgess has always had always considered starting his own eatery. He arrived in the U.S. in July 2008 and began looking for the right location and right format. Late in 2009 he found Pure Pasty’s Church Street location and spent nine months of 2010 raising money and going through the local licensing processes. And then, there were the actual logistics of building an eatery.

“There’s a lot to learn, complexities below the general idea.” Burgess said. “There’s the amount of power amperage you use, air conditioning moving in and out, where the equipment goes."

Fortunately, he had help, he said.

“Everybody was very supportive,”  Burgess said. He cited local architect Paul Layer as having been especially helpful.  

“Paul has done all of this many times before. He knew who to talk to, offered advice and kept coming up with great ideas.”

Since opening,Burgess – who runs "Virginia's only pasty shop" – has also launched a food truck that wanders the Ballston and Rosslyn areas, most frequently Wellford Square. They keep fans posted on their whereabouts via their Twitter feed and Facebook page.

The store also offers a new chef's special every week (BBQ pulled pork and Moroccan lamb among them)  and a new treat: Pork Pies. They have also introduced new soups: chilled carrot and gazpacho among them.

Burgess has been receiving a lot of requests for a different kind of pasty, too : dessert.

“Dessert pasties weren’t part of our initial plans,” Burgess said. “But we do hear what people are saying. Can’t ignore the voice of public demand.”

Pure Pasty can be found at 128-C on Church St NW, next to Bikes at Vienna. They are open between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays. They are closed on Mondays.

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