And now for the best part of every pie interview…THE PIE! It’s the reward for taking our time to learn about every aspect of a pie baker’s business. But a business is often only as successful as the products it sells. So here we go, doing “Quality Control” at Mission Pie.
Five easy pieces….starring, from left to right, Banana Cream, Walnut, Sweet Potato, Pear Ginger, and Shaker Lemon. The walnuts are organic and locally grown on a farm outside of San Francisco. The lemons in the Shaker pie are even more local — they’re from a neighborhood customer’s backyard tree.
Ready, set, go! We skipped breakfast so we’re hungry.
Janice is all smiles after the first bite…of each. Er, that’s five bites.
Progress report: So far so good! They’re all equally good.
Can you see my belly growing? We may be getting full but we haven’t lost our determination to clean our plates. Besides, in this socially-conscious cafe, we dare not let anything go to waste.
What has gotten into me? Five pieces of pie and all table manners have been forgotten. Or one could say that licking one’s plate is the ultimate compliment. Obviously, that was some very good baking. I may be feeling a bit giddy after 11 non-stop days of our TV shoot, but I am not sick of eating pie!Next: The long drive back to Los Angeles, and one more interview to go at The Apple Pan in West LA, a pie diner that opened in 1943 and is still going strong.