The Cornish Pasty - Keswick, UK

Hunger gets the best of us as we hunt fruitlessly for a restaurant that can accommodate us all. 

Fortunately, we can pop into this small, no-seat shop selling warm and flaky creations with fantastic fillings. 

There's a dense Scotch Egg to start, held by the most handsome man, perfectly boiled within a cocoon of sweet sausage and breadcrumb crust. 

The Pork & Apple pasty has a beautiful crust and a surprisingly smooth filling which is savory without too much sweetness. Find a friend to share - these pies are substantially sized. 

A lovely little stop while shopping til you drop. Great stuff to go when you can't or won't sit at one of several saturated restaurants during the peak season of tourists.

Fat + Flour - Los Angeles

Pie! Thick, slices, perfect fillings, beautiful crusts, all PIE! If Dean Winchester were a restaurant, this would be him, and what better way to eat him up?

Apple Raspberry Rhubarb is a signature, so sweet with a strong bit of sour and tart. The oaty crust makes it more like a crumble, which only adds to the impact. 

How do you make a good thing better? Give me more. More of that perfect, PERFECT flaky, crunchy, butter-layered crust! Load it on with the Double Crust Apple pie where carb and sugar hit harmony, and firm and gooey textures tango. 

Banana Cream Pie is more like pudding in crust. Another perfect crust containing a pudding-custard covered in a full two inches of very thick whip. 

Chocolate Chess Pie is 1/3 densely chess and 2/3 sweet, sweet cream. It's so chocolate and it's just so good. 

It's all about the pie so don't bother if you're not here to try the pie. Every slice is spectacular, just come earlier so they don't sell out.

Crustees Eatery - Los Angeles

A bad name for a fantastic place. I get it, there's crust on pies, but it's hard to take a place like this seriously at first. That said, there's also the "Pie Hole" and "Fat + Flour" to contend with, and I can only conclude that the pie places want you to think they're gross. 

The polar opposite of gross is Crustees, which churns out, obviously pies, but not so obviously chili and a Seafood Gumbo that tastes like it was scooped straight from the bayou. The shrimp and crab bring on the seafood savor, and chicken and sausage make a meaty mix. You get more chunks of sausage than any other meat, but don't worry, this is the opposite of a problem.  

A simple Apple Pie that still tastes like apple is an underrated thing. I love that they make theirs tart rather than sugaring it to death, so it still tastes like a pie full of apple. 

All the sugar they didn't put in the pie went right into their famous Banana Pudding, on the other hand, has all the sugar they didn’t put in the pie. I love me a good banana pudding, but I can't tell you which is better than the rest. This one's good. Super sweet for my taste, but it's good so get it to share if you caught a craving.

I'm not going to lie, nine dollars per pie is pretty steep when the pie's only 5 inches wide. But they are family owned, and good ingredients and rent are never cheap so if I'm supporting anyone nowadays, I'm glad to be supporting them. 

Piroshky Piroshky UPDATE - Seattle, WA

When I think of my Seattle trip all those years ago, PIroshky always comes to mind.  It was a whirlwind of Russian rolls, both savory and sweet, with such perfect pastry crusts and wrappers.

I jumped at the chance to pick them up from a Playa parking lot last week, hoping to revisit Seattle in my stomach. The nostalgia didn't disappoint, but the pies themselves sure did. The packing job was poor, some a little squished from the weight of the ice packs, flimsy paper bags failing covering pies getting soggy with melting condensation. 

They do heat up well enough, but the oven temp and time they give you leaves the center cold. It's a battle to calibrate, and I only have so many pies to mess with. 

My favorite is the seasonal Swedish Meatball. It has big, tender meatballs in every bite, and every bite is awesome. 

Smoked Salmon Pate was smoky, a flaky fish with a balanced cream cheese to stick it together, but not so much that it's cheesy.  

The Moscow Roll is unusual, in the best possible way. Cream of wheat adds texture and dilutes the bavarian cream. Makes it a little more interesting. 

Apple Cinnamon is one you'd recognize. A run-of-the-mill roll with Granny Smiths sticking out. I like the tart twist, and it's a lovely classic.

Beef & Cheese is a dense one, a savory starter if you're looking for a meal. It's a brick of ground beef, heavy on the onion. I like it, but not everybody would agree.

The Cinnamon Cardamom Braid tastes as pretty as it looks. Cardamom adds an earthy aroma and spices up the citrus. 

