SF Food Wars

Double-winning team Peace o’ Pie did not feel sour after their two-fold victory! With just the right balance of tart and sweet, their Shaker Lemon Pie won over the palates of both expert judges and pie-lovin’ attendees. If you didn’t eat enough pie on the 4th of July, then hell, make this one on the 5th!! Continue reading for recipe…

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It’s not every day you get to experience olallieberries, so if you can get your paws on some now, make sure you bake ‘em into these *double* award-winning Olallie Pop Pies by Team Doom Bunny Bakes! The recipe accommodates the fun pops, but you can make a traditional pie too if you’re feeling nostalgic. Continue reading for recipe…

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Team Pie in the Sky Hopes won the judges’ palates over with their 3rd place-winning Elvis Pie! It’s an experience of fluffy clouds of peanut butter mousse and banana cream…but we’d say it tastes more like a cross between peanut day dreams and banana angels. Don’t believe it? Make this pie and prove us wrong! Continue reading for recipe…

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Check out all photos from the event on our !

More beautiful weather simply did not exist for an afternoon of pie-tasting. The Ferry Building was a perfect scenic backdrop for friendly competition, delicious pies, and sugar comas to ensue…

Pies of all kinds made their way into over 300 stomachs! 20 different kinds, to be exact…

Pie lovers of all ages tasted and deliberated. It’s so difficult to pick just one winner!!

Our fierce competitors dished out their creations with a smile!

The judges had decided…and the votes were in! Hooray! It was time to announce the winning pies…

Woohoo!! Congrats to SF Food Wars’ Pie or Die 2 winners!

Here’s a very special thanks to CUESA our event partner, Photojojo and their kick-ass photo booth, Honest Tea, all of our insanely generous prize sponsors, and the SF Food Wars crew!

Check out all photos from the event on our !

Stay tuned for winning and crowd-favorite recipes!!

We had it all! Lard-crusted, vegan, gluten-free, fruit-filled, custard-filled…you name it. And it was all so pie-licious! Here’s our list of winningest winners:

People’s Choice: Team #18, Sweet Emily Pies / Bootleg Berries and Cream

People’s Choice Honorable Mention: Team #7, Peace o’ Pie / Shaker Lemon Pie

Judges’ 1st Place: Team #7, Peace o’ Pie / Shaker Lemon Pie

Judges’ 2nd Place: Team #10, Doom Bunny Bakes / Olallie-Pop (Pie)

Judges’ 3rd Place: Team #6, Pie In The Sky Hopes / Elvis Pie

Photog’s Choice: Team #10, Doom Bunny Bakes / Olallie-Pop (Pie)

Our pie-loving Sponsors have done it again!! As usual, our prizes are seriously #winning thanks to their generous donations adding up to over $3000 in cash, certificates, and the coolest stuff ever! Here’s what our Pie or Die 2 winners will receive:

People’s Choice:
$100 Cash, 1-year membership at 18 Reasons, $15 at Tartine, Anolon Tart Pan, Microplane Gourmet Large Shaver, Wusthof 6.5 inch Offset Cake Knife, The San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market Cookbook c/o Chronicle Books, Cloverware on-the-go utensils c/o Alite, Ochiba Pack c/o Alite, Method Miracle Kit, $5 at Three Babes Bakeshop, 1 case of Honest Tea beverages

People’s Choice Honorable Mention:
$15 at Tartine, Anolon Tart Pan, Microplane Gourmet Large Shaver, Wusthof 6.5 inch Offset Cake Knife, The San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market Cookbook c/o Chronicle Books, Cloverware on-the-go utensils c/o Alite, Ochiba Pack c/o Alite, Method Miracle Kit, $5 at Three Babes Bakeshop, 1 case of Honest Tea beverages

Judges’ 1st Place:
$100 Cash, $25 at , Anolon 9-inch Pie Pan, Microplane Artisan Fine Graters, Wusthof 4.5 inch Offset Spatula, $5 at Blue Bottle Coffee, The San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market Cookbook c/o Chronicle Books, Cloverware on-the-go utensils c/o Alite, Ochiba Pack c/o Alite, Method Miracle Kit, $5 at Three Babes Bakeshop, 1 case of Honest Tea beverages

