Achatz Pies

Was at Whole Foods today and ran across Achatz pies in the bakery. I know Grant has family and relatives in the industry - is he related to these Achatz's.

Also, has anyone tried the pies and how are they - I should have picked one up.

Yes, his parents ran a restaurant in Michigan, and then started the pie company.

Never had 'em, I don't think, but I'd bet they're good.

They looked really good and they are not inexpensive - $22 a pie.

Hi,

I have several of their tin pie forms picked up at rummage sales. I had wondered the very same thing and thank you for your query. Mystery solved, though now I would like to try their pies.

Regards,

Anything with the name "Achatz" on it has to be good.

I'm going back to Whole Foods tomorrow and picking up one.

I've never bought a whole Achatz pie but have bought slices of Achatz cherry pie at Whole Foods before and have always been very pleased with them. None of that goopy bright red cherry crap, good flaky crust, all around enjoyable pie-ness.

You can buy slices?

Snark wrote:You can buy slices?

Yup, if you look in the cooler with the other individually packaged desserts (little tarts and cakes) you can usually find a couple different kinds of the achatz pies, in slices.

I get the Achatz apple pie slices from WF every now and then and always enjoyed them...they're flavorful and not too sweet, and not too heavy either (like the Rolf's pie I had once was tooo rich).

Anything with the name "Achatz" on it has to be good.

Gesundheit!

Wow, this is great news. If it's anywhere near the quality of the meal I had at Achatz's restaurant last week I'll be more than pleased.

I have been eating their Michigan five berry pie for years since my arrival in Chicago. Honestly, it is better than anything I could make. Treasure Island sells them also, usually for a bit less than Whole Foods. As opposed to slices, occasionally, TI, will have 4 inch mini pies.

I really like them, yet had never thought of the correlation to Grant.

Not that it's of much use now, but these pies are usually 1/2 off at Whole Foods the day after Thanksgiving and sometimes on Thanksgiving day itself. I've had the apple and a mixed berry and they are quite nice.

I had the good fortune of tasting one of their cherry pies today at a get-together. This was my first taste of an Achatz pie.

It was an excellent, prototypical tart cherry pie. Worth the price.

Best,
Michael

Jayz wrote:Wow, this is great news. If it's anywhere near the quality of the meal I had at Achatz's restaurant last week I'll be more than pleased.

Where's the restaurant? I have to go MI soon.

As a pie baker, I was quite surprised by the homemade tasting crust and top-quality fruit of the Achatz pie I had yesterday. Now I finally have a shortcut to great pie! Who knew? No shortcut in the Leon's custard, though. I think a drive to Milwaukee would effectively eliminate any time saved on the pie.

Yes, his parents ran a restaurant in Michigan, and then started the pie company.

Not true.

Grant's father is Grant Sr. and his mother's name is Barbara.

The owners of the pie company are Wendy and Dave Achatz.

My bad, thanks for the correction.

Do you know if there is a relation?

I believe Wendy is his cousin.

I love the 5 berry, apple and cherry. They are great warmed up in the oven for 15-20 minutes and served with ice cream.

Last weekend, my local Whole Paycheck was sampling a new line of cakes and cookies baked by Achatz. I had the opportunity to sample their excellent iced lemon cookie. It had a crumbly soft cake like consitency, covered with a both tart and sweet lemony sugar frosting and topped with what appeared to be finely chopped pistachios.

It was a very good cookie.

Snark wrote:They looked really good and they are not inexpensive - $22 a pie.

Holy shit!

Looks like I'll be making a chocolate-crusted cherry pie myself.

I don't know if if was a sale, but I know I've seen them at WF for $16 or 17 lately.

Saw these at WF this weekend and needed a quick dessert - they weren't priced, but the bakery person checked and said the mini-pies were $4 (and they are no sugar added, I was very curious about that but they were too small for my needs) and the large were $6! I'm guessing that was an error, but I can't find my receipt to check. At that price these are a real steal - but I saw somewhere that WF is having a BOGO sale on them, so perhaps I paid double - which puts them at the last listed price below, and seems about right for the size and quality.

At any rate, the two-crust cherry pie we got was very, very good - my only complaint was that the cherries themselves seemed a bit tough, but that may be a ding against all cherry pie and not just this one. As others have said, this was a nice, tart pie with a nice crust - no goopy awfulness here, and it oozed out of the edges when cut just like my pies do.

Either they were deeply discounted or you benefited from cashier's error. I believe that the large pies are about $18, not a great price, but not a bad one, for a stellar supermarket pie.

I've been eating them for a few years.....they are good. They are not very sweet. They are probably one of the better store bought pies if you don't like overly sweet baked goods.

Mhays wrote: a BOGO sale...

Is this a twitter thing?

No, suddenly the world decided one day that we all knew that meant "buy one get one," even though we didn't.

Hi- This pie is wonderful. The elderly couple that I cook for love their pie. The husband loves pies, but will only let me buy Achatz pies, or pies from Bennison's or Tag's, or Rolf's, and he will not let me buy Bennison's apple pie in a bag.

I have tried most of the pies from Achatz, and I like them all. Right now they have their strawberry rhubarb pie on sale at WF for $12.99 for a 10" pie. Hope this helps, Nancy