The Pie Shoppe & Panoramic Coffee

As I was waddling away from 3 bowls of noodles from the Ramen Butcher, I stopped dead in my tracks.  Did I almost get run over by a little old Asian lady?  No, but that happens almost every time in Chinatown or someone spits right in front of me...  At the very least, with the dwindling amount of Chinese grocery stores, I'm no longer being pressured into buying the super fresh Gai Lan (hey dai goh!).  Now, what really caught my attention was The Pie Shoppe.  Yes, despite my full belly, there was still room for pie.  I decided to get 3 slices to go from their selection.

With my daughter eying the Raspberry Apple Pie, I warmed it up and had to split it with her.  Not particularly sweet, the apples and raspberry helped create more of a tangy pie than the traditional apple version.  Tender with a touch of bite left, the slices of apple were stuffed inside the pie along with ample raspberries.  I thought the crust was somewhat flaky on the outside, yet doughy on the inside, especially in the folds on the edge.  Interestingly, there was a heavy dusting of granulated sugar on the top of the pie that did not caramelize.  For me, I had my heart set on the Lemon Pie which did its best impersonation of a lemon tart.  I found the lemon curd to be smooth and of the right consistency.  It was pretty sweet though, yet tempered with an equal amount of tartness.  Again, the crust was okay, but could've been flakier.

The last slice of pie was the Chocolate Chess with Espresso.  This was pretty rich and thick where each bite was quite heavy.  It was definitely chocolaty with a touch of bitterness.  The espresso was definitely there, but not very strong.  Texturally, it was almost ganache-like which I didn't mind.  For some, it might be a touch too dense.  Overall, from the 3 slices of pie we tried, the Pie Shoppe is decent.  I still prefer the stuff from Savary Island Pie the best, but if you don't want to travel to West Van, the Pie Shoppe is serviceable.

The Good:
- A decent selection of freshly-made pies
- You can buy practically all of them by the slice

The Bad:
- Crust could be flakier
- A touch expensive