For those who missed out ordering directly from F&F (i.e., Yours Truly), Sightglass Marketplace still has the entire selection of Fat & Flour pies available for pickup during Thanksgiving.
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What a year! Hope everyone is holding in there and is staying safe. We all deserve some great pie!
We are back for our Pumpkin Pie Quest. My son, who wrote his main college essay about his search for the best pumpkin pie, has been doing his first year of college remote. As always he does the reviews and I do the photographs, but we both sample the pies.
We are looking forward to trying some new pumpkin pies we’ve not yet had: Caramel Kabocha at Fat and Flour, Bottega Louie, Magpies vegan Pumpkin Softserve Pie, Layer Cake Bakery’s Maple Pumpkin and a few more of Tracy’s never ending varieties at Knowrealitypie. The suggestions from @yoda and @JeetKuneBao look yummy too.
These are our favorite pumpkin pies over the last few years: Knowrealitypie’s Pumpkin Dulce de Leche, Winston Pies, Hof’s Hut’s Pumpkin Crunch, Dulce Cafe, Huckleberry Cafe & Bakery, Friends and Family, Sweet Butter Kitchen, Jongewaard’s Bake N Broil, Cassell’s, Urth Caffé, Erewhon Market Organic Deep Dish Pumpkin Pie (avoid their vegan version that has no pumpkin!), Fishing with Dynamite, Ugo, Lodge Bread Co. Special mention: Though they no longer have a location in LA, we still dream of the pumpkin pie we bought at Bouchon Bakery.
Our goal is try every pumpkin pie in LA County (and anywhere else within driving distance). Please share your tips and pumpkin pie spottings. We will share photos and reviews here and on our @pumpkinpiequest Instagram account.
Thank you. Yours in pumpkin pie
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YAY! Glad you guys are on the quest again! Despite all that is going on this year… It’s an excellent time to pie!!!
I was happy to see so many of my favorite places have not missed a beat and offering pie. Today I had to get my Flu Shot and it just so happens that any trip to the doctors means me passing my favorite place… Crustees. Crustees is a pie place place. Savory pies, sweet pies. I love pies… but even so, the #1 thing i order at Crustees is their Chili. They make a Chili pie… but I like just a cup of their Chili. With Rice… if they have it… When you walk into Crustees, you’ll get that it’s a family run… “casual” type of operation…
Today I ran in for Chili… they didn’t have rice… but had some left over basmati at home… The Chili was wonderful as ever… the aromatic aged basmati actually was an excellent match… Their Chili isn’t spicy (I sometimes top with some pickled Jalapenos if I’m in the mood.) but it’s still well spiced. It has a great balance of red beans and ground meat. It’s substanial… but even with the rice never hits me like a brick. It’s not the slightest bit greasy but VERY satisfying. Working nearby, I would get this chili nearly once a week. It’s been much less these past few months… So glad it’s still there…
As I was getting the Chili I noticed they had several seasonal pie options. Both Sweet Potato AND Pumpkin Pie… They actually were out of the Sweet Potato… so I was Pumpkin it was…
As you can see… they sell Mini Pies. It looks like your regular run of the mill Supermarket Pumpkin Pie…
But with just bite you realize it’s actually a perfect classic pumpkin pie. The filling has shape but isn’t too firm. It’s full of spice… The restaurant is called Crustees and their crust is indeed a stand out. Both the frill and even most importantly the bottom. It’s tender and flakey. It seems to be mix of shortening and butter… but sweet butter note is there, but not overwhelming which I often find odd in Pumpkin Pies. That is why I tend to prefer Pumpkin Pies with Graham Cracker crusts like Ugos and Dulces.
This is a fabulous size for one or to split. But Crusteez is also making larger pies for the season. They also are in various farmers market… Link below for order deets!
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Thanks to this list, we tried Jongewaard’s and SusieCakes this week. Jongewaard’s being the overwhelming house favorite. The flakey crust was a touch savory, and the pumpkin filling being just well balanced. SusieCakes’ version was too heavy-handed with their spices. The flavor of pumpkin was muted. Going to try a couple more places this week.
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Big news South of the 10! Tartine West Adams opened this week. Since my favorite loaf (aside from my husbands) is Tartines Kids Bread (Now called Buttermilk Loaf). I popped by!
The location is both a storefront and seems to be a baking facility. Plenty of hustle and bustle from the staff and the customers even though I got there at an inbetween time, 10:30a.
The storefront is rather small. There are tables outside. I dunno if it’s because it’s the holidays… but I have been to the Tartine in SM by St. Johns and honestly it was was always kinda Meh for me. They seemed to have the same old pastries. The shop here had a good amount and several I could not wait to try. I grabbed my loaf of kids bread, some pastry and a salad…
Green Goddess Salad – I enjoyed this a lot. The dressing was super tasty. But I felt like it could have used something like a boiled egg. It’s HUGE. It was plenty to split. Next time I’ll have it with some fancy tuna though and make it more center of the plate.