Judges’ 2nd Place:
$50 at Bi-Rite Market, Anolon 9-inch Pie Pan, Microplane Artisan Fine Graters, Wusthof 4.5 inch Offset Spatula, $5 at Blue Bottle Coffee, The San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market Cookbook c/o Chronicle Books, Cloverware on-the-go utensils c/o Alite, Ochiba Pack c/o Alite, Method Miracle Kit, $5 at Three Babes Bakeshop, 1 case of Honest Tea beverages

Judges’ 3rd Place:
Anolon 9-inch Pie Pan, Microplane Artisan Fine Graters, Wusthof 4.5 inch Offset Spatula, $5 at Blue Bottle Coffee, The San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market Cookbook c/o Chronicle Books, Cloverware on-the-go utensils c/o Alite, Ochiba Pack c/o Alite, Method Miracle Kit, $5 at Three Babes Bakeshop, 1 case of Honest Tea beverages

Photog’s Choice:
$50 at Photojojo, Anolon Springform Pan, Microplane Premium Classic Zester/Grater, Wusthof 8-inch Straight Spatula, $5 at Blue Bottle Coffee, The San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market Cookbook c/o Chronicle Books, Cloverware on-the-go utensils c/o Alite, Ochiba Pack c/o Alite, Method Miracle Kit, $5 at Three Babes Bakeshop, 1 case of Honest Tea beverages

(from left to right: Sarah Henkin, Natalie Galatzer, Karoline Boehm-Goodnick, Tamara Palmer)

In true Food Wars fashion, we’ve gathered an impressive panel of local food experts to determine 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners for Sunday’s big event! Read all about ‘em:

Sarah Henkin: Sarah Henkin is the Market Chef for CUESA and the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market and the Vice President of Urban Kitchen SF. Sarah’s love of pies stems from her grandpa Vincente Ferruccio’s obsession with perfecting a flaky crust, she grew up a willing taste-tester and has tried them all: cream-filled , fruit – filled, double crust, meringue topped, you name it. She knew someday all that pie tasting would come in handy!

Natalie Galatzer: Natalie has been cooking and baking as long as she can remember. Two years ago she started a small batch pie bakery and delivery service, , and has since then been featured in Daily Candy, the SF Gate, and on the Cooking Channel. She loves summer fruit, especially after it’s seen pie dough and an oven, and is excited to eat 20 variations on that theme.

Karoline Boehm-Goodnick: Karoline is the general manager at . She got her culinary start in Chicago, but honed her skills working as the pastry chef at James Beard nominee Joanne Chang’s flagship location of Flour Bakery and Cafe in Boston. When she’s not rolling dough or fluting edges, she works as a freelance food writer and photographer.

Tamara Palmer: Tamara, the resident judge at SF Food Wars, is a writer and editor specializing in the edible and musical arts. She is the editor of NBC’s , and the author of Country Fried Soul: Adventures in Dirty South Hip-Hop. You’ve also seen her words at SF Weekly and KQED’s Bay Area Bites.

Last year’s “double rainbow” 1st Place/People’s Choice winning pies

Twenty pies. Twenty. Glorious. Pies…to be eaten al fresco with the historic Ferry Building as our backdrop. What’s that you say? Rapture didn’t end up happening after all? But surely this is heaven…am I mistaken?!?!

Our 20 competitors are lucky that last year’s “double rainbow” 1st place/People’s Choice winner Team Eat the Love won’t be defending their title and instead will be taking a maxin’/relaxin’ vacay. However, they still have to consider the flaky crust and luscious filling that brought 2nd Place glory to Team Peace o’ Pie, who will be back to claim victory once again.

Make sure you take a deep breath before you preview the pies below. Yes, they sound that delicious.

