Premier Meat Pies opens new location in Poulsbo

Premier Meat Pies’ newest location in Poulsbo held its grand opening Sept. 23, providing an option for savory pie-eating enthusiasts on the Kitsap Peninsula.

It is the fourth PMP location in Washington as the business started in 2015 with the opening of its Seattle Center location. It also has locations at Pier 54 in Seattle and in Renton.

The business name is based on the English Premier League, the top-rated soccer league in the United Kingdom. PMP was the official meat pie of the Seattle Sounders until the COVID pandemic in 2020.

“When you go to a match in the U.K., your choices are either fish and chips or a pie,” PMP founder and managing partner Nathan Bainbridge said. “Typically, each venue will have their own pie. We wanted to bring that tradition to the United States.”

PMP has competed in the World Meat Pie Championships twice, placing fourth both times, which Bainbridge is proud of considering the rest of the competition is from Europe. “We’re the only Yankees to ever go,” he said.

Bainbridge said what sets PMP’s meat pies apart from the others is all ingredients besides lamb come within 300 miles of Seattle. All beef is purchased from the carbon-neutral Royal Ranch near Sunnyside, and flour comes from eastern parts of Washington and Oregon.

“We make all of our pies by hand and we use a scotch pieshell crust that is over seventy years old,” he said. “The shell is hot-pressed in the scotch pie shell, then it cures over a couple-day period. Then the filling is prepared; it’s mostly a five-hour braised process. That filling is then hand-poured into each pie shell. The puff pastry is made by hand, layered out and cut to fit. Then the lids are put on by hand, and they go into the oven.”

Pie flavors include curry lamb, mac and cheese, steak and mushroom, Shepherd’s Pie, steak and cheese, and vegetable curry. Pies are also sold frozen for take-and-bake. They also have bangers and mash, sausage rolls, Dungeness crab dip with a baguette, chili, pickled veggies, salads, soups and colcannon. Cookies, sweet pies and cakes are also sold, along with beer and wine.

“We have something for everybody,” Bainbridge said. “We will have really good local breweries featured from the Poulsbo area, and we are committed to supporting them by serving their products alongside our pies. What’s a pie without a solid pint?”

Delivery service will also soon be offered to Poulsbo and Bainbridge Island. PMP also provides catering and does corporate lunches.

Bainbridge said Poulsbo seemed like a perfect location for PMP as many people of European descent live there and are familiar with that kind of food.

“There’s some really interesting growth and development going on here,” he said. “In Kitsap, we have a lot of people of Norwegian, Scottish and Irish descent that live in the area. I think this comfort food also pairs perfectly with our fall, winter and spring months.”

Prior to opening, PMP was a vendor during Viking Fest in May and more recently at Poulsbrew Sept. 16.

Area manager Chelsea Lewis said the business will definitely be featured at more local events in the future. “The events here seem to be quite vast,” she said.

Regarding the storefront, it’s basically walk-up service with a few tables, similar to its original Seattle Center location. There are only a handful of employees but are in the process of hiring more. Lewis said, “I don’t think that Poulsbo would be mad if we had a bigger location,” referring to the demand from customers. “This opening was probably the most talked about. It seems like Kitsap County very much enjoys what we have to offer. People are already asking about another location.”

As for more PMP locations in Kitsap, Bainbridge said: “We just have to see how popular this is here. We got to walk before we run.”

PMP is located at 19168 Jensen Way NE, Suite 124. It is open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. For details go to premiermeatpies.com