KCRW Good Food Pie Contest
Last month KCRW and LACMA (L.A. County Museum of Art) hosted the 3rd Annual Good Food Pie Contest. I added it to my calendar spring of this year to make sure I attended in the fall. Have to get those priorities straight!
Last year I had the pleasure of attending the 2nd Annual Good Food Pie Contest in Beverly Hills, behind the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The spacious setting, apron fashion show, pies to taste everywhere I looked and ample shade made it a great event.
The man in top hat sharing his pie tastings with his dog added to the unique vibe.
It was perhaps a bit less organized, lacking shade/seats, had much larger crowds/lines compared to last year, but still worth experiencing.
Categories: nut, cream, fruit, savory and Tim Burton inspired (to complement the current Tim Burton retrospective exhibition at LACMA). What a great theme for pies!
You can find the winners at this link. For some reason this year just bakers' names were announced, not the pie names. And if you were in line for tasting, you were far from the stage, so it was really hard to follow who won what during the event.
However, I love that Best in Show went to a Classic Apple Pie, as making a perfect classic trumps trendy flavors all the time in my book.
A lot of articles and blog posts give insider views of entrants/bakers, judges and contain lovely pie photos. I'd love to show you what it was really like there. The exciting, crazy energy and the pies after being cut into.
Nut Pies
Cream Pies
Aside from banana cream pie, this isn't my favorite category. A Banana Cream Pie and Banana Nutella Cream Pie both placed in the awards. I tried to get a taste of the Banana Nutella Pie, which looked like a cloud of heavenly cream, but did not want to fight the crowd to get to it.
The original is made with a butterscotch filling, but this Crack Pie with Chocolate version really rocked. The chocolate, not over-sweet, held equal billing with the crumbly crust.
Tim Burton Inspired
The winner in this category, Emily Baker's James and the Giant Peach Pie did indeed have a whole peach perched on top.
This Beetlejuice Pie of green tea mousse and 'slimed goo' tasted and looked beautiful, but unfortunately, the photo is too shady. The goo part had a good seedy texture.
This Dr. Pepper, Pepita, Pink Peppercorn Pie also sounded and looked interesting. I'm not sure what movie or character it references. Pepita is the Spanish word for pumpkin seeds.
Some of my friends and I snuck some chairs out of Ray's restaurant to sit and eat a bit to make room for the many, many other tasters in line.
That red stained plate reminds me of a painter's palette.
Fruit Pies
That red stained plate reminds me of a painter's palette.
Fruit Pies
This Bourbon Peach Pie with Crystallized Ginger Crust really won it hands down among the fruit pies I tasted. The crust held up without getting soggy and the peaches tasted sweet and tart, just how I like them.
Cherry pies are among my favorites too. By this time I was sticking to the unusual and impossible to pass up pies, knowing my appetite was dwindling with each passing minute.
Cherry pies are among my favorites too. By this time I was sticking to the unusual and impossible to pass up pies, knowing my appetite was dwindling with each passing minute.
Savory Pies
The Filipino Chicken Adobo Pie with sesame seed latticed crust succeeded well. Very tasty, balanced filling with right amount of crust.
The Individual Aussie Meat Pies had a flaky, light crust. I found the meat filling a bit too salty, although overall a great effort.
It's always a treat running into my friend Cecilia Fabulich and trying her food. This Herb Tomato Pie had cheesy, quiche-like, bright flavors. She's competed and won many cooking competitions.
The Mushroom Forest Tart is a great idea, but also felt that it was a bit strong on salt and the mushroom garnishes dried out a bit. The vegan Fried Chicken Picnic Pie next to it looked interesting as well.
One of my very favorites of the day, Terry Sweeney's Persian Tart (won the savory 1st place ribbon), really brought taste and creativity to the game. Just standing near it, the herbal and savory scents wafting by totally drew me in. His friendly demeanor made it even more appealing.
The filling of shredded chicken blended beautifully with tamarind, fenugreek and other fresh herbs and spices.
The Good Food site posted the recipe and mentioned his plans to make the same pie with lamb cubes too. That might even take it to more stratsopheric levels of tastiness.
After taking the tiny bite I requested, I regretted not taking the full slice he originally offered me. Had there not still been a very long line, I would have gone back for seconds of only this glorious pie.
Uncertain Which Categories....
The filling of shredded chicken blended beautifully with tamarind, fenugreek and other fresh herbs and spices.
The Good Food site posted the recipe and mentioned his plans to make the same pie with lamb cubes too. That might even take it to more stratsopheric levels of tastiness.
After taking the tiny bite I requested, I regretted not taking the full slice he originally offered me. Had there not still been a very long line, I would have gone back for seconds of only this glorious pie.
Uncertain Which Categories....
I saw a sign for Artichoke Heart Pie and expected to see a savory tart with sliced artichoke hearts on top. This one looked more like a lime colored pumpkin pie. And surprise #2 was that it was not savory, but sweet!
It tasted fine, although it was a bit hard to wrap my head around it. The presentation could have been more indicative of the ingredients, in my humble opinion.
It tasted fine, although it was a bit hard to wrap my head around it. The presentation could have been more indicative of the ingredients, in my humble opinion.
I felt bad looking at pies or locking eyes with bakers and saying 'no' to their offer of a slice. I would have tried them all if I could, but never do well with large quantities of sweets.
There's always next year too. Cannot wait!
Beehive lady brought that Dr Pepper, pepita and pink peppercorn cream pie. It was a play on the fact that Dr Pepper is Tim Burton's favourite drink... I don't think he'd have liked the pie though.
Wow, Dave. I loved beehive lady and loved the ingredients of the pie (but didn't taste it - too pie'd out by then). Was wondering what the Dr. Pepper connection was to Tim Burton. I guess some pie references were more obscure.
What was your favorite that day? And what is your favorite in general? I am all about the banana cream pie but like many many others.
I finally posted my Dr. Pepper, Pepita, Pink Peppercorn Pie recipe on my website. I had entered it in the Tim Burton category, as Dr. Pepper is his FAVORITE bevvie.
Stop by and say, "HI"!!
http://www.vintagesugarcube.com/2012/03/12/knickers-and-aprons-dr-pepper-pepita-pink-peppercorn-pie/