Taste of New York in Wellington
Pickle & Pie is a New York-style deli opening today on Lombard Lane, offering made-to-order sandwiches as well as slow-cooked meat pies.
The first venture for chef Timothy Tracey and Mia Freeman, a business director at a Wellingtonbased advertising firm, will also feature hand-sliced pastrami and home-made relishes and pickles.
Tracey has been in the hospitality industry for 15 years and has worked as a private cook in Europe, did a seven-month stint at the World Expo in Shanghai and was most recently at the Spruce Goose in Lyall Bay.
‘‘We both met when we worked at Ruth Pretty Catering, which was about six or seven years ago now,’’ Freeman says.
They subsequently travelled overseas, worked on superyachts in the south of France, then at an exclusive ski resort in Courchevel.
Tracey and Freeman have modelled Pickle & Pie on famous
New York institutions like Katz’s Delicatessen. Skylights, a glass frontage and an acoustic ceiling to absorb sound give the venue a modern feel, the blue banquettes and marbled counters are more 60s-style.
The wider neighbourhood is also being rejuvenated and Freeman says visitors have plenty to look forward to.
‘‘I think Wellington is on the brink of a resurgence in terms of new things happening again ... we’ve created some really cool institutions, but now it seems like there’s a lot of change in the city, a lot of new things coming in.
‘‘People are eating out a lot more.’’
Pickle & Pie, 2 Lombard St in the CBD.