I wasn’t thinking about dessert. No, I wasn’t unconscious, I had just eaten a large meal of pasta. But as we passed Petsi’s cafe on Putnam Avenue just five minutes before closing, there seemed nothing to lose popping in. There’s not often much left at the end of the day at a good bakery, but one piece was all it took. I snapped up a chunk of Petsi’s bourbon chocolate pecan pie. One could truly eat this and pie happy. Unless one had a nut allergy, of course, but if you’ve got a nut tooth, this is one pie you can believe in.
There’s been a lot of hoohah about cupcakes in recent years – two-bite cupcakes, kick-ass cupcakes, premium cupcakes, cupcakes that look like breasts, cupcakes for dogs, cupcakes that look like they’re frosted with dog poop, red velvet cupcakes, blue velvet cupcakes, the works. And I readily and wholeheartedly participated in that hoohah, but I can tell you for certain, it is now finished.
It’s pie time that cupcakes moved on. What this country needs is a change of dessert attitude. Where cupcakes were individualized, pie is communal; where cupcakes were neat, pie is sloppy, where cupcakes were precious, pie is luscious; where cupcakes were frosted, pie is filled; where cupcakes were a business model, pie is a lifestyle. Cupcakes are over. Pie is now.
I, too, fell for the lure of a perfectly frosted cupcake. Don’t get me wrong, they are delicious. But, I have to agree that there is nothing more satisfying than a slice of pie. The complex flavors and textures are something a cupcake can’t compete with and something that reminds me of my mom’s famous apple pie served warm with icecream and eating fresh blueberry pie while vacationing in Maine. I say, bring on the pie – a slice is nice;)
Amen and Hallelujah!
And I nominate Petsi as our leader!!
BTW, the rhubarb-strawberry was pretty spectacular too.
I want to go to there.
I think the cupcake craze is totally overrated. All those fancy shmancy cupcake bakeries end up making mediocre cupcakes that are usually dry and over-frosted with too-sweet frosting. I rarely do frosting — a good glaze every once in a while, maybe! Now, pie….mmmmm! And, I live 5 minutes from Petsi’s on Putnam, lucky me!
Bravo! The zeitgeist has shifted and you are its herald.