Kauff Reviews A Bunch of Pies, Criolla Bewitches Reidinger

Kauff confirms the whole "pie is the new cupcake" thing. Then he weighs in on a new band of "roving pie bakers," flitting around the city in various guises: pop-ups, delivery services and what have you. To begin with, there's Sunde White's Pie Fridays, baking up a lemon pie Kauff says "outshines" every other lemon pie in town. At Old Oakland's PieTisserie, key lime pie is "perfectly correct." Then Three Babes Bakeshop seems to talk a big game. The winner seems to be the apricot cherry pie from Butter Love Bakeshop: "It may be the best pie I've ever bought from a pro. It tasted, dare I say, homemade." [SF Weekly]

Reidinger isn't expecting much out of Bagdad Cafe replacement Criolla Kitchen. It's with some shock that he ends up "bewitched" by chef Randy Lewis' menu. Moving on from the "flavorful but slightly dry" ribs, the fried chicken, coleslaw, potato salad, hush puppies and pretty much everything else is "brightly seasoned, full of life...reasonably priced." [SFBG]

Mahatma Bauer tries the "reintroduced" version of Palo Alto Indian restaurant Mantra, sporting new menus of sharable plates and cocktails(!). "While the food and ambience are well thought out, service is weak...It partly dulled our enthusiasm for the food, but not so much that I wouldn't try it again." 2.5 stars

The Elsewhere: Chron grabs Bar Bites at Prospect, including a burger with bacon and kimchi and a strawberry mint julep, Marin IJ has a cold one at Guaymas, the EBX reviews James Syhabout's "I'm-cooking-what-I-fucking-want-to-cook approach" at Hawker Fare and the Merc calls Oakland's Disco Volante "eclectic."

Three Babes Bakeshop menu. [Photo: pine to the pacific]