Most Americans would agree that there's nothing quite like a good piece of homemade pie — that tender, flaky crust packed with tangy fruit or sweet custard like grandma used to bake. Pie evokes nostalgic reactions among Americans, who rank the pastry alongside baseball and hot dogs as an American icon. A renewed interest in homestyle or comfort foods is prompting consumers to rediscover the simple joy of pie, and more operators are putting pie on their menus to ensure that they get a piece of the action.

A slice of history

Pie in some form has been around since ancient Egyptians baked the first pastry-like crusts, according to the Wilmette, Illinois-based American Pie Council (APC). Pie as a pastry tart filled with other ingredients probably didn't debut until the time of the Roman Empire.

Centuries later, bakers were still stuffing everything from meats and vegetables to fruits and cream inside dough and baking it to a golden brown — from the French fruit galette to the English meat-and-potato pie. The crusty creations appeared on American shores with the first settlers, who brought along their family pie recipes.

"The colonists adapted their Old World pie pastry and pie fillings simultaneously to the ingredients and the techniques available to them in the New World," says award-winning author Susan Purdy, who wrote The Perfect Pie. As the land was settled, regional pies began to develo — molasses-sweetened pies in the South, maple-syrup flavored pies in the Northeast and cream-based pies in the dairy-rich Midwest.

However, contrary to popular belief, apple pie — the quintessential American dessert — in all probability originated in Britain and other parts of Europe, not America. "Because of the thousands of varieties of apples in this country, everyone made apple pie and it turned into an American icon," says Purdy. "Apples are a very accessible and easy fruit to put into pies because they are flavorful, have a long growing season and store well."

A piece of nostalgia

Because practically everything sweet or savory could go into a pie shell, pie soon became a mainstay on the American table, says Purdy. "People love pie, because pie is a dessert most related to something that mom or grandmom made at home," says Dave Locke, senior vice president of food and beverage for Marie Callender's Restaurant & Bakery, headquartered in Orange, California. An upscale family restaurant, Marie Callender's serves homestyle foods at its 173 U.S. locations, including 35 dessert pies such as "Sour Cream Blueberry," "Chocolate Satin," and "Sky High Boston Cream."

"Traditionally, families found it easier to offer pie as a dessert because pies are easy to do and are the dessert we, as Americans, like to eat," says Chris Davis, owner of Lois the Pie Queen in Oakland, California. The Southern-style restaurant serves a wide variety of pies, including sweet potato, apple, mixed berry, lemon, strawberry and pecan.

"Pie combines America’s favorite tastes — crispy on the outside and creamy/juicy on the inside," says Marian Getz, pastry chef for Wolfgang Puck's Cafe in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The casual, fine-dining restaurant serves everything from sushi to pizza in its two restaurants and via its takeout service. Pies include "Apple Crumble," "Key Lime," "Rhubarb," "Lemon Pucker" and "Pear and Brie Cheese Tart."

"Pies to so many people evoke the feeling of warmth and family because it is so traditional to serve for holidays and picnicking in the summer," says Linda Hoskins, executive director of the APC.

The quest for the perfect pie

When you ask these restaurateurs and bakers what makes a pie good, invariably the response is the crust. "Very tender, flaky pastry [is essential] because that's the first impression people get from pie. You win them over with the crust," says Karen Gunderson, vice president of product development for Mrs. Smith's Bakeries Inc., based in Suwanne, Georgia. Owned by Flowers Industries, Mrs. Smith's provides frozen dessert and bread products to the foodservice-and-restaurant industry, as well as to grocery stores. Some popular Mrs. Smith's offerings include apple and cherry fruit pies, lemon meringue pie and "French Silk" gourmet pie.

"Using the best ingredients [makes a good pie]," says Marsha McDonald, co-owner with Cindy Serrano of The Farmhouse in Cool, Texas. The Farmhouse's menu features farm food, such as homemade yeast rolls, chicken-fried steak, Southern-fried catfish and plenty of vegetables like spinach and country-fried okra. Specialty dessert pies include "Texas Dirt," a cream-and-banana-pudding pie served in a flower pot with crushed Oreos and a flower on special occasions, and "German Chocolate Pie," made with cocoa, butter, pecans, chocolate, whipped cream and coconut.

"The presentation of the slice, the integrity of the fruit used in it, the freshness of it [makes a pie good]," says Donette Beattie, director of purchasing and product development for Country Kitchen International, headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. Country Kitchen's 250 family-dining restaurants offer homestyle food such as meatloaf and pot roast. Popular pie flavors include apple and "Fruits of the Forest," which features strawberries, raspberries, apples, blackberries and rhubarb.

