My son and I are on a quest to find LA’s best pumpkin pie. So far we’ve tried everything from Urth Caffé to Costco.
I found a few decent roundups online at TimeOut, Zagat (1, 2) and from 2012: CH and J’ Gold.
My spreadsheet tops 50, of which we’ve tried nine so far. I don’t think we will be able to try all 50 before Thanksgiving, would you please share your favorite not-to-miss LA pumpkin pies?
Here are a few of our winners so far: Urth Caffé, Arts District/Multiple locations (slice to go):
Urth Caffe (Arts District)
451 S Hewitt Street
Los Angeles, CA 90013
(213) 797-4534
(Additional locations: West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Pasadena, Laguna Beach and Orange)
https://urthcaffe.com/
SusieCakes, Marina del Rey/Multiple locations (6" person pie, to go):
SusieCakes
Marina Square Shopping Center
4714 Lincoln Boulevard
Marina Del Rey, CA 90292
(310) 742-2253
(Additional locations throughout Southern California) http://susiecakes.com/
The Trails, Griffith Park (slice, eaten at cafe’s outdoor picnic tables):
The pumpkin pie at Urth is a strangely good one. Thanks for reminding me of that. For some reason I haven’t had it in years, but I always recall it being particularly pleasant, especially because of the unique crust.
We had a slice at the Montana Ave. branch of Sweet Lady Jane. It was very good, though my wife thought it tasted more of sweet potato then pumpkin. Was yours similar?
Nicole Rucker has a good looking one, I have not had it. Hof’s Hut is my go to for pies, I love the boysenberry, banana cream, cherry, strawberry, fresh peach and chocolate cream, and they have great crust.
Now that you mention it, I do recall its having more texture like a sweet potato pie. But I chalked that up to their using real roasted pumpkins (or squash) instead of the custardy canned filling most places use.
@Chowseeker1999 had a Marie de Choirga Pumpkin Pie at Gjusta. Don’t I sound knowledgeable? I just learned the name from Chowseeker . I thought it was a person.
Their Marie de Choirga Pumpkin Pie was quite tasty! One of the best Pumpkin Pies we’ve had in recent memory, but note that we don’t really eat Pumpkin Pie that often.
It was creamy, nice Pumpkin flavor, Cloves and a balanced sweetness. I love their Carrot Cake more, but that is legendary. Still a great Pumpkin Pie.
Gjusta
320 Sunset Ave.
Venice, CA 90291
Tel: (310) 314-0320
Chowseeker1999 wrote this in the November DOTM thread - “As for Marie de Choirga? It’s the name of a local farmer’s varietal of the Pumpkin being used.” He/she is our resident Farmers Market expert… well, practically our resident everything expert. A real food researcher .
You can pre-order Evan Kleiman’s pies at Alta Baja Market in Santa Ana. Unfortunately, she’s not making pumpkin pie, but there’s Espresso Chocolate Pecan, Brown Butter Maple Sweet Potato with Gingersnap Crust, and Double Crust Apple. Alta Baja’s number is 714-783-2252.