Make Me Some Pie: A pie blog in Portland, Oregon. » Sweet

Pecan & Chicken Pot Pies at Pine State Biscuits

Joel — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 15:45:43 +0000

Pecan Pie @ Pine State Biscuits

Pine State Biscuits is one of my favorite breakfast spots in Portland and I’ve gone a lot more since they opened a second location on Alberta with more seating in addition to the original Belmont location. Along with their amazing breakfast sandwiches, they also offer pecan pie and chicken pot pie (at the Alberta location).

Let’s start with the good, and that was the pecan pie. This is just a good solid take on traditional pecan pie. It was balanced, with a good amount of pecans and the right amount of sugary goo. The crust didn’t sway me one way or the other, it just did it’s job with little fanfare. It was served with just about the right size whip cream mountain as well.

However, I’ll be honest, if you’re going to go with a dessert there – go with their seasonal strawberry shortcake when they have it. They specialize in biscuits, so it’s naturally going to be amazing.

Now on to the bad. We also tried the chicken pot pie, which I believe is only on the menu at the Alberta location. First off, it’s not really pie, it’s a mixture of chicken, veggies and gravy with a biscuit topping. I knew that going in, so I’m not complaining about it – just letting you know.

The chicken pot pie just did not have a lot of flavor… I think they used their mushroom gravy instead of the sausage gravy, which seemed really bland in comparison and I didn’t think there was enough of their delicious fried chicken either. It also took a long time for them to prepare – which added to the disappointment after you’d been anticipating some serious chicken pot pie goodness.

Verdict: The pecan pie is fine if you’re in the mood for it. I don’t recommend the chicken pot pie; stick with the Reggie and the other excellent sandwiches.

Salt & Straw – Bourbon Pecan Pie Ice Cream

Joel — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 15:45:43 +0000

Bourbon Pecan Pie Ice Cream @ Salt & Straw made w/ Pieku Pie

Yum.

I’d heard a lot of good things about Salt & Straw, a new handmade ice cream shop in Portland. But I was sold on it when I heard that they had a seasonal Bourbon Pecan Pie flavor, which is made with real pie from Portland’s Pieku Pie & Oregon Whiskey from Portland’s Stone Barn Brandyworks.

The ice cream is really creamy and rich, but they keep the sweetness level low so the flavors standout more. The pecan pie was very sweet and decadent, but that’s what pecan pie is all about. The whiskey was not overwhelming at all and perfectly complemented everything.

In addition to ice cream, Salt & Straw’s Alberta scoop shop offers Pieku’s bite-sized pies, a daily offering of pie a-la-mode, and ice cream pies made with Pieku crust.

Verdict: Get your paws on the Bourbon Pecan Pie ice cream while it’s still around.

Salt & Straw Scoop Shop
2035 NE Alberta
Portland OR 97211
503-208-3867

Photos from Pacific Pie Co’s New Location

Joel — Sat, 21 May 2011 04:54:36 +0000

Pacific Pie Co, a set on Flickr.

I checked out the new location for Pacific Pie Co. (1520 SE 7th Avenue, Portland) on its opening weekend.

I loved the set up. It has a large front counter with a dessert case displaying the sweet pies available that day. Up front you can grab pies to go, which was how they were setup at the original location.

But if you want to hang out, they have a great bar setup in the back, with a nice selection of beers and wines.

Keeping with their Australian tradition, they have an awesome mural depicting a man eating pie in the Outback.

And, make sure to check out the new location and stop in for their new happy hourt – pie and a pint!

On another note, I tried their Chocolate Bourbon Hazelnut pie… I really liked it, and I must say that I really like the whole dessert pies that Sarah and the team are making now. The crust on their sweet pies is really just a good, solid dessert pie crust. And pair that, in this case, with an amazing, balanced mix of chocolate, hazelnuts and sugary bourbon mixture holding it all together… it was great. I’ve had a few other pies with this type of filling and this was my favorite so far. I give this pie a 4.5 out of 5 rating! Go try it!

Gluten Free Pie Review: Divine Pie – Chocolate Hazelnut Cream Pie

Joel — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 21:20:56 +0000

This is a guest review from Paul W., who writes about Gluten Free and Dairy Free living over at (Gluten Free) Cookies & (Dairy Free) Milk. Paul is my brother, and unlike me, he actually has culinary training and experience. He and his wife recently took the plunge into Gluten Free living and they are experimenting with recipes as well as exploring what Portland area bakeries and eateries have to offer.

The Portland Farmer’s Market has a surprising number of merchants selling gluten free baked goods these days. But how many are selling gluten free, dairy free, almost completely raw pies? So far I count only one, and that is Divine Pies.

