Last spring, my pie pal Jan and I were in New York City on a whirlwind trip to see three Broadway Plays in three days and to taste the best apple pies this city had to offer. We used a combination of strategies to find our pies.
Our first stop was at Petee’s Pie Company, which we found by asking the server at the restaurant where we were having lunch to recommend a good place to have a piece of apple pie. 
The server, and a customer who overheard the conversation, directed us two stores down the street to Petee’s. As we walked in the door, we were overwhelmed by mouth-watering aromas and sights of baking pies. The pies here are seasonal and organic, locally sourced from the owner’s farm in Virginia. Jan and I have become expert judges of pie fillings and crusts, and we do have our “criteria.” The crusts here are “double butter.” We started with the “Pony Pie,” which is a chocolate bourbon walnut pecan pie….think Derby Pie. Next, because rhubarb was still in season and the pie did have apples, we had the Honey Crisp Apple Rhubarb Pie. But, to keep our focus on tasting apple pies, we ended this feast with Petee’s apple pie, made from Hudson Valley Apples with a crumb topping.
Our next strategy was to work from an internet search of the best places to eat pies in NYC. We decided to try the award-winning Little Pie Company. Again, we were greeted with wafting odors of fresh pies. The shortening in the pie crusts here is lard! We had the sour cream apple walnut pie, which is made with thin slices of Golden Delicious apples piled high in a domed crust brushed with cream. 
These two pie shops had an ambiance that we had not experienced in any of the many places where we have eaten pies. The pie baking occurs in plain sight; you can see the chefs at work. Guests are welcomed like family, and the compact space is more about the kitchen and pie-making than sitting and eating. Peete’s has a small counter opposite the pie display case where customers, ourselves included, stand and eat their pie if they cannot wait until they take it home (and can easily go back to try a slice of a different pie!) We also saw customers sitting on the stoop of the Brownstone next door to Peete’s…. it is really impossible to wait! While the Little Pie Company has a few tables, the kitchen here, too, is visible and tempts customers. 
Our last stop on this day was to attend the musical, Waitress. Adapted from the movie of the same name, this play is a romantic comedy about a girl who makes and serves pies at Joe’s Pie Diner, and then ends up owning it. On the way into the theater, the lobby smelled like apple pie, and we wondered if we had been eating too many apple pies. We learned later that a pie is made in the lobby just before each performance and the aroma puts everyone in the mood for the show. As we took our seats, “waitresses” were serving, what else, Apple Pie. It came in an easy-to-eat-from jar. We decided that having a waitress bring the pie right to you while you are comfortably ensconced in your seat and ready to enjoy the play is the best strategy for eating an apple pie in the Big Apple.
People:
• Chefs who have the confidence to bake in full view of the customers!
• Waitresses who bring your pie to you while you are sitting in your seat at a cozy theater.
Places:
• Peete’s Pie Company, 61 Delancey Street, New York, NY, 10002 http://peteespie.com/
• Little Pie Company, 424 W 43rd St, New York, NY 10036 http://www.littlepiecompany.com/
Pies:
While we had much better apple pies on this visit to NYC, the pie in-the-jar was the most unique, and a memorable addition to the enjoyment of the musical version of Waitress.
- For the crust
- 1 recipe for a double crust pie (artofthepie.com)
- For the filling (fills 4 ½ pint jars)
- 2 C peeled and diced apples
- 2 T sugar- brown or white or mix
- 2 T flour
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 T butter, melted, for brushing on top crust
- 1 T sugar for sprinkling on top crust
- Make the crust. Roll out the dough on a well-floured surface. Use the outer ring from the lid of the jar to cut out 4 circles of dough for the top of the pies.
- Use the remaining dough to cut 4 circles, 6 inches in diameter (use a plate as a guide) and line the ½ pint glass jars with each circle, leaving a ½ inch rim at the top.
- Make the filling by mixing together the apples, sugar, flour and cinnamon.
- Fill the jar with the filling and fit the top crust on top of the filling and seal the top and bottom crusts with a fork or your finger. Make a vent in the top and brush the top crust with melted butter, and sprinkle with sugar. Seal each jar with its metal lid.
- Pies can be stored in the freezer for 3 weeks.
- If baking pies fresh, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly. If baking pies that have been frozen, bring them to room temperature before placing in the oven.
