Not long ago, I wrote a piece for Eating Our Words about National Pie Day (what, you missed National Pie Day?). And as a precursor to both the piece and Pie Day itself, I met a group of friends at the House of Pies on Kirby to do a little “research” and “preparation” (I’m nothing if not dedicated).
House of Pies (or House of Guys, if you’re fabulous) has about 30 different pies on their menu at any given time, in addition to regular diner food and the best tater tots — although House of Pies calls them “cottage fries” — in town. Their house speciality is the curiously-named Bayou Goo pie.
According to their description, the Bayou Goo is “pecan crust with a layer of sweet cream cheese, then a layer of vanilla custard swirled with chocolate chunks and topped with whipped cream and chocolate shavings.” Meh. Frankly, I expected more “goo.” You know, some caramel or something, at least. But I gave it a whirl.
I was just as uninspired after a few bites as I was after reading the description. The miasma of contradictory flavors and textures left me disappointed. I guess there’s a lot to be said for clever naming and rhymes. Onto other pies, then…
The Texas pecan fudge pie was heavenly and heavily rich. The slice alone felt as if someone had plated a brick, but Lord was it good. The French blackbottom (“a layer of chocolate , then a layer of French vanilla rum custard with lots of whipped cream and chocolate shavings”) and the apple were also good, but the sleeper hit of the night was the unobtrusive strawberry-rhubarb.
Served warm, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, the strawberry-rhubarb pie was everything I think of when I think pie: flaky, fruity, mildy sweet and just slightly gooey. It utterly melted in my mouth. The sweetness of the strawberries was — as expected — perfectly offset by the tart rhubarb.
While I’m certain to try different pies during subsequent trips House of Pies, I’m afraid I’ve found my favorite and will find it hard to stray. I’m loyal like that. I guess I’ll just have to order two slices at a time — a strawberry-rhubarb and a ____________. Oh, the terrible things I have to endure for the love of food.