Owner Alissa started making these pies when she was on a cleansing diet, eating strictly raw foods for a period of about six months. “I was craving sweets like crazy, and I started checking all these books out of the library on raw food and raw dessert making. I went on this raw pie making kick, because I loved how they were so nutrient dense, full of protein, totally rich, not too sweet, and didn’t require extensive sprouting or dehydrating like a lot of other raw foods,” she said.

Eventually she began developing recipes and testing them out with friends. Alissa went on to explain “it took off as a business after I brought the chocolate hazelnut pie to a friend’s birthday party a few years ago. This girl who was at the party was thinking of starting a food cart in an old streetcar, and wanted to feature my pies there. Long story short, I ended up becoming her business partner and designing a whole raw foods, juice, smoothie and pie menu for the cart.”

The pies ended up being the streetcar’s most popular items, and people would flock to the location every week to find out what new and exciting pie was waiting for them. Eventually the popularity of the pies led her to leave the streetcar for a tent at the market. “I decided after a while that i didn’t need to be sitting in the rain everyday of the week in an expensive flashy vehicle just to sell my pies. All I needed was an umbrella and a card table at the farmers market,” said Alissa.

A number of flavors were available at the market the day I went. One that was memorable was the white chocolate lavender cheesecake, and also there was a pretty good rendition of a key lime pie. But for my review, I had to go with the pie that started it all: Chocolate Hazelnut Cream Pie.

Presentation- I like the look of the pie. It is made in its own individual tin. You might not think it okay to eat a whole pie, but this one is little and (comparatively speaking) good for you. Ingredients are listed on the package and the list is pretty simple: Crust- hazelnuts, coconut flakes, dates, cinnamon, salt. Filling – fresh hazelnut milk, young coconut meat, dates, coconut oil, cacao, vanilla extract, lecithin (the only non raw ingredient), cinnamon and salt. Alissa told me the hazelnuts are from Freddy Guy’s hazelnuts, whose booth happens to be right next to her at the Farmer’s Market. She tries to source as many local ingredients as possible.

Crust- Okay, so if you are a pie purist, it isn’t really much of a crust. It isn’t rolled or baked, it isn’t even dough. However, it does provide the desired effect in terms of contrast in flavor and texture. Oh yeah, and it tastes good.

Filling- If you look at the ingredients, nothing seems to sound particularly creamy. I would have expected to see something like coconut milk or cream listed, but it was not. Despite that, the filling is very creamy- a nice velvety texture. This tastes like a good chocolate mousse. It is hard to believe that this was achieved without the aid of eggs, cream, sugar or milk. This certainly didn’t taste raw. It was sweet, but not overly so.

Overall rating- 4 out of 5 slices. This is a good dessert. It isn’t pie in the strictest sense. I really enjoy a good crust, which was hard to achieve in this (mostly) raw pie. Still, it was very good. It requires skill to achieve these unique flavors without cooking anything, even more so without gluten or dairy, but Alissa pulls it off. Highly recommended.

You can find Divine Pies at the Portland (PSU) Farmer’s Market on Saturdays, as well as online at www.divinepieportland.com. If a little personal size pie isn’t enough for you , special orders are available. Just let Alissa know a few days ahead of time and you can have a delicious full-size pie for your special event or just because. They serve about 10-12 people – so you might want to share.

Pie Review: Vivian’s Restaurant & Bill’s Barbeque – Oregon Marionberry

Joel — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 20:06:20 +0000

This is a guest review from John W., known in some circles as “Dad”

We go to the Oregon Coast with some regularity and have found a few places we enjoy eating. That said, finding good homestyle cooking along with great pie….now that is a combination that is hard to beat! Such is the case with Vivian’s Restaurant & Bill’s Barbeque in Lincoln City, Oregon.

Since this is a pie blog, I will stick to the pie…but…suffice it to say, the food is excellent as well.

We had the Oregon marionberry pie. The crust was light and flakey. The marionberry filling was prepared with just the right balance between sweet and tart.

Note that the picture is of 1/2 a slice. (The owners of this restaurant have top notch service and split the slice for my wife and I. )

Pie varieties will vary. The night we were there, the choice was coconut cream and marionberry.
(The coconut cream looked awesome, but we opted for the marionberry.)

Vivian’s Restaurant and Bill’s Barbeque
1725 SW Hwy 101
Lincoln City, Oregon 97367

For more reviews, visit Yelp!

Pie Review: Queen of Hearts Baking Company – Gluten Free Berry Pie

Joel — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 15:55:36 +0000

This is a guest review from Paul W., who writes about Gluten Free and Dairy Free living over at glutenfreecookiesdairyfreemilk.blogspot.com. Paul is my brother, and unlike me, he actually has culinary training and experience. He and his wife recently took the plunge into Gluten Free living and they are experimenting with recipes as well as exploring what Portland area bakeries and eateries have to offer.

