Pie Patience is Rewarded: Dangerously Delicious on H Street

Photo Courtesy Dangerously Delicious Pies

It must have been fate that just a few weeks ago I was watching “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” on the Food Network (aka Food Porn) when Dangerously Delicious Pies of Baltimore was featured for their “Baltimore Bomb” pie. Apparently it is a favorite of Food Network personality Duff from the show “Ace of Cakes.” Just a few days later I read on a certain blog that the same entity will be opening up a location on H Street NE in a matter of days. I was determined to be one of the first to sample the pieman’s wares, even marching in the rain to the store one weekend only to find out the opening was pushed back. Patience is not the friend of the dessert-lover.

After several rescheduled opening dates and making sure to pick the correct website (separate for DC and Baltimore), I visited Dangerously Delicious DC just two days after they opened their doors. The red and black interior feels transplanted from Adams Morgan, but fits with the wave of nightlife locations now calling H Street home. The decor is fairly sparse, with one long bar showing off the pies and some tables and chairs for dining in. One of the folks on-hand mentioned an outdoor patio space is in the works.

Dangerously Delicious (DD) shows over 40 varieties of pies on their website, but only 8 to 10 are offered each day. I asked the staff how to know what’s offered and was told to “call in for daily selections.” Perhaps as the location settles in they can consider updating the website with daily selections as well. Whole-pie orders can be taken for any variety when placed ahead of time. On the day I ventured to DD, five sweet and five savory selections were available. (Note to DD: if you are only going to have five sweet selections each day, you may want to consider at least one being of a chocolate variety. None were offered the day I was there, though two types of apple pies were. Very disappointing.)

I ventured home with slices of apple and sweet potato for my sweet selections and steak pie for my savory. Sweet pie slices sell for $6 each, and savory for $7.50. That’s steep for a to-go dessert, but in fairness the slices I received were easily sized for two people and constitute almost a fifth of a whole pie.

The steak pie was up first, and was surprisingly good. The generous filling was composed of beef, mushrooms, and a creamy, savory sauce that met its match with the density of the crust. For a place hanging its hat on pie and pie only, I was determined to focus on crust, and this one was buttery and not too dry.

Moving on to sweets, I sampled the apple pie first. The mammoth piece was bursting was apple filling–definitely not from a can–that was cooked to the right consistency so the apples were not mushy. However, the filling tasted too much of cinnamon and not of apple. The fruit was a bit over-spiced for my taste. The crust on this one was good but a bit inconsistent–the bottom being very soggy from the filling and the edges being very crispy and dry. Fortunately, the sweet potato pie saved the day with the light, smooth filling and thin, sweet crust that tasted like it was made by grandma on a cool fall day. I really tasted sweet potato in this gigantic portion (and was happy to save some for the next day).

Yes, I will be back to sample more wares…hopefully chocolate varieties. I will definitely bring a friend too as portions are doled out to share. Though if it’s offered, I’m not sure I’ll share the sweet potato pie.

Dangerously Delicious Pies, 1339 H Street NE. 202-398-PIES. www.dangerouspiesdc.com. Pie slices from $6. Whole pies from $28.