A Post-Thanksgiving Review of Boston Area Pies

[whats4dinner]

I do not cook, but I love good food. Here are my thoughts on a few Thanksgiving pies.

A++ to Petsi Pies for the Apple Pear Cranberry Pie. This pie had SOOO much flavor, sweet, tangy -- the variety of flavors in the filling compliment each other extremely well. It has a brown sugar walnut crumble top, but is not too sweet. There is lots of tartness in the filling. The crust is minimal and, because of the crumble, the pie would satisfy both pie lovers and apple cobbler lovers. http://www.petsipies.com/

A- to Baker's Best for its Pumpkin Pie. I usually find pumpkin pie very bland, but this one has taste! As pumpkin pies go, I am not sure it gets much better. It only gets an A- because I cannot bring myself to give any higher rating to a pumpkin pie. http://www.bakersbestcatering.com/about_us/about_us.html

B- to Baker's Best for its Apple Pie. The crust (and there's lots of it) is outstanding, but the filling has no taste. I would guess that they used entirely one kind of apple. My guess is that they were Red Delicious. The apples stayed firm but, as I said, had no taste. http://www.bakersbestcatering.com/about_us/about_us.html

C+ to Russo's for its Apple Pie. Neither the crust nor the filling was worth writing about. It looked pretty but did not have much taste. http://russos.com/

Any other pie reviews?

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Petsi Pies
285 Beacon St, Somerville, MA 02143

[dlin2007]

I had the apple pear cranberry pie from Petsi Pies too! Excellent choice!

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Petsi Pies
285 Beacon St, Somerville, MA 02143

[Gabatta]

Petsi gave us the wrong pies (i.e. not the kinds we pre-ordered. Unacceptable.

[Bellachefa]

This may sound crazy, but Vermont Mystic Blueberry Apple found in the freezer section of Whole Foods.

[CocoDan]

We had several pies, but the best were from a charity sale (pumpkin, pecan and apple), "Community Servings/Pie In The Sky", that were made by some bakery in New Haven, CT. They were the best I've had in a long time. Very high quality. Most in our party thought they were home made. This charity was sponsered by several local businesses. I ordered mine through the Boston Design Center and had them delivered to the Crate and Barrel at the Derby Street Shoppes. Very convenient.
CocoDan

[Jenny Ondioline]

As much as I love Russo's, I cannot recommend any of their pies. They look like they should be wonderful, but they decidedly are not. Not to mention on two separate occasions, I have had pies from Russo's sprout copious growths of mold less than 24 hours after bringing them home, and that's with them being properly stored under a pie safe.

[teezeetoo]

yup, i want to love russo's baked goods, but i've learned to stick with the breads (a nice rustic italian) and they have a few decent cookies, including a nice cinnamon rugelach. the pies are flabby and the fillings unremarkable. our daughter brought a lovely pecan pie from a baker in waltham (on Lexington street she said) but I don't know the name. we quite liked it.

[bear]

Third that on disappointment with some of the baked goods at Russo's, including the pies and cookies.

[tallullah]

This happened to me!

I was quite po'd when I found my Thanksgiving dessert was a big pile of mold instead of the lovely pumpkin pie I was looking forward to eating.

$10 mold pie. What a waste.

[katzzz]

I agree that Russo's pies aren't that great, but I tried a cranberry-apple one recently and it was very good. Haven't seen any more since, unfortunately.

[MC Slim JB]

I came home from the giant Family MC Thanksgiving celebration with a whole entire pumpkin pie from Flour; brought by some classy guest, that somehow made it through the holiday unscathed. That it survived was a testament to how much good home baking was done by my relatives (notably Mrs. MC).

I'm not a huge pumpkin pie fan, but I ate almost that whole pie, one slice a day, for six days. It was the best pumpkin pie I've ever had. I'm glad they put a label on the box that read "Refrigerate, serve at room temp." I had the first slice straight out of the fridge, but heeded the "let it warm" admonition on subsequent slices, and it really made a difference. A phenomenal pie!

http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/

[hckybg]

So are you telling us that MC refers to your last name??

[MC Slim JB]

It's short for "Mrs. MC Slim JB", kind of like on the Venture Bros., when Dr. Girlfriend married The Monarch and now goes by Dr. Mrs. The Monarch. I think she would say I could call her anything, as long as I didn't drag her back to the Red Fez.

http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/

[hckybg]

:-D I thought maybe in a moment of weakness you let us see behind the curtain a little bit.

[edamame]

Joanne Chang brought slices of the pumpkin pie to the Brookline Booksmith book signing this past weekend. I agree - best pumpkin pie ever. I was happy to see that the recipe is in her cookbook.