Recap: City Arts Pie Life Serves a Sweet Saturday Afternoon

While most of you were sleeping in after a late night of NW hip-hop at Fred on Saturday, we rolled out of bed, pulled on some trousers, and headed to Pie Life, part of City Arts Fest's Culture Club.

Featuring readings by musician Tilson and writer David Schmader, as well food writers Sara Dickerman and Shauna Ahern, the foursome delighted the pie-loving posse with tales of treats baked long ago, and memories still held near and dear today.

Tilson did what Tilson does best, which is engage the audience fully in whatever riff (or tangent) he finds himself on, and Saturday afternoon it was his unyielding dislke of pie. He doesn't judge you (or me) for loving it, but frankly he's not sold on cooked fruit mixed with dough, and even went as far as to say that he thinks it is just plain wrong. Which made for an interesting turn in the pie bake-off judging panel, since he chose to just say no to judging the nostalgia category, and had local culinary golden boy Cormac Mahoney (Madison Park Conservatory, TakoTruck) judge in his place.

The readings closed with David Schmader sharing part of a larger theatrical piece he has in the works. The excerpt began with poignant tales of close relationships and the humor that ensues when friends have the luxury of spending time together. But the tale turns decidely darker as one friend in the group steals a debit card from someone else in the tight-knit circle. Without sharing too much of the story, suffice it to say that a long-term friendship goes awry over a gift of pie, purchased with what is almost certainly money that is stolen.

During the readings, the writers/readers pulled double duty as pie bake-off judges. A bakers dozen of pies entered the room and each one had it's on unique twist, some were pretty and some not so much. But the standout from a conceptual standpoint was a pie with a lattice made of bacon--i think they better get a patent on that one. After serious deliberations the panel or writers and eaters declared the follwing pies best in show:

Overall Awesomeness: Robin Wehl-Martin's Salted caramel apple

Taste: Rose del Rio's Shaker Lemon

Appearance and Nostalgia: Hazel Pine's Poached Apple + Pear over Riesling custard and walnut crust

Creativity: Steve Berg's Raspberry mascarpone

With so much good stuff at City Arts this year, we'll forgive you if you forgot to attend. But don't let it happen again next year.