Myles Teddywedger's Cornish Pasty

In a word: How does so much food come out of such a small storefront?

The specs: #0393
Address, hours & details via Isthmus; menu at menupix; reviews at Yelp, Isthmus, QSC; Doug Moe on new ownership;

Latest Myles Teddywedger's Cornish Pasty news and reviews at del.icio.us

Latest Myles Teddywedger's Cornish Pasty news and reviews

JM ate the Chicken Pie.
Kristine ate the Top Steak.
Kyle ate the Ground Beef.
Nichole ate the Veggie Wedgie.
The bill was about $30, or $7.50/person.
Nichole gave Myles Teddywedgers Cornish Pasty a B+; JM, Kristine and Kyle gave Myles Teddywedger's Cornish Pasty a B (see our grading rubric).

Anyone who walks State Street knows Myles Teddywedger's as the source of enticing baking aromas and steam covered windows. The tiny storefront in a flatiron building across from the Capitol specializes in those sturdy pocket pies known as pasties, a workingman's calzone. Put it this way: an acquaintance who used to eat McDonald's nearly every day happily opted for Myles when McDonald's on the square closed.

The ordering process was fast and painless. Nichole especially appreciated the packets of some of the rarer condiments, including BBQ sauce and brown mustard. As well as Coke Zero. For what it is, the place has taste.

The first thing we noticed was the sheer heft of the bags. Novices that we are, we got full pies for everyone, and JM also snagged a cookie knowing that dessert (Norske Nook pies) wouldn't be up his alley.

In addition to a short regular menu, Myles features daily specials but these were sold out by the time we arrived at 6pm. Fortunately we had a list of alternates, and a warm place to go and unwrap our finds, namely famed "Fringe Foods" Kyle and Kristine's pad.

Kyle figured his ground beef pasty would be great if he were actually a miner: it was dry, dense, hearty and kinda bland. The crust was good but there was a little too much of it. There was a little too much of everything for Kristine. The top steak pasty was huge. Though it held lots of meat, it was somewhat dry. The pocket had good taste and texture. It wasn't bad, it wasn't great, but it was enough for 4 meals.

Nichole's Veggie Wedgie was basically a vegetarian calzone, with a thick stratus of mozzarella cheese, only a little bit of sauce, decent mushrooms and green peppers and not much else. The half pasty left over reheated quite well after freezing for about a week. The crust even got crusty again after being nuked, testament to the quality of the frozen pies you can also pick up at Myles.

JM's chicken pot pie may have been trying to kill him. In addition to a little GI distress immediately following it, the girth of the meal went straight to his heart. That said the food was tasty and warm but not anything to really focus on. The chocolate chip cookie was baked in pan and cut into 8" squares!  It was tasty in the way that bars are when cookies aren't, a little more doughy and always chewier.

Kyle summed it up well when he declared Myles Teddywedger's Cornish Pasty to be purely a niche food, for which we wouldn't guarantee a return trip. But it's a good value and a filling, warming meal especially good for curing the winter blahs.

Comments

[Timmy]

Gotta say, once in a while these things really hit the spot. You'll gain like 3 pounds eating half of one but you'll be full for the rest of the day for a nominal price. They taste pretty good--not amazing--but definitely a Madison institution worth patronizing. I have to admit the guilt pleasure of avoiding Ian's right next door to get pizza pasties on occasion.

Pasties (usually meat filled ones) are usually had with brown gravy, which takes away the dryness. Ketchup is good with them as well.

[Kyle]

Yep, ketchup worked wonders for my leftovers and their leftovers. And the leftovers after that.

[Michael]

Teddywedgers has been a regular, guilty pleasure of mine for the last few years -- more often since I've moved downtown. I love both the chicken pot pie and the Big Cheesy. I often get one or the other (I buy a half) on a Friday after work. The breakfast pies are terrific -- in the summer, I often take a long bike ride that winds back to the Square, where I treat myself to a "B-2." Get one some morning -- you won't be sorry! Myles has succeeded where "LovsShak" and "DP Dough" haven't...he makes a meal worth returning for again and again!

[Toby Martin]

I like the cheese and ground beef pie, or the big cheesy with suace and cheese. Pot pie is hard to do well, so I avoid it most places. As for cornish pastry; If you go to northern Wisconsin, they sell cornish pasties everywhere. The ones I had were bland and tasteless. So Myles is probably as good as it gets.

[Happy Historian]

OK, obligated to comment here. DISCLAIMER: I'm old, and Old School, and a Traditionalist (and a secret stalker of Myles) but I *only* have the ground beef; the rest are probably good, but NOT (by my definition) "pasties". The grnd beef one is, however, also steeped in historical accuracy, a Big Thing for me, and I love -- that's "LOVE" them. I can get three meals out of one whole pasty easily, but they make me vurrah vurrah happy. NOTE: I once bought three fresh-baked, wrapped their tin-foiled selves in newspaper and then in towels and then drove to the Twin Cities. When I got there, they were still steaming. Just had to rave.......

[Yooper]

As a Yooper, all I can say it that those are NOT good pasties. We tried them once and found them dry and doughy. A good pasty should be juicy inside with a firm by tender crust and not too much crust. It should not be dry. And it has to have beggies (rutabaga). Also, NO real pasty-lover EVER eats them with gravy, only ketchup or plain. You think the miners carried gravy in the mine?

[Timmy]

Will miss coming here every couple months for the best overly-filling meal on State.

http://www.avclub.com/madison/articles/rip-miles-allen-of-myles-teddywedgers,36405/

[nichole]

As of two days ago, they were still open.

[Nina Berkani]

I don't know how often this site is updated but I just wanted to recommend that you stop by the new Teddywedgers. My son and daughter purchased Teddywedgers in Sept 2015 and made some changes. We still have the old classics (with fresher ingredients)but have new special pies and will be adding pastries, cakes, cookies and espresso drinks soon.