City Series: Dallas: Emporium Pies

Emporium Pies in the Bishop Arts District of Dallas, Texas has the best pie I have ever eaten.  Ever.

I eat a lot of ice cream.  And cupcakes.  And candy.  And as a result, those are the sweets that are usually featured here in my blog.  I have blogged about my own pie recipes, but I can't think of a pie shop that has really gotten my attention...until now.  And I am relieved about that because now I don't have to write a retraction.  Any "it-was-a-great-pie" review up to this point would have to be entirely rewritten now that I have tasted Emporium Pies' Cloud 9.

This is how they describe their Cloud 9 pie:

"HOUSE MADE CARAMEL LINES THE BOTTOM, RICH, CREAMY BUTTERSCOTCH CUSTARD FILLS THE MIDDLE, AND OUR TOASTED BROWN SUGAR MERINGUE TOPS IT ALL."

It is thick and cold and creamy.  The crust is thick, yet tender.  The meringue is sweet and sticky.  They do everything right.  

What alarms me is that they refer to this pie as seasonal, and since I was in town in mid-January, there was a chance that I couldn't have tried it!?  And if I make my way back to Dallas this year they won't have it?  Unimaginable.

If I lived in Dallas I would eat a piece of this pie once a week and give up another major sweet to compensate.  It is that good.

I wanted to see their cute "to go" packaging up close, so I ordered a piece of "Cloud 9" to go and piece of "Drunken Nut" (Texas pecans and bourbon meld together in this sticky sweet confection, baked in a handmade shortbread crust - yum!) to eat on the porch in the sun.  Did I mention it was 10:30 in the morning?

Dan's sister, Karen, lives in Dallas and when we told her that we wanted to spend some time walking around, looking in shops and enjoying the weather, she sent us to the Bishop Arts District to explore.  And she insisted that we stop for pie.

After we found a place to park, we noticed that there was already a line spilling out of Emporium Pies and onto their porch.  I got in line.  There is no greater motivator than the prospect of sold out pie, and this crowd looked hungry.  So we ate pie before lunch and were happier for it.

Put "Eat a piece of Emporium Pies' Cloud 9 pie" on your bucket list.  It is that good.