Team # / Team Name / Pie Name / Pie Description

1. Team Tomato Tart / Honey, You’re A Tart / Berry and nectarine-filled pies with a honey caramel sauce.
2. Team Hearsay / Curried Cranberry Pie Pops / Wrapped in flaky, buttery pastry and filled with an exotic blend of cranberries and cherries spiked with curry and cardamom, these single-serving pies are the perfect mix of sweet and spicy. And as anyone who’s ever been to a county fair knows, everything tastes better on a stick.
3. Sweetie Pies / Luscious Lemon Cream and Blueberry Pie / A flakey home-made crust filled with zesty lemon cream and a blueberry compote swirl (made with fresh Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market blueberries) – so delicious and creamy, you would never guess it’s VEGAN!
4. RawDaddy / Pumpkin Pie with Thyme / You will never believe that this pumpkin pie is actually made from carrot juice. Amazing.
5. Full Moon Pies / Butterscorch Pies / Homestyle butterscotch pudding, salted walnuts, and burnt sugar combine to unleash the hidden-grandparent within us all.
6. Pie In The Sky Hopes / Elvis Pie / Vanilla wafer crust with a vanilla pudding filling, layer of bananas, topped with a peanut butter layer and finished off with homemade whipping cream and homemade peanut brittle!
7. Peace O’ Pie / Shaker Lemon Pie with a Sugary Shake of Violet Petal Dust / A perfect twist on “Shaker” Lemon Pie! Sweet and tart lemony goodness nestled in Peace O’ Pie’s famous, award winning flaky crust. A sugary shake violet petal and lemon zest dust will tickle your senses and brighten your day.
8. Wake and Bake / Make A Grown Man Cry Pie / Sweet California-grown cherries with tarragon-infused mascarpone cream in a home-rendered lard crust.
9. Forbidden Pie / Moroccan Tea Pie / Green tea and mint crust, preserved lemon curd, black berry filling, cardamom crumble.
10. Doom Bunny Bakes / Olallie-Pop (Pie) / What the heck is an Olallieberry? Take a Blackberry & a Raspberry, add some champagne, a little candlelight, perhaps a Barry White album…. and you end up with a berry that is larger & sweeter than its parents. So what the heck is an Olallie-Pop? It’s a tart, sweet (and a little bit spicy) bite-sized morsel of Olallieberry Pie!
11. Pie Ah Um / A “Nutty Apple-Crisp Pie” Supreme / This is a Pie Unity: 1/2 apple pie, 1/2 apple crisp. A flaky, buttery, pecan-y crust, piled high with sweet and tart seasonal apples. Skipping the standard pastry top, this pie is covered with a butter-soaked brown sugar crisp, making for an ooey-gooey delight! Served warm with a side of Rum whipped cream.
12. Cooking with Laurie / Summer Sunshine Apricot Strudel Pie / Recipes passed down from special people are the ‘BEST’….they conjure up memories that will last a lifetime!! This is a recipe passed down from my wonderful Grandmother, I’ve switched it up with farm fresh apricots. The flakey crust, sweet tartness of summer sunshine ripened apricots and drizzled with a meyer lemon glaze…it’s enough to make me remember my Grandmother’s warm hugs and beautiful smile!!! This one’s for you Grandma!!
13. (Y)Our Food Choices / Apricot Streusel and Buttermilk Pie / Roasted apricots atop a buttermilk custard with a sprinkling of crunchy pecan streusel served in a flaky rye pastry shell.
14. Bare Sugar / Spumoni Pie Bites / Yep thats right, Spumoni in a pie!! Bite-sized morsels of flaky, buttery crust, filled with 3 delectable layers…bittersweet chocolate, pistachio pastry cream, and rum soaked cherries….oh yeah!!!
15. Strawberry Fiends Forever / Pride and Prejudice and Strawberries / Luscious mounds of farm-fresh, organic strawberries piled atop a thin, crisp crust. But not just any crust. A crust with a secret. A crust topped with a thin layer of toffee, then topped with a thin layer of chocolate. This pie fulfills the highest purpose of strawberries.
16. Berry Potter / …and the Crimson Tartlets (Triple Berry Pie) / Sweet and tart mini pies with triple berry filling (strawberries, blackberries and raspberries) baked in a flaky, buttery cream cheese crust.
17. Sugar Lush / OG (original grill) Peach Pie / A simple flaky pie crust filled with 3 different kinds of peaches, vanilla, brown sugar and a splash of bourbon, topped with grilled-to-perfection peaches.
18. Sweet Emily Pies / Bootleg Berries and Cream / A summer strawberry cocktail disguised as a pie: Miniature strawberry pies made with organic Farmer’s Market strawberries, locally foraged Meyer lemons, and an organic butter crust, topped with boozy gin-lemon whipped cream.
19. Zest Bakery / Top Shelf Margarita PIe / A gluten-free crust with a super tart tequila and lime, lemon, and orange citrus filling, garnished with Himalayan pink salt.
20. Pie-oneers / Happy Middle Plum Pecan / Introducing the amazing middle crust pie: Mushy, sweet pecan pie on the bottom with crisp, June-picked plums on top, and delicious crust in between. Viva la revolucion and let them eat crust!