While I don’t have quite the affinity for pie that my brother (who happens to run this blog) has, I still have been known to enjoy it on more than a few occasions. Particularly at my mother’s house, where, as has been previously noted on this blog, she makes the most delicious of pies in all the land. With my birthday coming up, it was very difficult knowing that, due to my new diet without wheat, I would no longer be able to enjoy my mother’s famous lemon meringue pie.

I am happy to report that, however, not only can gluten free pie be achieved, it can also be excellent. Enter Queen of Hearts Baking Company, one of several new dedicated gluten free bakeries in Portland. And their specialty- pie, of course! More specifically, sweet and savory hand pies.

Molly Thurston Parker started the bakery with her husband (and expert pie taster) Jason. She was diagnosed with celiac disease about five years ago and has been working on perfecting gluten-free pastry crust ever since. With some encouragement from friends and family, who were very excited about the results Molly was achieving, Queen of Hearts was born, fulfilling her long time dream. The pies are made almost exclusively with local ingredients from places like Bob’s Red Mill, Sturm’s Berry Farm, Steibrs Eggs, Pacific Village and Rose Valley Dairy. Yes, they use eggs and butter- sorry vegans and dairy free friends (stay tuned though, my next pie review is for you).

If you aren’t gluten free, you may not know this, but a lot of gluten free products are mediocre and many are downright awful. Using alternative flours in baking is an adventure and an experiment. Having researched this for my blog, I know that many of these experiments can, and do fail. But gluten free has come a long way lately, and Queen of Hearts is shining example of this.

I had the opportunity to taste a bite of the Hazelnut-Apricot pie at the market. The flavor was great, and the crust was very good, even cold. I didn’t get to taste the savory pie, black bean with pepper jack, but I will, no doubt, try it sometime in the near future. However, for today, the hand pie I chose to review was the berry pie, which has local blueberries and raspberries.

Presentation- A beautiful little hand pie. Sometimes gluten free baked goods tend to fall apart. No problem with that here. This is a pretty little pie, and it survived the trip in the bag with my other farmer’s market goods all the way back to Aloha. It browned nicely in the oven, following the included directions.

Crust- This really made the pie for me. The crust was flaky and, frankly, exactly as a pie crust should be. I haven’t been eating gluten free for very long yet, so I still remember what a good pie crust is supposed to taste like, and this is it. This crust, I believe, sets Queen of Hearts apart, and dare I say, puts them in the running for best hand pie in Portland, gluten or not. Oh yeah, the flavor was good too- nice taste of cinnamon in the crust as well.

Filling- A perfect balance of fruit and sweet is achieved here. I detected a little lemon, and I liked the way the acid balanced with the blueberries in particular. It was not runny, just full of berry goodness.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5. This is not just a good gluten free alternative. This is a fantastic pie, period.

You can find Queen of Hearts at the PSU Portland Farmer’s Market on Saturdays now through May 7th. After that they will be at the Buckman/Sunnyside Market- SE Salmon St & SE 20th Ave, on Thursdays May 5- September 29. If you can’t wait, you can also find their pies at Flying Cat Coffee or Caffe Paridiso @ Reed College.

Pie Review: Pacific Pie Co. – Apple Cranberry

Joel — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 20:15:51 +0000

It’s no secret that Pacific Pie Co., Portland’s favorite Australian meat pie purveyor, is one of my favorites. They’re one of the first pies I reviewed and they made me fall in love with the meat pie.

However, the first few times I went to the shop, they weren’t offering sweet pies yet. But now you can find a sweet treat from them on a regular basis. When I went in, they were offering an Apple Cranberry hand pie.

It was really tasty. I think the crust was a little different from their savory pies; sweeter, a little less flaky and a little bit chewy (and I think that is a fantastic quality in a pie crust). The crust was also topped with cinnamon and natural sugar.

The filling was great as well, just apple and whole cranberries, not much else. It wasn’t over-sweetened and their was just a little bit of spice added to it, but they let the fruits do the talking.

With that said, I whole-heartedly recommend that you head out to Pacific Pie Co. for a pie^2 meal (savory + sweet).

Pacific Pie Co.
609 SE Ankeny St, Suite C,
Portland, OR 97214

Pie Review: Reo’s Ribs – Sweet Potato

Joel — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 21:25:25 +0000

Reo’s has been a Portland area fixture for years, known for their smoky barbecue and because Reo is Snoop Dogg’s uncle. They used to be located down the street from where I grew up in Aloha, Oregon, but they recently relocated to the John’s Landing area off MacAdam Avenue in Portland.

