Cleiburne Cafeteria Burned Down

One of my favorite places for homemade pie was one of Houston's oldest cafeterias (part of the 70+ club of restaurants still in business after 70 years). Yesterday the restaurant started in 1941 by a Greek immigrant burned to the ground. Apparently this isn't the first time that fire has hit the restaurant and amazingly spared the paintings of the original deceased owner. Hopefully they can rebuild again soon.

http://abc13.com/news/fire-destroys-houstons-historic-cleburne-cafeteria/1309192/

As of May 1 I will begin a new project to identify the best savory and sweet pies in Houston. I would have included Cleiburne and Kindli Haus (which I reviewed last year) in my list, but now both are gone, the latter permanently. Anyone who would like to suggest a pie or pie restaurant that I should put on my list, please leave a comment. A good restaurant pie for consideration at minimum has to have 1) an individually made crust (can't be frozen crust), 2) have good (and hopefully creative) flavor combinations, and 3) not have filling thickeners that create a bad texture. I will also be contributing to a list of restaurants or food trucks outside Houston in Texas (and nationwide) with excellent pie.

Addictive Strawberry Hand Pies at Froeberg Farms

Hand pies are one of those items that many of us are nostalgic about from our childhood (even if the fried pie we are thinking of was from McD's). Froeberg Farm (3601 TX-6, Alvin, TX 77511 frobergsfarm.com) is better known as a pick-your-own strawberry farm and vegetable market; however, they make a lot of different kinds of hand pies fresh all day from fresh or dried fruit. 

I sampled several of the fresh fruit (strawberry, blackberry) and the dried fruit (pineapple, apricot) pies, and the fresh fruit pies definitely were far superior in texture and flavor. The strawberry pie recipe is hands-down the best. On an early spring day with pretty weather, make the (hour or so, depending on traffic) drive south from Houston to Alvin, and grab a bunch of strawberry hand pies out from under the heat lamp to savor while you're filling your strawberry basket. And bring some back to eat for breakfast the next day.

Best Austin Pies 2015 (Eater)

Upper Crust 4508 Burnet Rd Austin, TX

How did I miss all of these pie bakeries in my many past trips to Austin? Has there been an explosion of new pie bakeries with the comfort food trends during the Great Recession? I've got my work cut out for me to try all of these:

Royers Pie Haven, Sugar Mama's Bakeshop, Bribery Bakery, Eastside Cafe, Elaine's, Mother's Cafe and Garden, Cake & Spoon at Franklin Barbecue, Odd Duck, Lucy's Fried Chicken, Dai Due Butcher Shop, Tiny Pies, Micklethwait Craft Meats, Olamaie, Blackbird Bakery, Pie Plante, Quack's 43rd St Bakery, Upper Crust, Peché, Hoover's Cooking, and Lambert's Downtown BBQ

http://austin.eater.com/maps/best-austin-pies-desserts-bakeries

Swiss Bakery Kindli Haus for Apricot Pie

Kindli Haus exterior at 3423 White Oak

I was pleased and surprised to discover a relatively new Swiss Bakery in Houston - Kindli Haus on White Oak in the Heights. I had been a big fan of Andre's Swiss Pastry Shop in River Oaks for many years until it closed. They served the best croissants in town, hands down. My wife and I used to love to go there for lunch and have chicken salad sandwiches, tomato basil soup, and fruit mousse cakes. So I was pleased to learn that Andre's wasn't the first Swiss restaurant in Houston. The owner of Kindli Haus, Sylvia Lanz, was gifted an alpen horn from The Swiss Chalet that opened on N Post Oak back in the 1950s. I believe the owner as a child can be seen in the lineup in the photo below.

Kindli Haus offers breads, croissants, apple streudel, meat rolls, gingerbread men, and seasonal pies baked off-site only on Saturdays 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Their bread-and-butter comes not from being a bakery but rather from teaching food classes like gingerbread house making and hosting raclette dinners from September until spring. Raclette dining is similar to fondue but involves melting the cheese raclette over bread with pickles, potatoes, and other vegetables. www.kindlihaus.com

An apricot pie was the seasonal special on my visit. I was aware of apricot pie being a regional favorite in California where a lot of apricots are grown, but didn't know is was a popular pie in Switzerland. Unlike peaches, fresh apricots are relatively unremarkable, but they transform into something delicious when they are roasted. Like most European bakeries (like Durham's Guglhupf) the baked goods are not heavily sweetened as American desserts. Their pies are more sweet-tart in character. I look forward to trying their prune pie in September.

Apricot pie on shortbread crust with almond paste

The owner has collected and been gifted a lot of fun Swiss decorations including handmade wooden serving trays, dolls, stuffed animals, cow bells, and cuckoo clocks.

Best Places in Texas for Pie

Southern Living's Top Ten Texas Pies

Southern Living lists the top ten places for pie in Texas as Love Creek Orchards Cider Mill & Country Store on State 16 in Medina;  Blue Bonnet Cafe in Marble Falls;  Koffee Kup Family Restaurant in Hico; Must Be Heaven Bryan, College Station, and Brenham; Pie in the Sky Pie Co.; Royers Round Top Cafe in Round Top; Bevers Kitchen in Chappell Hill; Texas Pie Company in Kyle;  Tootie Pie Company in Boerne; and MidPoint Cafe and Gift Shop in Adrian.
Southern Living's Texas Top 10 Places for Pie

Oxbow Bakery and Antiques and the Lost Maples Cafe 

Two other pie bakeries I am fond of in the Lone Star State are Oxbow Bakery and Antiques in Palestine TX and the Lost Naples Cafe in Utopia TX. Plus they are great places to view view spring dogwoods in bloom and fall color while cutting into that slice. Both dogwoods and fall leaf change are rare in Houston, so I'm willing to make a drive to experience them. Palestine is known for its steam engines that you can take for a day-trip and tour a train museum.

Lemon meringue at Oxbow Bakery and Antiques

Upper: Strawberry cream and coconut meringue
Lower: coconut custard and chocolate chess

Jay Francis bonding with the dogwood blooms

Lost Maples Cafe (Utopia, TX)

Lemon meringue with high toasted meringue points

 Lost Maples seems to be a big part of the annual Thanksgiving activities for folks that live in Austin and San Antonio. I was surprised how packed the nearby Garner State Park was with college students from Austin and families camping for Thanksgiving (there's only limited primitive camping at Lost Maples). I recommend the strenuous but quiet hikes at Hill Country State Park and visiting Country Accents and Loves Antiques and Collectables in Bandera before the scenic drive on TX 337 to Lost Maples and Garner State Park. There are some big drops on the road (you can coast at 80 mph in some spots), but you really understand where the area got is moniker of the Hill Country.

yours truly

a lost maple in firey red color