esprit de l'escalier

Pi Day PFR and birthday mix

Back in January, I went to New York. I never did a very good job blogging about that trip (or anything much lately, sorry).While I was there, one of the days my friend Allison and I walked all over town, including crossing the Brooklyn Bridge and then wandering the DUMBO area. When I spied Bubby's Pie Company, I knew we needed to stop for a slice or two.

Not only is Allison a good hostess, but she's a good sport and agreed to be my guest judge. To give her some credentials, Allison said that if she had to choose her last meal it would be a slice of blackberry pie made by her mother. I ordered a slice of sour cherry and she had a slice of peanut butter chocolate, her second favorite flavor.

We enjoyed our respective slices. Allison found hers to have a lovely chiffony peanut butter filling with a thick fudge-y bottom. A definite yum, even if she wished there was a little more of that chocolate. The crust on my slice was thin and crisp and let the tart sour cherries be the star. I was also impressed with the lattice crust. All in all, I would recommend Bubby's for some pie.

Pi Day (which is Sunday) is more than just a day to celebrate a beloved baked good. It's also several friends' birthdays, including my friend Tina. Tina and I went to high school together and since I've moved back to Ohio, we've become close friends. (She's helped me on a couple of PFRs as well.) This year she turns 30. I dedicated my Pi Day mix to her this year. Happy birthday Tina!

PFR: Shapiro's Deli

On the way back from Chicago, from our quickie road trip from the beginning of the month, it was getting to be dinner time. We were nearing Indianapolis when I had an idea. I gave my friend Sharon a quick call, to get the location and directions to her favorite place to eat in Indiana, Shapiro's Deli. (If she is within 100 miles of this place, she makes a detour to stop.)

Shapiro's has been around since 1905. The location we went to, at 808 S. Meridian, is a large space, with plate glass windows all around, a cafeteria-style line to go through, and lots of tables to sit in. We were there around 5pm on a Sunday, and there was a decent sized crowd for an early dinner. When I saw the desserts, I knew we had to do an impromptu Pie Field Research expedition.

My fellow PFR investigator this time was my friend Tina. She is a bit of an old hat when it comes to PFRs, as she's done a couple with me, and her birthday is Pi Day. Even though we decided to split the very large and very wonderful corned beef sandwich (see below), we both managed to over order. We decided on two slices: rhubarb for her, and cherry for me.

Tina chose the rhubarb because she loves it and "that pink that rhubarb gets." I decided on cherry, because I couldn't decide and chose to stick with the classics. Tina later informed me that cherry is just not her type of pie, but I enjoyed my slice. We found both slices to have a nice tartness. She thought the crust was okay and I think I had more positive thoughts on the crust. We both gave our pies 4.5 stars. (As you can see, the nonexistent metric by which the oh-so-scientific research being done gets vaguer the longer I go between PFRs.)

The real star of the show was the corned beef sandwich. Oh dear lord. For about $10 we got a lot of meat piled high on delicious homemade rye. Oh that rye. It had a wonderfully (but not overly) chewy crust. Why didn't I buy a loaf? The sandwich needs to be shared. Sharon had suggested some sort of lemon bread or muffin, which I forgot, but will get at my next stop at Shapiro's. It's hard to pass up their sweets.

Peanut Butter Pie PFR

My number one goal on my spring break, besides reading for fun, relaxing, etc., was to eat some pie. I mean, I was going to the South, right? And pie is a part of Southern food equation.

I scoured our guidebooks and decided that we had to go to Poogan's Porch and eat some of their peanut butter pie. My travel companions were up to the task. Poogan's was named after a neighborhood dog, which we all thought was a good omen. We sat in the back light-filled room, with cheery green walls and stuffed ourselves silly. Some how we made room for our pie.

My guest judge was my hostess for the week, my friend Cindy. She had a lot to share with you, dear readers, about her particular qualifications for this task. She doesn't like pumpkin pie or fruit pie, but prefers pecan pies. She is also an avid peanut butter lover, in fact she said she is interested in incorporating peanut butter in desserts. Sounds perfect, right? Plus, she's a Pi Phi.

