Last Sunday a friend and I had a girls day in Seattle.  We walked around downtown, did some shopping and of course had to eat. When Tom Douglas’ Lola was a 20-minute wait, we sauntered over to his Serious Pie.

My girlfriend Erin had never been to SP, so it was fun to introduce her.  SP is seriously one of my favorite places on earth, I’m just so happy there!  We started with a pitcher of the amazing Big E Old Fashioned Root Beer.  As dark as Guinness, rich, creamy, and smooth with wonderfully strong notes of licorice and hints of real vanilla.  This root beer is a treat.

Erin perused the menu while I already knew what I wanted.  While one pie is probably fine for two people, there isn’t much fun or variety in that, so I suggest we each get one and have a slice or two of the others.  I opted as I usually do for the penn cove clam pizza with house pancetta and lemon thyme.  I know, I know.  But you REALLY need to taste it before judging!  Erin got the cherry bomb peppers and sweet fennel sausage pizza at the recommendation of our waiter.

It was so fun and satisfying to see Erin’s eyes roll back in her head as she sunk her teeth in the pizza slice.  Time after time all either of us could do was simply nod our heads with enormous smiles on our faces as if our mouths would explode from the pure joy of it all.  Erin took a tentative bite of my clam pizza and blinked with approval.  She got it, she understood my love for this crazy combination and how it should be so very wrong, but it’s not, it’s amazing.

While I would dearly have loved to stay for dessert, I took her around the corner to the Dahlia Bakery.  This tiny hole in the wall spot with the inside area not much bigger than a postage stamp holds all things baked and magnificent.  House made breads, cookies, cup cakes, sweets and the mother of all pies – the White Chocolate Coconut Cream Pie (in various sizes).  This award winning, sweet heaven of indulgent wonderfulness is the pie that President Obama has asked for twice during his visits to Seattle.  It’s also the pie I served at my wedding almost a year ago.  Seriously, it’s that amazing!

I’d like to close this entry with some fantastic news.  The day after Erin’s & my Seattle adventure, the James Beard awards were in New York.  This is the food equivalent to the Oscars.  Tom Douglas won Outstanding Restaurateur.  See article below.  No wonder I love his restaurants.  If you are in Seattle, skip the Cheesecake Factory and hit up one of his 11 restaurants.  Oh, did I mention I’m attending his cooking camp this summer?  Can’t wait!!

http://tomdouglas.com/index.php?page=serious-pie

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2018162489_jamesbeard08.html#.T6iyekNl0pw.facebook