Cranberry Pistachio Cake – OMG. How I love Pistachio anything. I also enjoy cranberry. This was an excellent loaf cake. Buttery and tender crumb, Crisp outer crust. The cranberries had sufficient tartness to interplay nicely with the sweetness of the cake. I do wish it had more pistachios… but I would order this again…
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And now the reason I’m posting here… They had Pumpkin Pie! Tart actually…
And here’s a big slice using the reddit pizza snack trick… It was not my favorite, but I still REALLY liked it. I’m kinda not into getting fancy with your pumpkin pie… with pumpkin seeds or brown butter or whatever someone wants to change me extra to experiment with. I like my pie to taste like Pumpkin and spices. And this one tasted like Pumpkin and Spice. Not sure spice forward… but still wonderful with the pumpkin. The crust was very good as well. Buttery, but not too thick… the start was really the custard pumpkin pie filling.
Looking forward to heading down there again soon… Trying out one of the sandwiches they make and also get another slice of Quiche (Which I forgot to take a picture of, but loved… like this, it was was pumpkin custard… the quiche was savory custard…). And if they still have it… another one of these tarts!
–Dommy!
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The only thing I’ve found to be craveworthy at Tartine Santa Monica is that dressing…
I ordered the Baker’s Bench pumpkin pie and will report back after Thanksgiving. The goods I tried last weekend were tremendous.
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Thank you Dommy for kicking off with first post of the season. I’ve been so busy with work haven’t had much time to do new 2021 pie research.
cjla I read that Baker’s Bench Pumpkin Pie ($40) is made be their friend Pancake Pies, can’t wait to hear your report. I have another son who is vegan, so always have been looking for a great plant-based pie. I hope this one is great! Maybe we will add it to our roster this week (we’ve recruited more pie eaters for Thanksgiving).
My son and chief pumpkin pie reviewer (now a 2nd year college student!), is back in town for Thanksgiving week and ready to dive into multiple pumpkin pies.
Yesterday morning at 9AM (while he was still sleeping) I stopped by Platform’s Giving Bake Sale (a benefit for the Downtown Women’s Center) in hopes of scoring a pumpkin pie or two.
At 9AM opening there was already a massive line for Fleurs et Sel cookies, but the other tables were still quiet.
I got to meet the amazing pastry chef Rose Wilde of Red Bread. At first I thought the beautiful pie on display was pumpkin (close up from her website), but it is a sweet potato pie (sooooo tempting). We’ve been tracking her holiday pies for years and I think this is the first time she is offering a pumpkin pie.
Pie photos from Rose’s IG
So we’ve preordered her pumpkin pie ($65) for Thanksgiving (described on her website as: Black bottom pumpkin & cream - sweet pumpkin custard, dark chocolate ganache bottom, maple cream, salty graham crust.) Will post our review after Thanksgiving.
Also at Platform was Gemini Bake House, a new shop for this year. They did not bring pies to Platform, but again they have the available for pre-order on their site (today is the last day to order I believe).
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Pie photos from Gemini’s website
They have two(!) pumpkin pies to choose from. The one on the left is a Caramel pumpkin pie ($40), topped with cinnamon meringue and the one on the right is a Pumpkin pie ($33) with Vanilla bean whipped cream. I chatted with the people running Gemini’s stand (not sure it was owners Conor and Hannah), I said it was hard to choose between their two options. The guy said “I don’t love pumpkin pie, but I love our Carmel Pumpkin Pie.” Son says maybe we should go without the meringue since Rose’s pie looks quite decadent. So many pies so little time!
Finally due to a delay we missed the arrival of GU Grocery, formerly called Pique-Nique LA. This season GU’s super creative chef Jess Wang is offering the Yin Yang ($28), a 2-in-1 custard pie on a brown sugar cinnamon crust: purple + red sweet potato coconut custard, turmeric + cardamom spice pumpkin custard.
Pie photos from GU’s IG
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Oh wow! Good questing already!
As for me… Once again I did the Great Los Angeles Walk and this year it ended in DTLA and specifically at Angel’s Flight… so that gave me the perfect opportunity to pop by Fat and Flour. The good news is that they have items to go… no more pre-order (THANK GOD) and quite the selection too. Even at 4:00p… there was plenty of selection!
One of which was this Pumpkin Pie…
Now, in my other post, I had mentioned, I don’t like when bakers get too fancy with the pumpkin pies. So I wasn’t sure what to expect with “Caramel” pumpkin pie. But thankfully… it wasn’t much. More like a whisper of caramel. The overall pie was really good. The custard filling so fine… the spicing well balanced with a really nice roasted pumpkin flavor coming through.
Now, I will say that I prefered the crust on Tartine pie. I love pie crust, but I think for such a delicate pie… the crust was just too much.
No picture of the slice. I tried to carry it as gingerly as I could on my walk back home, but by the time I arrived… it was quite manhandled.
–Dommy!
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Off to a slightly late start due to being crazy busy this Fall. I just happened to be in Pasadena this weekend for the Annual gathering of my fellow compulsive yarn squishers (Stitches) and recently heard that the Pumpkin Pie at Pie and Burger was top notch… So I headed over after a long day of cast ons…
First… Pie and Burger… don’t change! They are still Cash Only!
