Pie, pie, pie!

On my first afternoon in San Francisco, Faith and I dropped off my rental car at the airport and took the BART back into town. Our first stop? Mission Pie.

Mission Pie is well-named; this pie restaurant & bakery has been selling quiche and tarts in the Mission District since 2007. Created by the founders of Pie Ranch, a sustainable, educational farm in Davenport, Mission Pie started as part of an outreach program and has become a neighborhood gathering place. (You can work at Pie Ranch and live in a yurt while you do so, by the way. Check it out.)

The store's space on Mission Street is adorable and airy, with high ceilings, salvaged fixtures, and an assortment of colors and shapes. (I especially liked the salvaged medallions made into light fixtures.) The staff are sweet and helpful, and after a bit of hemming and hawing from me over what to order, we asked for a slice of quiche (with cauliflower and capers), a slice of pie (mixed berry crumb with whipped cream) and an iceberg wedge salad.

The wedge was delicious - cold and crisp, served with a creamy bleu cheese dressing, crispy bacon, and perfect, sweet California tomatoes. Honestly, coming back to this season's lackluster Eastern tomato crops was a crushing disappointment after the bounty we saw out west. Sigh.

The quiche was similarly good. Creamy, but not too rich, and filled with large chunks of cauliflower, it was filling and managed to seem healthy, despite its flaky crust. The capers studded throughout added both flavor (Yum, salt!) and texture (Oooh, slightly odd popping sensation!). A win.

Finally, the pie. Oh, the pie. The crumb crust was great - tons of brown sugar flavor, and plenty of textural contract, thanks to oats and just enough butter. The filling was full of berry flavor, with pieces of strawberry and raspberry milling around. Despite a healthy dose of citrus juice, though, the filling was a bit too sweet for me - the whipped cream brought everything back into balance, though, so I managed to power through.