The Pie Hole

 
     South of Little Tokyo is a pocket of coffee shops and eclectic stores with everything from the poems of Sun Ra to a $750 watch and on a corner of this hipster island is the best pie I have had for quite some time. The location itself felt a bit small, but friendly enough to be called cozy. Small two-person tables lined the front flanked by foldout chairs while inside was one long, wide wooden table with a smattering of four person desks filled with people working on their computers. It felt like a neighborhood hangout: a place to go with a friend you haven’t seen in some time.

 
     As much of a coffee-lover as I am I never expect a dessert place to have good coffee because it is merely icing on the cake so to speak. Coffee with dessert is meant to reset the taste buds so they do not become overwhelmed and desensitized to sugar. Therefore all that is asked of a coffee is to be bitter and thankfully The Pie Hole does so much more and has a vimeo-level hipster video to prove it. Their House blend is mild and toasty while their Dark Arts Espresso is sweet and strong with a thick caramel crema and berry body that blends well with milk and never bitters till the final drop.

 Now, a note about pie: It is a common tactic to bludgeon the fruit or filling with sugar until it submits to a uniformly saccharine sludge, but it takes a more developed palate to want something to contrast the sweetness. For instance, their maple custard, which could have easily been too sweet, had an almost burnt taste in its top layer that contrasted the maple custard below, giving the pie balance much like creme brulee or flan. Another unexpected pie highlight was the Earl Grey pie, which went quite well with their coffee despite the Jets/Sharks relationship between coffee and tea. I believe this was made possible by understating the flavor of Earl Grey in a small layer at the bottom of the pie so the bitter herbal flavor of bergamot was swept away by a blanket of crème and crushed pistachios.

Atmosphere: Hipster, Cozy
Beans: Roasted In-house
Price: $

714 Traction Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90013 Google Map
thepieholela.com