Cindy said, "It is not as rich as I imagined, which I enjoy." She thought that the nutty topping would be better, but I liked it. She liked how it was cold. (I left out the bit about her love for all thing ice cream, too.) Krista, another of our friends, found the texture like ice cream.

The crust was very thin, so we did not know how to judge it. It had, in my opinion, amazing tasting cream piped at the edge of the pie. It was great with coffee. Cindy gave it a 4 out of 5. I gave it closer to a five.

If you go to Charleston, go to Poogan's. Trust me.

(Photos courtesy of Dana (top) and Krista (pie). We ate at Poogan's the day I lost my digi.)

Pi Day PFR

Yesterday was 3/14, or Pi Day. In fact, it is now recognized as such by Congress, who recently passed a resolution to formally designate March 14 as Pi Day. Which I think is great, as does Rep. Brian Baird (D-Wash.), who is “kind of geeked up about it.” It's also Einstein's birthday, as well as about 8 people I know. (Happy belated my dears!)

One such friend, who holds this auspicious day as her own, is my friend Cristina. I helped her celebrate by bringing her an apple pie and asked if she would be willing to guest judge a PFR again. How could she refuse? Here are the details:

Pie:
Apple with crumble top baked to order from the Bread Basket in Gahanna, pictured above. (Disclosure, I am absolutely nutty about their berry scones.)

Guest judges:
Cristina, last seen judging in PFR #7 last May. Still considers herself a pie novice.
Miss X, who wished to remain anonymous, not much of a pie eater, more of a pie maker.
Me, who was dubbed a "pie-storian" last night, a name I quite enjoy.

I realized just now that I forgot to ask for overall rankings from our judges! I'm forgetting protocol, which is not good. But here are the judges conclusions.

Filling:
I was assured when I ordered the pie Friday that they use only fresh granny smith apples for their pies, which was evident by the lovely tartness of the fruit. The bakers left the skins of the apple on, which I found weird. Cristina "appreciated the weirdness of the apple skin." Miss X found it distracting.

I loved the tartness of the apples and the overabundance of cinnamon (a weakness of mine). Cristina liked that the filling was not too sweet and found it reminiscent of her homemade applesauce.

Crust and top:
Miss X liked the topping and said, "The crumbly jazz is tasty." I also enjoyed the topping. Everyone especially enjoyed the overly browned bits.

I almost forgot to ask about the crust, which was not a great sign. It wasn't a bad crust, it just wasn't memorable. Cristina said, "I didn't even think about the crust, but I think it works with this pie. It's more fresh-fruity than lardy, so I don't mind it. It goes well with the crumble top."

In the end the birthday girl declared, "I would like it for breakfast." Which sounds like an endorsement.

Celebratory PFR

At the end of September, which was ridiculously long ago, my sister was in town and I felt it necessary that we do a PFR together, especially since I did pie solo in Montana.  I was going to post this in October to celebrate two years of pie field research (two years!), but October got busy and I never got around to it.  Now I think we should have a slice to celebrate the election.  Anyway, here's our PFR, number 10 for this blog.

Every weekend this summer my Dad would buy a pie and some savory tarts from the sweetest little old lady at the farmer's market.  Alix and I decided to judge a couple of slices of one of her pumpkins.

A little about my guest judge.  My sister loves pumpkin pie.  She said she considers herself to be more of a cake person, but she would make an exception for a slice of pumpkin.  Unfortunately, this slice was not one of her favorites.

Ultimately she gave it a 2.5 out of 5.  She found it different than most pumpkin pies she's had, and I have to agree it didn't taste up to the LOL's normal standard.  She wanted more spices, and she found the filling more custardy than she was expecting and the crust hard and chewy.

I have to say this pie was a let down for me, too.  You never want a poor pie experience, especially when you have prior expectations.  All pies were not made equal, even the ones made by the little old lady at the farmer's market.  She can't always be on target.  But that is why we are continuing on our quest for good pie.

By the way, do you like logo I made for the PFRs?

Montana PFR

After my car mishap, I thought I needed something to calm my nerves.  The night before I had made some notes about possible restaurants to scope out, and one of them happened to be a couple of miles away from my blowout, and happened to be famous for its pie.

