Best Thing: The pie. And the downtown location’s vibe.
Might Not Like: The pies are a little too uptight, like wear a suit to the beach, uptight.
Shut your pie hole. I mean, open your pie hole, because this is some good pie. I first met Pie Hole at their downtown location, and as good as their pie is, their little shop there is the perfect complement to a place that serves one of the world’s greatest foods. The whitewashed brick walls and the rough wooden tables make you feel like you have walked into a charming old timey barn that someone transported to Little Tokyo and then filled with every kind of pie you could want. The Pasadena location, while still flanked by brick walls is a part of the Indiana Colony, an oddly assorted collection of hip little food places with almost disconcertingly tall ceilings. It’s cool enough, I guess, just not downtown location cool.
The menu is easy. It’s pie. Dessert pies and savory pies, like chicken pot and mac and cheese. I tend to go straight for the sweet, but that cornbread crust over the delicious chicken is pretty fine too. And I should know. Before I came to LA, I lived in the land of rural farms and orchards and we make a lot of pie and cornbread there when it’s cold for months on end.
But back to this particular Pie Hole. It’s really good. They have interesting flavor choices like Mexican chocolate and Earl Grey, and the pies are fresh. But despite the rustic feel of the location, these pies are probably not the ones that your grandma made, if you had one of those pie-baking grandmas. They are not the messy, boil over the side, pure love in a pie plate pies. The crust is a little denser than I like. The ingredients are a little more formal than I would choose. The overall combinations are refined in a way that doesn’t quite complement the humbly, crumbly, amazing thing that is pie.
But it’s good. Really good. Especially the pecan pie, where I think they shine. And if you don’t want to roll up your sleeves and roll out some of your own dough in your “holy cow how do I live in a place this small kitchen” that you probably have if you live anywhere near Pie Hole, then by all means, these are a perfect choice when you just gotta have some pie.
So HIP with a little side of trendy.
SPENDY with a little side of cheap.
Link to menu: http://www.thepieholela.com/menu.html