*Word to the Wise: Once in a while pending orders fall through 5 – 10 minutes after sales start, so reload like your life depends on it.

Yes. The tickets sell out instantaneously. All 300 of them.

“But why?!” you ask…

There are thousands of people simultaneously reloading the page at 12PM (Pacific Time) to click the “Get Tickets” link which then simultaneously holds all 300 tickets while everyone fills out their payment information.

Please consider this explanation before sending an angry or frustrated email about the tickets selling out quickly.

No, Eventbrite isn’t broken. No, it’s not an evil ploy just to make you upset.

Simply put, this city loves food and we produce an event that you guys love. And we love that about you. So don’t stop believin’, don’t stop tryin’, and if you don’t score tickets this time, remember we always do a giveaway contest on Twitter, oh yeah, and there’s always next time!

illustration by ghostshrimp

The spring season’s best ingredients are making their way into many a dish, but none more perfect than…well, pie, of course! Join SF Food Wars, in partnership with CUESA, on Sunday, June 12, 2011 at The Ferry Building for an afternoon of pie, fresh air while you take a breather, and more pie!

SF Food Wars’ “PIE or DIE!…part deux” will challenge 20 master pie-makers to unleash unto us flaky crusts and luscious fillings. YOU + PIE = OBVIOUSLY!

Each competitor’s pie offering will feature at least one local, in-season ingredient from the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market, giving attendees an incredible chance to experience the season’s best in PIE form…amazing!

Should these pies boast fruit, nuts, chocolate, creme, or custard, one rule stands clear: they must fall into the “sweet” category. We’re all for creative add-ins like herbs, spices, and such, but flavor profiles will lean toward sweet. So you think you have the perfect pie to please all? Read on below for competitors’ entry details.

$16 gets you through the door and into the official pie zone where your vote counts! So all you pie-a-holics, mark yer calendars for Thursday, May 26 at 12PM noon when tickets go on sale.

Complimentary liquid goodness will be provided by Honest…ahhh!!

This event will benefit both the SF Food Bank and CUESA’s Farmer Scholarship Fund.

***CLOSED***CALL FOR COMPETITORS:

Do you make delicious pie? Do you not want to die?

*Email us at . with the following info to apply to compete: Your Name, Dish Name, Dish Description, Phone Number, Email Address

You must be prepared to bake *a lot* of pie and said pie must err on the side of sweet! Timeliness and enthusiasm are key because we will select our competitors within just a few days.

*Food for thought: Imagine serving sample-size (1-2 bites) tastes of your pie to a large audience. How does everyone get to taste your pie at its best? How can you maneuver things to make sure everyone appreciates both the crust and filling? Traditional round pan-based methods may or may not be ideal for your pies…just some food for thought!

*Each competitor will receive a $10 stipend to purchase seasonal ingredients (i.e. produce, nuts, honey, etc.) of their choice from the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market.

***SOLD OUT***TICKET SEEKERS:

Tickets (limited to 300) will go on sale on Thursday, May 26, 2010 at 12PM noon!

The “Get Tickets” button on this site, sffoodwars.com, will appear when they go on sale. Limit 4 tickets per ticket buyer.

Got questions? Check out our FAQ section or email us at .