I pulled into Glen's Cafe in Florence, MT.  It was a small diner that reminded me of a smaller version of the diner in Twin Peaks.  (Being surrounded by evergreens helped that feeling.)  I was a little shaky when I got in, due to the adrenaline burst after my tire got away from me, and I took a seat at the counter, looking into the tiny kitchen.  Over my head hung a wooden sign with all of the types pies on movable parts, so they could be turned out or in, depending on availability.  I felt like the only non-regular and ordered a slice of blackberry pie (a la mode) and cup of coffee.

I was feeling shy, partially because I felt like a tourist and because I normally don't do PFRs solo (the whole point is to share a pie experience with friends), so I didn't take any photos of the pie itself.  (Mr. Mannion will probably be happy about that, as he always accuses me of trying to make him hungry.)  I felt a little silly pulling out my camera, so it stayed in my bag.

Glen's Cafe: September 2, 2008: Slice of blackberry.
No guest judge, just me, a self-proclaimed pie-enthusiast.

Crust: Too blond - it seemed underdone and not browned enough or very flaky.
Filling: Good filling, nice subtle hints of cinnamon with the berries.
Ice cream: Excellent.  I don't normally get pie heated up or a la mode, but I panicked when the waitress asked and went with it.
Coffee: I don't normally rate the coffee, but I have a deep love of diner coffee, so I ordered some.  It was great diner coffee.  The caffeine probably didn't help calm my nerves, but it went well with the pie.

Overall: 3 out of 5.  The pie disappointed, because of the crust.  The ambiance was perfect - classic side-of-the-road diner.  The regulars seemed friendly and the food looked good.

International PFR - 1

I decided before I left for Europe that I wanted to do an International Pie Field Research expedition while I was there. A savory pie PFR was discussed in Scotland, but when it came to eating them, we ate them with little discussion. By the time I got to Rotterdam, I was a little desperate. Luckily my hostess did not think I was completely nuts when I explained to her my schtick. We were got lucky when we found Proef, a small bakery that Nan's friend had suggested to her.

IPFR: Proef, caramel pie
Guest judge: Nan, American expat living in Rotterdam

Now, I said I was a little desperate, and as you can see above, a caramel torte is not the normal pie I look for, but for a caramel torte, I'd make exceptions.

Nan's review: The crust was more cakey than normal pie, she described it as "dense, straight-up butter cake" topped with "clearly homemade caramel." While I saw the crust as merely crumbly, she saw it as "a vehicle of delivery." The caramel reminded us of caramel apples, or those expensive, specialty caramels.

Ultimately she gave it a 3.5: very good, but unexpected. She thought it had "the richness and satisfaction of chocolate, but it didn't have perfect execution."

All in all, we had an excellent snack, though a bit on the sweet side. (That could have something to do with the fact we ate dense carrot cake with this torte.) It made me think about the existential question, "what IS the definition of pie?" I'm welcome to any definition that would include caramel torte.

PFR #7

Seven!  Can you believe it?  Two weeks ago (I'm so behind!) I went on a Pie Field Research outing with my dear friends Cristina and Mary.  We went to Just Pies in Worthington.  (Cristina's roommate had scouted the place for us, and reported back that their rhubarb pie was great.  Thanks Julie!)



Anyhow, we went sort of late (well late for bakeries, it was about 2pm) on a Saturday, forgetting it was the day before Mother's Day.  The place was empty but for a couple blackberry and blueberry pies.  We went with the blackberry, because although not quite in season, one of my esteemed co-judges is allergic to blueberries.  It was a gorgeous day, so we thought we'd take our pie to the Park of Roses.



Here's how the pie fared:
Cristina (dubbing her self a "pie novice" and pictured above) gave the pie a 3.5.  She has family in the Pacific Northwest and is a little picky about her blackberries, and because they aren't quite in season yet, she found the filling rather blah.



Mary (dubbing herself a "crust person" and pictured above) gave the pie a 3.  She thought the pie had a good crust and liked that the pie was not overly sweet, nor had the bottom crust disintegrated.