Southern cooking isn’t quite right without some pie, though, and Reo’s has a good selection. I decided to try some sweet potato pie here, and this was my FIRST sweet potato pie ever. And what I found out was… I don’t really like sweet potato pie.

The crust was a good hearty crust and I have no complaints in that way, but I just don’t fancy myself a fan of sweet potato pie… I guess I just don’t enjoy the consistency and texture of sweet potato. It didn’t taste bad at all, the filling had a good flavor, but the texture of sweet potato just bugs me.

So, this really isn’t a good review because I picked the wrong pie for myself. But, I do recommend that you grab a slice at Reo’s (only $4!) and let me know what you think. My friends say that they’ve tried some of the other pies and desserts there and they highly recommend them! I will be back, Reo, and I will sample a pie that I know I will enjoy!

Reo’s Ribs
6141 SW Macadam Avenue
Portland, OR 97239
503-310-3600

Hawaii Pie-O

Joel — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 07:36:08 +0000

When I recently vacationed on the beautiful island of Kauai, my hunger for pie did not subside. When you think Hawaii, you probably don’t think pie, but I found that there was pie-a-plenty there.

Banana cream pie and coconut cream pie seemed to be popular choices (naturally). But the one pie that I can say seems to actually be unique to to the island was the Lilikoi pie. Lilikoi is their word for passion fruit.

I stopped for Lilikoi pie at Wong’s Chinese Restaurant in Hanepepe… they have a sign that says “Best Lilikoi Pie in Kauai”. What can I say, that tactic seems to work. The pie was pretty good. It was an incredibly light and airy chiffon pie, and that is good, considering the temperature in Hawaii… you don’t want something too heavy. Lilikoi pie is a pie that would probably go well with a graham cracker crust, but Wong’s made it with a nice shortbread type of crust and it worked pretty well with the pie, although I’m not usually a big fan of that style of crust. Overall rating: 3.5 out of 5 slices.

There is also the famous “hula pie” that is offered at several different eateries. You’ll find that each eatery claims that they created the original “hula pie”. Let’s just say it’s not that original, and it hardly qualifies as pie. I had the “hula pie” at Keoki’s Paradise at Poipu Beach. Hula pie is basically just a giant ice cream sundae on chocolate crust. What can I say, it was ice cream and chocolate… so it was good. I’m not going to review it, though… ice cream sundae dressed up as pie doesn’t warrant a pie review. Don’t order this unless you’re super hungry or if you have a group of 4-5 people.

No related posts.

Pie Review: Wild Plum Bakery – Bumble Fruit

Joel — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 16:41:20 +0000

Wild Plum Pies has been a Eugene institution since 1975 and its retro signs boast that it’s “Oregon’s Finest”. Naturally I could not resist.

Wild Plum has a tiny pie shop with a friendly staff and an outstanding selection of pies. They seem to produce a high volume of pies & it sounds like they distribute to some restaurants in the area, which would explain the large selection.

I had a tough time choosing which pie to try, but I ultimately settled on a mixed berry/fruit pie they call the “Bumble Fruit Pie”. It had marionberry, raspberry, blueberry, strawberry, rhubarb and apple in the filling.

The presentation was solid, I enjoyed getting the whole pie in a nice pie box with the retro-esque “Wild Plum Pies” branding on it. The pie itself had a nice golden brown top and a sugary glaze.

The crust was nice and flaky and held up very well for the week that the leftovers sat in my fridge. Honestly, the only way I can think to describe the crust it is that it reminded me of a Hostess Fruit Pie, but flakier and more delicious. The crust was also nice and thick, which helped contribute to an acceptable filling to crust ratio.

The filling had a great flavor and I definitely give them kudos on that, but it was kind of gelatinous. It reminded me of jelly filling in a donut, there wasn’t any whole fruit in it really, aside from a few bits of apple. However, the flavor was great and I enjoyed the combination of all these different fruits and berries.

Overall Rating: 3.75 out of 5 slices. This pie was tasty, but it did have a sort of commercial feel to it. The thing is though, even if it’s produced in a more commercial manner, I still found it strangely addictive. It pretty much sat in my refrigerator for a week and I just kept working at it. No, it didn’t have that homemade feel that I love and no, it didn’t have a delicious all butter crust (they use vegetable shortening), but I ate almost all of it! So, I guess I have to go with a 3.75 out of 5 rating here. I wasn’t blown away initially, but the pie really had some staying power & I loved the creative flavor of the filling.

Other Notes: Also kudos on affordability, most of the pies are just $10.

Wild Plum Pies
645 River Road
Eugene, OR 97404