Country Kitchen purchases its pies frozen from Mrs. Smith's Bakeries. "With the current labor shortage as it is, obviously to make them from scratch can be incredibly difficult and we wanted to maintain consistency across the chain-restaurant environment," says Beattie.

"A lot of people prefer pie to cake because of the combination of a flaky, tender, buttery crust with the luscious juiciness of fruit. . . . Pie is more indulgent, more opulent," says Rose Levy Beranbaum, author of The Pie and Pastry Bible and contributing editor to Food Arts magazine.

Today's chefs also are finding that pies provide a creative outlet for their culinary art. "[Chefs are] jazzing up versions of traditional pies," says Locke. "We're seeing fancier pies with richer fillings and flavored crusts."

"People are much more adventuresome with fillings today," says Getz. "A lot of newer pie recipes have two layers of pie, like pumpkin or sweet potato pie with a pecan filling on top." At Wolfgang Puck's Cafe, guests enjoy galettes, a free-form pie pastry filled with fresh fruit.

"I think people are looking for bolder flavors, not mild or nondescript," agrees Mrs. Smith's Gunderson. "[They're] looking for the familiar with a twist."

Serving a great piece of pie

"The key to serving pie is the fresher it is, the better," says Locke. "Pie has a very short shelf life and is only good for a day or two. You should serve it as to close to when you bake it as possible."

"Pie needs a good presentation," says McDonald. The Farmhouse serves its pie in generous slices, cutting each pie into six pieces instead of eight. McDonald dresses up her pie slices with a sauce, ice cream or topping. "Bakers are getting into decorating pies with leaves — pastry cutouts — to make them pretty," adds Hoskins. "That's kind of a way to raise the implied quality of the pie without putting extra money into it because it looks more expensive and high quality."

Mrs. Smith's helps customers individualize their pies by offering a line of sauces to accompany the pastries, such as lemon sauce for berry-based pies. "We at Mrs. Smith's look at several things to help the operator make his dessert menu look different from his competitor," says Gunderson. "We provide a training video on how to make their product look different, such as taking fruit pies and cutting out designs to lay on top or plate presentation with different flavor combinations of sauces or fruit."

Hawking pie

With a unique presentation and a freshly baked product, restaurateurs say pie sales are soaring. "Pie is the only dessert I offer," says Davis, who also sells whole pies. "Sometimes, during Thanksgiving and Christmas, I have extraordinary sales; I get far more requests than I find the time to supply."

"More than 20 percent of our sales come from pie," adds Locke. "We sell 1,000 pies a day during our twice-a-year whole-pie sales." Marie Callender's sold more than 12 million whole pies in 1999. To cater to customers with special dietary needs, Marie Callender's introduced a line of no-sugar pies that includes apple and "Razzleberry," a double-crusted mixture of raspberries and blackberries, and fresh-fruit pies with a no-sugar glaze. "These no-sugar pies have been very popular and better received by our customers than we expected," says Locke.

Before seating guests at Wolfgang Puck's Cafe, hostesses take diners by the open pastry station to look at the tantalizing desserts. "We sell more than 100 slices a day," says Getz.

Country Kitchen sold 120,000 pies last year — 53 percent of all dessert sales. "Apple was our most popular, followed closely by 'Fruits of the Forest,'" says Beattie. Country Kitchen markets its pies both on the regular menu and on a dessert menu. During the prime pie season — Thanksgiving to Christmas — the chain promotes its whole pies as well.

Mrs. Smith's also reports that pie sales are on the rise. "We continue to see our pie sales increasing because operators don't have the labor to put behind prepping a lot of things, like pie, themselves," says Gunderson. "As more and more people are going out to eat and looking for dessert, pies are a part of that trend." She adds that Mrs. Smith's national marketing team works with its restaurant customers to promote pie sales. "We also give suggestions to their waitstaff on how to talk about desserts and present desserts," says Gunderson. Some server suggestions include not waiting until the end of the meal to ask about dessert and showing a dessert cart or tray to customers. "Making sure the waitstaff have tried the dessert so that they can describe it better [also increases sales]," she says.

Pie's future is sky high

These restaurant operators say pie can jazz up a dessert menu — and elevate sales. "People seem more willing to treat themselves with dessert today . . . and pie definitely falls into that indulgent category," says Gunderson.

Purdy adds that "there's a perception that pies are simply family desserts, but pies can be appreciated even at formal affairs . . . because they are a delicious combination of sweet, fresh fruit and flaky pie crust — all the textures and flavors people love."

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