Chocolate Cream Hazelnut is so delicious, buttery-sweet like a pudding in solid form. 

I'm still a sucker for their Rhubarb. Sweet and tart like strawberry, it's hand pie with extra crust. 

Nothing is better than getting your piroshky hot and fresh, and delivery, especially the way they pack it, puts a real damper on these delicious things. I still love this place because I've seen what they can do under the right condition, but next time I get Piroshky, I'll do it in Seattle.

Morfia's Ribs & Pies - Venice

The location is convenient, and I'm always down for some southern soul. Props to Morfia's for being in the only part of Venice I can stand, and the proximity to turtle racing at Brennan's is a bonus.

Two Combination Plates for a group of five, and it could have fed us all twice over. Generous portions of monstrous beef ribs, which are moist and flavorful in the middle; softer, more tender pork ribs, and an entire half-chicken slathered with barbecue sauce.

The other plate has more pork ribs, some brisket, and a pile of pulled pork. Ribs are definitely their specialty - recommend sticking to those. 

Collared Greens and Baked Beans are standard sides.

Those, as well as the Mac n' Cheese taste exactly like what you'd eat at a Baptist church potluck. 

The meat plates also come with some decent Cornbread. The sweeter carb breaks up all the meat.

The sweet tea could be sweeter. It has way less sugar than the pie, which means they didn't add enough. To be fair, they probably know their audience - Californians can't hold their sweet stuff.

Southern barbecue isn't complete without Pecan Pie, and the a la mode gives it a little extra.

There's a Peanut Butter Pie that's creamy, likely a very fluffy cheesecake, and there's a clear reason they're named "ribs & pies." 

Morfia's named itself for a reason. This cute little shack-joint is guiding you on what to order; stick to the ribs and pies and pick a day when you want take-out or it's not too hot to eat inside. Overall, not a bad place at all. Inexpensive, filling, and a lot of food for not much of your wallet. 

The Pie Hole - Hollywood

Pie Hole in preparation for the hell hole that is Love Never Dies. Really, we were just looking for something quick, easy, and affordable near the Pantages, but I think we're onto something.

The Steak n' Ale is h-ale and hearty. It's a more solid beef stew that tastes like beef stew and Guinness in your stomach...after you consume both and shake your stomach to mix the two.

The Chicken and Cornbread is more of the comfort food. I don't detect much cornbread, otherwise it's a great chicken pot pie.

For dessert there is a Strawberry Lavender Hand Pie. Shaped like a large half-dumpling, a flaky crust and a thick layer of icing enfolds a fragrant strawberry filling that finishes surprisingly smooth.

Pie Hole is a place that snuck up on me. I expected a few steps above fast food, a fun but quality quick experience, and a carb-loaded alternative to Tender Greens. I got just that, but there is something so fun and fulfilling about filling up with pies both savory and sweet, and I guess I'm not the only one because Pie Hole has already gone global!

Piroshky Piroshky - Seattle

Off the cruise ship and onto the streets of Seattle. Not traditionally a food capital, but definitely rising in the ranks.

The food adventure begins at Pike Place Market because the first thing I want is something that isn't processed, mashed, or made into compote in a corporate, cruise-ship kitchen.

I would kill for a Fresh Rhubarb pie, and I can smell the dough baking from 20 feet away. No bloodshed required, but the line will try your patience at the ever-popular Piroshky Piroshky. The golden, baked-this-morning, hand-pie crusts are a sight for sore cruise-eyes, and this square of fresh rhubarb is to-die-for, with a filling of sweet cream accented by a pulpy tang.

Steam is still rising from the Potato and Cheese as I claw it open. The potato is soft and salty, a baked potato in a half-moon pastry; firm cheddar topped with a fresh breath of dill.

The best-selling Beef and Cheese is a baked bowl of salt n' pepper ground beef sprinkled with more yellow-melt. It's basically a beefaroni-cheeseburger, Russian style.

The Smoked Salmon Pate is oblong with a mid-line suture and a whimsical fishtail that barely holds back the ample belly of finely-chopped salmon flakes. The blend of woodsy smoked salmon with a modest cream cheese paste enriches the smoldering flavor and turns the flaky texture luxurious.

Piroshky Piroshky, small pies small pies, with crusts that leave a lingering impression and fillings that are hard to forget. So what if I didn't see Russia from anyone's Alaskan house; at least I got to taste Russia from Pike Place.