I've been a Dad for twenty years now, and nothing makes me happier on Father's Day (coming up this Sunday June 17th, by the way) than the gift of noshing. So this year, in order to create more perfect unions and promote filial harmony around the country, give your Dad the perfect edible gift. Here at Serious Eats we're going to make it easy for you to do so. We're going to alert you to the best foods that ship so that no matter where you live you can get your Dad something he will remember for the rest of your life. Today through Thursday we're going to focus on the five Serious Eats Dads' food groups: Barbecue, Ice Cream,... More

What is a pie bank? A delicious invention of Saveur's Larry Nighswander. The best news for us pie lovers? The account he set up at Millie's Restaurant is still active, and there are slices (of banana cream pie) yet to be ordered: "So, if you're ever in Middleport, Ohio, look up Millie's Restaurant; it's at 39239 Bradbury Road; phone (740) 992-7713. If you enjoy banana cream pie, feel free to stop in and order a slice out of our "pie bank." I'm there.... More

Here are the pie contest winners BaHa wins the 2 pies for her evocative all pie Thanksgiving essay. Adam wins a single pie for identifying the 1902 NY Times quote. cgoup wins a single pie for identifying the Carl Sagan quote. The winners should e-mail me at nyeats@aol.com this morning and give me their particulars so that we can figure out how to get them their pies. I want to thank everyone for participating. There were so many good entries for the grand prize. Next year let's collectively think up a really great pie contest. And I promise I won't make the same mistake by asking questions that are easily found on Google or other search engines. For anyone... More

Sunday Nov. 19th is the last day to enter the Thanksgiving pie contest. To win two superb pies of your choice just tell me in 100 words or less what your all pie Thanksgiving menu would consist of and why. On Monday I will announce the winner and figure out the logistics of delivering the pies. The other pie winners (for correctly identifying the two pie quotes) will also be notified then. Remember, both New Yorkers and non-New Yorkers can enter the contest. New Yorkers will receive two pies from either Two Little Red Hens or Yura & Company. Serious pie lovers in other cities will receive pies from either their favorite local pie baker or from Grand Traverse... More

All right, all right, I admit it. In the age of the internet I shouldn't have given quotes as clues. Too easy. But the grand prize, two pies, is still up for grabs. See below for how you can enter. That's right. Serious Eats is giving away two phenomenal pies of your choice. If you live in New York you can choose from the dazzling array of pies made by Two Little Red Hens, which includes Apple, Apple Crumb, Apple Cranberry, Sweet Potato-Pecan, Pumpkin, Chocolate-Pecan, Buttermilk Lemon Chess, Fall Medley, Out of towners will get their pies delivered to their doorstep from the Grand Traverse Pie Company. The pies are on us. All you have to do is tell me... More

That's right. Serious Eats is giving away two phenomenal pies of your choice. If you live in New York you can choose from the dazzling array of pies made by Two Little Red Hens, which includes Apple, Apple Crumb, Apple Cranberry, Sweet Potato-Pecan, Pumpkin, Chocolate-Pecan, Buttermilk Lemon Chess, Fall Medley, Out of towners will get their pies delivered to their doorstep from the Grand Traverse Pie Company. The pies are on us. All you have to do is tell me what pies would be included in your all-pie Thanksgiving meal and why. You can include savory pies like chicken and turkey pot pie, even fancy-pants savory pies like the lobster pot pie they serve at Mary's Fish Camp, and... More

What's the best piece of pie you've ever eaten? Karen Barker, pastry chef and co-owner of the Magnolia Grill, 1002 Ninth Street, 919-286-3609, Durham, NC), makes the best pies I've ever eaten. Karen made all the pies for a pie breakfast at a Barbecue Conference I went to a few years ago In Oxford, Mississippi, and I'm afraid I singlehandedly decimated her supply of pies. She wrote a terrific cookbook a few years ago, and tomorrow or the next day I will put her pie recipe up on Ed Levine Eats. In New York, as I mentioned yesterday, my two favorite pie bakers are Two Little Red Hens (1112 8th Ave. (11th St.), Park Slope, 718-499-8108, 1652 2nd Ave.... More

Four days of eating on Martha's Vineyard and what did I discover: The best local soda I've ever tasted: Cape Cod Diet Cranberry Ginger Ale: Simultaneously sweet and tart, plenty of cranberry flavor, could go a little heavier on the ginger. I know about Cheerwine and the like, but are there other great local sodas most people don't know about? A very fine Little Rock Farms blueberry pie made with wild Maine blueberries. An excellent Mrs. Blake's Strawberry Rhubarb Pie with her usual moist and flaky crust and filling that could have been less sweet. Fried clams from John's Fish Market in Vineyard Haven that were crunchy, clammy, and yummy. Wispy, thin onion rings that were battered to order (as... More

After almost thirty years of unquestioned allegiance to Mrs. Blake on Martha's Vineyard, my pie fidelity is being sorely tested by a pie baker I had previously written off. Another Vineyard pie purveyor, Little Rock Farms, is making some mighty fine pie, although it's nothing like a Mrs. Blake pie. LRF pies have an almost dainty, squiggly lattice crust that is remarkably flaky given how little crust there actually is on each pie. This minimalist crust showcases the just firm enough fruit in a LRF pie. We had a peach raspberry pie last night composed of peach slices that had not disintegrated into pie goo and still intact raspberries. Given the season I'm sure LRF uses quick frozen fruit in... More

Having come to Martha's Vineyard for the last 28 years I can tell you that it is not a place you come to eat in great restaurants. I always advise my friends who vacation here to buy some fresh fish at Larsen's, Poole's, The Net Result, or John's Fish Market, some freshly picked lettuce and corn at a farmer's market, and a few vine-ripened tomatoes, and then you'll eat like a king or queen at the house you've rented. But the island does have one amazing foodstuff you can't get anywhere else, Mrs. Blake's pies. Mrs. Blake's husband sells her pies in a little hut in front of their house on State Road a couple of hundred yards before you... More