Shoofly, week 2

shooflysign.jpgWe’ve tried Shoofly Pie Company twice since it opened — shoofly itself was both sweet and tangy and we’ll leave it to the Eastern natives to tell us if that’s the way it’s supposed to be — but we can give unqualified rave reviews for the cherry pie: Not too tart, not too sweet, not goopy. We wrote to Shoofly proprietor Kimmy Hsieh Tomlinson to ask if she’s got anything to say to customers and would-be customers in WSB-land, about how it’s going and future plans; you can click ahead to read what she wrote back:

We are incredibly grateful to the West Seattle community and everyone who has come in to try our pies. We’ve been really excited about the response we’ve gotten (even at this early stage) and are happy to finally be open!

As you might have noticed, we’ve been adjusting our hours to meet the needs of our customers, and we appreciate everyone’s patience while we figure things out. We’ll be gradually increasing our production (while still making a high quality, fresh, handmade product), and have immediate plans to add more savory pies to our lineup. We’re always open to suggestions as to pies people would like to see, and we’ve received a number of great ideas already.

AND, we’ll be accepting credit cards starting this week!

We hope people like our stuff and keep coming by for more pie!

If you haven’t been there yet, Shoofly is on the east side of Cali in The Junction, just north of Oregon Street, south of the Post Office, in the former Bobby’s Hobbies space.

16 Replies to "Shoofly, week 2"

  • Jiggers July 25, 2007 (2:09 pm)

    More sweeets and trans-fats please.

  • nbp July 25, 2007 (2:28 pm)

    Would love to see some savory pies with dairy free crust. I know this isn’t a high priority…. but for the lactose intolerant who are drooling all over Shoofly goods but can’t enjoy them, well we can hope can’t we?

  • Jen July 25, 2007 (3:23 pm)

    black bottom pie, pleasepleaseplease!

  • chas redmond July 25, 2007 (5:45 pm)

    Well, based on the strength of the cherry pie review, I dropped by there Wednesday afternoon only to find out that they did not have cherry pie on the menu today – “we’ll have cherry pie tomorrow” is what I got. That seems a little weak to me. I’ll have to get back to try it but a random selection of pies is not exactly a good way to run a repeat business. It’d be as if Husky only had chocolate on Thursdays or if Nouveau Bakery only had croissants on Fridays. My chances of randomly stopping in would be significantly lower. As it is it’s a bit of a walk just to get to Shoo Fly, especially to discover what I wanted wasn’t on their Wednesday menu.

  • Sue July 25, 2007 (6:36 pm)

    I was there today for the second time. I’m eating one of their pot pies right now – this crust is to die for!
    As for the Shoofly pie (Jan, don’t read further if you don’t want to know yet) – I ate it a lot as a kid (my grandparents lived near Pennsylannia Dutch Country), and I did enjoy this version very much. One thing I’d forgotten was that there are 2 different types of shoofly pie – a “wet bottom” and a “dry bottom” version. This version is the “dry” one – it’s much more of a cake-like consistency. It’s good, but not what I expected since I grew up loving the “wet” one, which is similar to a pecan pie without the pecans. I don’t know if they have a recipe for the other type, but I’d love to see them try it and see which one goes over better with customers.

  • Kurt July 25, 2007 (7:27 pm)

    Shoofly – a Jiggers-free zone. Yippee! I’m there!

  • Carrie Ann July 25, 2007 (8:30 pm)

    My husband stopped by the shop last week and picked up a Strawberry-Rhubarb pie. Served along side a little scoop of vanilla ice cream and it got the thumbs up from our dinner guests (one of whom is a pastry chef). I’m bummed to read that the actual Shoofly Pie they offer isn’t the “wet” version, however, since I’ve been hoping to visit and sample a slice. Never the less, so far so good and we’ll definitely try them again sometime. (especially as we still mourn the loss of the incomparable key lime pie served @ Calypso)

  • Melanie July 25, 2007 (9:32 pm)

    The 2 of us devoured a slice of the delicious strawberry rhubarb pie while watching the parade Saturday. The crust and the filling were delectable…great flavor and not too sweet. We’re really happy Shoofly Pie is here and would love to have some butterscotch meringue pie (Acadian style).

  • Jiggers July 25, 2007 (10:11 pm)

    WHat the Juntion seriously needs is gym like when Worlds use be above Jak’s..

  • Jan July 26, 2007 (12:29 am)

    jiggers….just jog on down to Allstar…and you’ve already got your cardio workout taken care of ;-)…..

  • Jen July 26, 2007 (8:20 am)

    I’d love to see a nice selection of savory vegetarian pies, and maybe some pies (savory and sweet) in smaller, 2-4 person sizes. That would go over extremely well in our family

  • Kate July 26, 2007 (9:04 am)

    Oh, where to start…

    My Partner and I have been there three times in the two weeks and have no complaints at all.

    The Shoofly pie was good, but it is an acquired taste. For those of you not fond of molasses, it’s best avoided. But I enjoyed the pie myself.

    The Chocolate Raspberry Tart was sublime.

    We’ve also had tastes of the key lime and Banana Cream Pies, both of respectable quality. As my partner said last night, the Banana Cream is on par with Tom Douglas coconut cream pies.

    But really, the item that I think should not be overlook is their Chicken Pot Pie. As said by others, the crust was amazing, and the chicken stew inside was both peppery and savory.

    Now pardon me, as I have to swim some laps down at All Star.

  • Sue July 26, 2007 (9:30 am)

    Oh, and I forgot to mention that they had a sign up yesterday that they have free WiFi.

  • Keith July 26, 2007 (12:45 pm)

    Chas, give them a break – they’re new and figuring things out. I’ve been to both Husky and Nouveau when they’ve been out of stuff I wanted. Doesn’t mean I won’t go back. I take those situations as an opportunity to try something new.

  • Cy July 26, 2007 (8:32 pm)

    I’ve tried a few times to get in there and sample the pies, but miss them each time.

    Tonight I went in at 8:04 just to get a pie and go, but they shooflied me out the door saying that they’re closed. Aw, come on. Just take my money and give me a pie, it’s only 4 minutes past time. There were still people in there eating for pie’s sake.

    I’m looking forward to trying them…someday.

  • chas redmond July 26, 2007 (10:49 pm)

    Keith,
    I’ll agree that Nouveau took a few weeks to figure out how many croissants (plain and chocolate) to bake and how often. They still run out way too early in the day for their sticky buns, which Nouveau calls Brown Sugar Brioche – finally figured out that brioche is a code word for something with egg in it, plus I guess “sticky bun” isn’t exactly a French cuisine term. On the Husky front – they do run out of things but have such a plethora of choices that it really is an opportunity to try something else – be it a sandwich or an ice cream. My problem with pies is that I have a very limited pie palette – tart, tart or tart and none of their other choices was anywhere near tart. I will still give them a try since a good cherry pie is a thing of joy. My other fav is key lime – agreed, I have a pretty limited pie taste.

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