I got the patty melt which survived a 20 minute drive home pretty good!! Not as good as Cassells… but it hit the spot!
I wasn’t willing to risk getting fries… so I got the Potato Salad as my side. Very good. Obviously house made with tasty crunchy celery… All it needed was a little white pepper.
Now to the pies… My slide also made it home in good shape!
As you tell by how the top has like a skin… it’s a VERY moist custard filling. Quite nutmeg heavy, not overly sweet. The crust was shortening based and I actually loved it. Very fresh with a nice snap. Overall, a very good pie. This may become a tradition for this event…
To swap stories of the best skeins squished, I met friends in Highland Park. Took it as a chance to run an errand to Cookbook as they recently announced they were carrying Transparentsea Prawns. Sadly they were sold out (which is great!) but they did have a Kobocha pie!
As soon as I opened up the container, you got a waft of the butter in the crust. It’s no joke. The custard here is set pretty firm, the spice is sligh and it’s quite sweet. The crust was as buttery as expected. Very flakey and crisp. Honestly, it was the best part.
The pie I would order again… Pie and Burger.
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Starting the questing this year already!!!
I was in Ventura this weekend and hit the Ventura farmers market to fangirl at the Apricot Lane Farms Stand…
When, I saw a sign that was specifically written for me…
Coffee and Pies!!! Humblemaker is a coffee stand that serves all sorts of neat coffee drinks and sells pies by the slice from Farmshop. I saw they had pumpkin pie. I had never had Farmshops pumpkin pie, even though I am sure there are more place that carry it…. I have always been happy with their pastries (I used order them from Locale) and was eager to try!
It’s was a very good pie. Not overly sweet with good roasty pumpkin flavor. It’s crust was very thin. Not super flakey, but also not distracting the great filling. The filling also has an incredibly smooth and creamy texture. It was super light and went so well with my tea. The only downside was that the spice was quite muted. This is a pumpkin forward pie. So if that is what you are going for… would recommend.
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My house is half demo’d and so I have been coping by eating pumpkin pie…. Let’s begin shall we…
In addition to the house, the new boss has fallen in love with Planta Cocina in MDR. I was walking up and saw the new Winston Pies had opened right next door! So… Pumpkin Pie…
This was an interesting pie. The crust was graham cracker with a strong cinnamon element. As you can see, the crust suffered a bit on the trip home, so it’s not that firm almost biscuity type crust that works so well in the Dulce pie. The filling itself was more of the firm side, good spice, quite nutmeg forward. Mostly because of the crust but also because I like a little bit more a custardy texture to the filling, it was not my favorite.
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Whenever I find myself in Long Beach, I stop by at Pie Bar. I used to be one of those Pie in a Jar nay sayers. I’m like… It’s not pie…. It’s never EVER as good as pie mostly because pie in a jar crust is just not great. However, Pie Bar’s pie in a jar area really good. Mostly because they don’t attempt any sorts of pastry crust. Instead each one is approached like a Banana Pudding with a buttery graham cracker layer and THICK filling layer and then a house made whipped cream layer.
I came in recently to pick up a special Pumpkin Pie in a Jar, but they had the more traditional Pumpkin Pie. I got both…
The traditional pumpkin pie comes with a really nice traditional pastry crust. It’s flakey and buttery, The pie comes standard with a generous ribbon of their house made whipped cream sprinkled with pumpkin spice. As you can see by this travel worn slice, the filling is super custardy. It had a wonderful spicing, but the main flavor is pumpkin. A real winner when it comes to pumpkin pie. Highly recommend.
Now, the pie in a jar that got me there…. The Drunken Pumpkin Pie featuring a nice dose of FIREBALL. Okay… stay with me…. It works… dear lord… it works…
You can see from outside the jar and upon opening… this pie is a spice BOMB. The fireball is a whisper rather than a yell. There was a just enough booziness to help bring together all the spice and pumpkin flavor.
Being in Jar form, this was a lucious and super moist pumpkin filling. It was not set at all, which was absolutely fine by me! It was like the cookie dough version of pumpkin pie. Again, super good if you are just a pumpkin spice fiend like me.
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FINALLY…
In my Pumpkin Pie research for this year, I realized I had never tried the Donutman’s seasonal Pumpkin Cream Donut! I love donut man’s base donut dough and so I figured it couldn’t be too bad…. I went over to GCM today and saw that they were selling super well! So that made me even more excited to try this one out!
The donut comes with icing on it in various holloweeen designs, or none at all. They only had the cobweb design when I visited today and I was worried that it would be too sweet and distracting from the pumpkin filling.
So I had it tonight with some unsweetened cold brew and oat milk in hopes to cut the icing, the pumpkin cream and of course the glazed donut.
To my delight the pumpkin cream was more pumpkin than cream. It had a really nice body and great spice. Although there was a great deal of icing, Pumpkin still was the main flavor and worked well with the super soft airy donut. It’s not my favorite of donutman, that would remain the tiger tail… but a nice seasonal treat none the less.
—Dommy!
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