How Far Would You Drive For Pie?
Note: This blog is specially written for Jenny, who thinks we are nuts for the great links we will go to for food!
We like good food, what can I say? David has traveled quite extensively over the years and has been exposed to all different types of food. And while I can't claim they same, I have watched a lion share of Food Network. (Especially shows like $40 a Day, The Best Thing I Ever Ate and Diners, Drive-ins and Dives) I like Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations a lot too. In an hour or less, in my pajamas, I can comfortably travel all over the world in search of new & tasty treats. And in my mind, it counts.
Our first meal together was at Sushi on McKinney...our second....Babe's Fried Chicken. So, you can imagine my delight to find someone who will eat anything with me from carnitas de puerco to pumpkin ravioli. Even though I can't seem to get him to try sea urchin, we are usually like-minded that good food is good food no matter what country it is from. And we are both always up for a culinary adventure.
The other day David and I were watching Bobby Flay's Throwdown: Pumpkin Pies. The place was Michele's Pies in Norwalk, CT. Norwalk is about 90 miles southwest of Amston (just about 15 minutes north of Stamford). The interesting thing about Michele's was her use of real, fresh pumpkin. I've watched tons of Thanksgiving shows from Martha Stewart to Tyler Florence and they all say that canned pumpkin is one of those things that is just as good as fresh. There's no need to clean and cook down a fresh pumpkin because the result will be pretty much the same. I asked David, "Have you ever had a pumpkin pie with real pumpkin?" "I don't think so. We should go there this weekend." "Okay," I agreed, never thinking we would actually go. Michele's pie was different because there was a pecan streusel topping on it. It didn't look like the kind of pumpkin pie that I would like, but David thought the topping made it look all the better. She ended up losing the competition due to the crust. The judges said it wasn't light and flaky enough and Bobby's "cheater" graham cracker crust won out. But even Stephanie and Miriam said the fresh pumpkin filling could not be beat. We were intrigued.
Saturday was a gray, rainy, dreary day here. It wasn't particularly cool out, but it was just depressing. About 1:00, we decided we should go to Norwalk and get us a pumpkin pie. "Okay," I said "I'll pick you up in 30 minutes, we'll go have lunch and then off to Norwalk for pie." Plan made.
We were pulling out onto the main road when I asked "Where do you want to eat?" "We could eat at that place....." "The Venezuelan place?" I interrupted. "You remember that place from the show?" "Yep", David smiled, "We could go there." Deal! I couldn't believe he remembered. It's #3 on my list of restaurants I want to try here in the New England area. (along with places like Pepe's famous pizza and Louie's - the birthplace of the hamburger) Since it was 1:30 and the ride was going to be close to two hours, we decided to go back to David's to eat leftovers. David ate some pizza and I had the leftover salad. We headed out again. It was closer to 2:00 now and here's how it looked most of the way:
We had a nice ride, talking and laughing. We had time to cover everything from Obama's foreign policy to what we had lined up on Netflix, but our favorite topic of conversation had to be how crazy Jenny would think we were right now....driving all this way in the rain to get a pie. 90 miles, a half a tank of gas, one construction-zone headache and buckets of rain later, we arrived at Destination #1: Michele's Pies. It's a small little store front. There were two or three small tables inside, a case full of every type of pie you could imagine and not much room for anything else, including people. We waited our turn and decided on three 5" pies: butterscotch pecan, chocolate peanut butter dream, and the one we traveled all that way for: the maple pumpkin with pecan streusel. If you want to check out the website, it's here: http://www.michelespies.com/
David stood out in front of the store, smiling and holding his bag of pies, while I ran to the car and stuck my head out to get a picture in the rain. Success! Hope they are good pies. Maybe Jenny's right. Maybe we are crazy.
It was a little after 4:00 and I was really hungry. David not so much. (I had lettuce and he had pizza about 2 hours ago) But we wanted check out Destination #2: Valencia Luncheria. We saw this place on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. If you haven't seen this show and are interested, you can watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf5wuBgjKGU But the title is accurate. It's a dive! It was about the size of the pie shop we just left. There were about 6 tables in a tiny little space. The door was propped open and a tent like material hung in front of the door to keep the wind out. Several people were standing up by the counter waiting to be seated. A few more were there to place take-out orders. #1 I don't think I've ever had Venezuelan food before.
#2 The real appeal of this place to me was the arepas! There were about 30 different types ($3-$5 a piece). An arepa, if you aren't familiar, is a flat patty made of cornmeal which can be grilled, baked, or fried. (these were fried) They are then split and filled with all kinds of different things. They are light and crispy and oh so good! They were stuffed with everything from shredded beef to ham/brie/mango. They even had peanut butter and jelly!
