The Right Pies to Make

I am on "pie duty" for Thanksgiving, so I need to figure out which pies I will make.

Someone else is planning to bring an apple pie, so that base is covered. My plans for the moment are:

• cherry pie
• pumpkin pie (it is Thanksgiving after all)
• lemon chess pie

But I have never made lemon chess pie before. Sure, I understand that it's pretty easy to make one, but I'm finding different recipes that call for varying amounts of corn meal or lemon juice. There is this recipe from AllRecipes.com, and then there is this one from the Food Network. Even the amounts of sugar are different.

Decisions . . . decisions.

Eats in D.C.'s Atlas District

Last weekend, I visited Washington, D.C.'s H Street corridor -- a neighborhood in the N.E. quad known as the Atlas District. The area is definitely gentrifying, and the city has committed to run an electric streetcar down H Street. But my reason for visiting the area was to check out a few new eateries that I'd heard about.

First, we had brunch at the Liberty Tree, on the north side of H Street between 10th and 11th Streets. It was cozy, and they had an awesome selection of beers on tap. If wine is your thing, they've got it, but the choices are fewer. They serve a brunch on Saturday and Sunday that runs until 3 p.m. That's a nice option to have: sleep in and eat whenever you want.

The food at Liberty Tree was good -- nothing fancy or refined, but good. I had the lobster benedict, and it was quite tasty. My friend had pizza, and he gave it a grade of B-.

For a sweet conclusion to our brunch, we walked a few blocks east and then across the street to Dangerously Delicious Pies, located at 1339 H Street, N.E. This place sells entree-style pies as well as dessert pies. The dessert pies include multiple kinds of chess pie (chocolate and coconut, for example) and the other standards: apple-crumb and pecan, for example. They also sell quiches. You can buy any of these by the slice or by the entire pie.

Although most of the buzz about Dangerously Delicious Pies has been positive, one of the knocks against the place is the prices. It's true that $6.50 per slice of dessert pie is on the high side. But the pecan pie I tried was excellent. The savory pies (entrees) are $7.50 per slice, which is the same or less than what you'd spend to get lunch at a Cosi or Au Bon Pain.

And here's a piece of good news: Dangerously Delicious Pies is open 7 days a week for those of us who need to regularly get our pie fix. If there is one gripe I have about DDP, it's that they should have at least 1 or 2 more fruit pies to choose from. From what I've seen and heard, pies such as blueberry or peach don't seem to be on the menu. Maybe it's a seasonal thing or maybe I've been looking at the wrong times.

Don't Mock Apple Pie

In the category of food-related things that annoy me, "mock" recipes are pretty close to the top of this list.

A recipe like this one for "mock apple pie" -- what is the point? I'm sorry, but what numbskull felt that crackers, simple syrup and lemon juice are an appropriate replacement for apples?

If I was invited to dinner and served "mock apple pie," I would bail -- tell the host I had a terrible headache. Would that be rude of me? Not nearly as rude as serving a phony apple pie to a guest.

Christ, it's enough to make Johnny Appleseed roll over in his grave.