I also gave it a 3.5 (pictured above is my plate after my second piece).  I thought the crust was good, but didn't dig the blackberries.  Next time I will go earlier in the day, NOT on a holiday weekend, and will order rhubarb.  Or whatever is in season.

My next planned PFR is going to be a pie from the Swiss grandmother at my local farmer's market, but not until July.  Who knows?  Perhaps I'll have a spontaneous PFR in Europe.

Pi Day

By the time many of you read this, Pi Day will probably be over. I had been planning on big Pi Day festivities here. I had planned to do a special Pi Day PFR, with a friend whose birthday is today. (She's one of three friends that share this auspicious day.) I blame the g-d blizzard, of which I am still very bitter, for my plans derailing. It threw my week out of whack and kept me from pie. I will try and have a post Pi Day PFR soon, but it won't be the same. Since I can't bring you pie, please read about Pi. Did you know that today is also Albert Einstein's birthday? (And Michael Caine's, which is neither here nor there.)

This week and next is full of friends that I don't normally see. In fact, I'll see a couple of friends next weekend I haven't seen since I graduated college, and I'm really excited about that. I got to show another friend around town yesterday, giving her a quick tour of scenes from my childhood, and then we rambled in the country a bit. It was very nice. The weather was supreme. Today it's rainy, and it looks like the rain will continue into tomorrow. I'm cool with it though, 'cause it's NOT SNOW. I swear that if it snows again this season I'm giving up and running away to the circus. Near the beach.

Have a lovely weekend, all. I'm off to celebrate my friend's birth. And yes, I'm bringing her a pie.

Pie Field Research: Tartine

I can't believe I have let this post go for so long before actually committing it the blog. I think I was waiting until I needed to talk about it. This morning I read a Whipped post about Caroline's experience with some amazing pastries and I realized it was time. Partially this was because she articulated a pang I was currently having: a sweets craving that had yet to form itself into what I really wanted. Then I realized it was for pain au chocolat. This made me remember the last pain au chocolat I had in San Francisco and the Pie Field Research I did while I was there.

One of my “need-tos” when I visited San Francisco last month was to visit Tartine bakery. For years I have read wonderful things on blogs about this place, so Stacey and I waited in a line out the door and around the corner for about 45 minutes so I could experience it. We chatted about urban planning and Cleveland with a stranger in front of us (this quarter it seems I can talk of nothing else but my current studies) while making the snail’s pace through the line.

Once we got inside and smelled the lovely buttery, flaky aroma of the bakery I knew the wait was worth it. I couldn't quite see what was available until we were at the counter and so I made a quick, last minute decision on the slice of coconut cream pie. Stacey ordered the bread pudding on the suggestion of our new friend, we decided to split a Panini and I also ordered a pain au chocolat for the next morning (more on that later).

Stacey told me (after we tasted our goodies) that when I ordered she almost asked me to change it, because the coconut cream pie did not sound too exciting for her. We were both glad she had not. This pie, oh, this pie was so good. Thinking about it now makes me sad, happy and hungry all at once. I joked the week I was back in Ohio afterwards that the memory of this pie would sustain me through the rest of the winter. It has, to a certain extent, and has made me want to move to San Francisco. Is it silly to want to move to a city due to a bakery?

But back to the pie. I decided to do a Pie Field Research assignment with my last-minute order. The crust was flaky and it was protected from getting soggy by a thin layer of hardened chocolate. The chocolate seemed to have a touch of liquid caramel on top before the filling. The filling was light and creamy, with lovely toasted coconut overtones, and sprinkled on top. Coconut cream pies can often be heavy and sticky in consistency. This slice was unparalleled with the coconut cream pies in my personal history. Stacey called it “a gentle coconut.”

Our score: four enthusiastic stars. You must visit Tartine when in San Francisco.

(Oh, that pain au chocolat I also ordered? I bought it with the mind that Stacey and I would split it for breakfast the next day before I left town. That morning found me devouring it over its bag, embarrassed for my uncouth behavior but unable to stop myself. I did end up giving Stacey some, but I am still embarrassed by how I acted. It was divine, though, even a day old.)