We decided to order "The Works" which came with 1 arepa of your choice, 1 empanada of your choice, rice and beans, plantains, avocado and ceviche. YUM-O! David ordered the Venezuelan pork roast arepa and I had to order "The Jenny" (chicken, spinach and cheese). I got a pork empanada and David got a chicken tamarillo empanada (a sort of chicken stew filling). When our plates came out, we divided up the four and dug in. There was a chipotle sauce on the table that was delicious and oh so spicy! We ate and ate and ate. We ate some more. I think we agreed the chicken tamarillo was the best one. "I couldn't eat another bite" David said pushing back his plate. "Me either" I said. "Wanna order a dessert empanada?" "Ok, which one?" We couldn't decide, so we got two: chocolate & plantain and apple dulce de leche. We split both and finished them off. We weren't sure where the room came from, but they were SO GOOD we found the room! It's an all-cash place. We went to the front to pay the cashier and headed out like two stuffed ticks. This is on the wall when you come in and out. I couldn't seem to get a photo without the glare.
We can't wait to go back! We tried to think of who we knew who would like this type of place. It's all about the food! It's small & cramped. It's not much to look at. The bathroom is way in the back and I have a feeling you wouldn't want to use it anyway. There's a wait that could be anywhere from 30 minutes (like we had at 4:00) to a couple of hours, standing in a small crowded space. The presentation is not fancy and the wait staff is friendly enough, but busy, and not really attentive. But when that plate comes out, it's worth it! If we lived even 30 miles away, I think we'd be there all the time. And with all the different arepas and empanadas to try, you could eat there 100 times and get something different every time.
We walked back out into the rain, got in the car, and proceeded to leave Norwalk. After all, we had pies to eat! ;) We made the trip back home in the rain. The construction was southbound only, so we didn't have to deal with that going back. Just shy of 2 hours later, we were back home. 179.5 miles roundtrip for dinner and pie.
"Do you want to eat it now", I asked. "YES!" "Ok." We sliced the pumpkin pie and took a bite. Another. It was exactly as we both had suspected. David loved the topping. I wished we had gotten a "traditional" pie. The crust was not as light and flaky as it should be. Grandmommy and Nancy have made better I'm sure. But the pumpkin filling? AWESOME! It was SO GOOD and there IS a difference between canned and fresh. It's lighter and the texture is different. It's the best pumpkin pie filling I've ever had. We both agreed without exaggeration that if you put 5 pies in front of us, we could tell the fresh pumpkin pie. It's that much better. If you find a place that sells the fresh pumpkin pies, I highly recommend you try it. I imagine it won't come cheap as the regular size pies were $20-$40 a pie depending on the type.
I also have to recommend Venezuelan food! Not sure if they have it in Dallas. I hadn't ever had it anyway. But if you get a chance for real authentic apreas, don't pass them up! Yeah, it'll be salads the rest of the week, but it was totally worth it!
We like good food, what can I say? David has traveled quite extensively over the years and has been exposed to all different types of food. And while I can't claim they same, I have watched a lion share of Food Network. (Especially shows like $40 a Day, The Best Thing I Ever Ate and Diners, Drive-ins and Dives) I like Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations a lot too. In an hour or less, in my pajamas, I can comfortably travel all over the world in search of new & tasty treats. And in my mind, it counts.
Our first meal together was at Sushi on McKinney...our second....Babe's Fried Chicken. So, you can imagine my delight to find someone who will eat anything with me from carnitas de puerco to pumpkin ravioli. Even though I can't seem to get him to try sea urchin, we are usually like-minded that good food is good food no matter what country it is from. And we are both always up for a culinary adventure.
The other day David and I were watching Bobby Flay's Throwdown: Pumpkin Pies. The place was Michele's Pies in Norwalk, CT. Norwalk is about 90 miles southwest of Amston (just about 15 minutes north of Stamford). The interesting thing about Michele's was her use of real, fresh pumpkin. I've watched tons of Thanksgiving shows from Martha Stewart to Tyler Florence and they all say that canned pumpkin is one of those things that is just as good as fresh. There's no need to clean and cook down a fresh pumpkin because the result will be pretty much the same. I asked David, "Have you ever had a pumpkin pie with real pumpkin?" "I don't think so. We should go there this weekend." "Okay," I agreed, never thinking we would actually go. Michele's pie was different because there was a pecan streusel topping on it. It didn't look like the kind of pumpkin pie that I would like, but David thought the topping made it look all the better. She ended up losing the competition due to the crust. The judges said it wasn't light and flaky enough and Bobby's "cheater" graham cracker crust won out. But even Stephanie and Miriam said the fresh pumpkin filling could not be beat. We were intrigued.
Saturday was a gray, rainy, dreary day here. It wasn't particularly cool out, but it was just depressing. About 1:00, we decided we should go to Norwalk and get us a pumpkin pie. "Okay," I said "I'll pick you up in 30 minutes, we'll go have lunch and then off to Norwalk for pie." Plan made.
We were pulling out onto the main road when I asked "Where do you want to eat?" "We could eat at that place....." "The Venezuelan place?" I interrupted. "You remember that place from the show?" "Yep", David smiled, "We could go there." Deal! I couldn't believe he remembered. It's #3 on my list of restaurants I want to try here in the New England area. (along with places like Pepe's famous pizza and Louie's - the birthplace of the hamburger) Since it was 1:30 and the ride was going to be close to two hours, we decided to go back to David's to eat leftovers. David ate some pizza and I had the leftover salad. We headed out again. It was closer to 2:00 now and here's how it looked most of the way:
We had a nice ride, talking and laughing. We had time to cover everything from Obama's foreign policy to what we had lined up on Netflix, but our favorite topic of conversation had to be how crazy Jenny would think we were right now....driving all this way in the rain to get a pie. 90 miles, a half a tank of gas, one construction-zone headache and buckets of rain later, we arrived at Destination #1: Michele's Pies. It's a small little store front. There were two or three small tables inside, a case full of every type of pie you could imagine and not much room for anything else, including people. We waited our turn and decided on three 5" pies: butterscotch pecan, chocolate peanut butter dream, and the one we traveled all that way for: the maple pumpkin with pecan streusel. If you want to check out the website, it's here: http://www.michelespies.com/
David stood out in front of the store, smiling and holding his bag of pies, while I ran to the car and stuck my head out to get a picture in the rain. Success! Hope they are good pies. Maybe Jenny's right. Maybe we are crazy.
It was a little after 4:00 and I was really hungry. David not so much. (I had lettuce and he had pizza about 2 hours ago) But we wanted check out Destination #2: Valencia Luncheria. We saw this place on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. If you haven't seen this show and are interested, you can watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf5wuBgjKGU But the title is accurate. It's a dive! It was about the size of the pie shop we just left. There were about 6 tables in a tiny little space. The door was propped open and a tent like material hung in front of the door to keep the wind out. Several people were standing up by the counter waiting to be seated. A few more were there to place take-out orders. #1 I don't think I've ever had Venezuelan food before.
#2 The real appeal of this place to me was the arepas! There were about 30 different types ($3-$5 a piece). An arepa, if you aren't familiar, is a flat patty made of cornmeal which can be grilled, baked, or fried. (these were fried) They are then split and filled with all kinds of different things. They are light and crispy and oh so good! They were stuffed with everything from shredded beef to ham/brie/mango. They even had peanut butter and jelly!We decided to order "The Works" which came with 1 arepa of your choice, 1 empanada of your choice, rice and beans, plantains, avocado and ceviche. YUM-O! David ordered the Venezuelan pork roast arepa and I had to order "The Jenny" (chicken, spinach and cheese). I got a pork empanada and David got a chicken tamarillo empanada (a sort of chicken stew filling). When our plates came out, we divided up the four and dug in. There was a chipotle sauce on the table that was delicious and oh so spicy! We ate and ate and ate. We ate some more. I think we agreed the chicken tamarillo was the best one. "I couldn't eat another bite" David said pushing back his plate. "Me either" I said. "Wanna order a dessert empanada?" "Ok, which one?" We couldn't decide, so we got two: chocolate & plantain and apple dulce de leche. We split both and finished them off. We weren't sure where the room came from, but they were SO GOOD we found the room! It's an all-cash place. We went to the front to pay the cashier and headed out like two stuffed ticks. This is on the wall when you come in and out. I couldn't seem to get a photo without the glare.
We can't wait to go back! We tried to think of who we knew who would like this type of place. It's all about the food! It's small & cramped. It's not much to look at. The bathroom is way in the back and I have a feeling you wouldn't want to use it anyway. There's a wait that could be anywhere from 30 minutes (like we had at 4:00) to a couple of hours, standing in a small crowded space. The presentation is not fancy and the wait staff is friendly enough, but busy, and not really attentive. But when that plate comes out, it's worth it! If we lived even 30 miles away, I think we'd be there all the time. And with all the different arepas and empanadas to try, you could eat there 100 times and get something different every time.
We walked back out into the rain, got in the car, and proceeded to leave Norwalk. After all, we had pies to eat! ;) We made the trip back home in the rain. The construction was southbound only, so we didn't have to deal with that going back. Just shy of 2 hours later, we were back home. 179.5 miles roundtrip for dinner and pie.
"Do you want to eat it now", I asked. "YES!" "Ok." We sliced the pumpkin pie and took a bite. Another. It was exactly as we both had suspected. David loved the topping. I wished we had gotten a "traditional" pie. The crust was not as light and flaky as it should be. Grandmommy and Nancy have made better I'm sure. But the pumpkin filling? AWESOME! It was SO GOOD and there IS a difference between canned and fresh. It's lighter and the texture is different. It's the best pumpkin pie filling I've ever had. We both agreed without exaggeration that if you put 5 pies in front of us, we could tell the fresh pumpkin pie. It's that much better. If you find a place that sells the fresh pumpkin pies, I highly recommend you try it. I imagine it won't come cheap as the regular size pies were $20-$40 a pie depending on the type.
I also have to recommend Venezuelan food! Not sure if they have it in Dallas. I hadn't ever had it anyway. But if you get a chance for real authentic apreas, don't pass them up! Yeah, it'll be salads the rest of the week, but it was totally worth it!
Comments