Put These Gorgeous Pies on Your Thanksgiving Table This Year

As we’ve already announced, it’s never too early to start thinking about Thanksgiving dessert. And while you can’t really go wrong with classic pumpkin or a streusel-topped apple pie, there’s also something to be said for going a more unexpected route for your meal’s sweet ending — which is where the Bay Area’s roster of talented bakers comes in. Leave the basic baked goods to someone else and pull out something that’s sure to impress everyone at the table.

Here are four options for Thanksgiving pie orders around the Bay; if you’re looking for more, also check out our map of where to find some of the region’s best pies both during the holiday season and year-round.

Grand Opening

Star baker Melissa Chou sells her photo-worthy pastries out of a window in Chinatown, crafting a menu that reflects her personal taste and style. For Thanksgiving this year, the former Mister Jiu’s pastry chef and San Francisco native offers burnt honey pie, which builds on a base of classic buttermilk pie but adds wild honey to the custard and comes topped with beeswax cream and pollen. Other options include a kabocha cheese tart with miso caramel, a black sesame apple tart with streusel, black sesame kabocha tea cake, a Parisian egg tart, and a chocolate-hazelnut Paris-Brest with milk chocolate ginger chantilly. Tarts and pies come in either 8 or 10-inch sizes and range from $84 to $94. Orders can be placed on the Grand Opening website for pick-up in either San Francisco at Mister Jiu’s (November 22 to November 24) or in Oakland on Wednesday, November 23.

— Lauren Saria, Eater SF editor

La Kalidad

La Kalidad folds Filipino flavors into cakes and pies, turning out stunning creations with frosting piped to swoopy perfection. For pie lovers this Thanksgiving, the bakery offers two flavors of whole pies ($56), including turon brulee — a take on the fried Filipino dessert featuring caramelized saba bananas folded into lumpia wrappers — and ube halaya cheesecake pie. The bakery also does its own version of a frankenpie ($58) with both the aforementioned flavors, plus a slice apple pecan crumble; calamansi berry meringue, with the Filipino citrus flavoring the curd filling and a Graham cracker crust; champorado cream pie, reminiscent of the Filipino chocolate rice porridge; and buko pandan pie with coconut pastry cream, shredded young coconut, and pandan ganache. Thanksgiving pre-orders are currently open on the La Kalidad website, with two pickup locations on both sides of the Bay Bridge, in Daly City and in Hayward, on November 23 and 24.

— Dianne de Guzman, Eater SF deputy editor

Abaca

Never forget that before opening his sunny homage to modern Californian Filipino food in Fisherman’s Wharf, chef Francis Ang was a renowned pastry chef at restaurants including Fifth Floor Restaurant and Dirty Habit. This is to say that it’s fair to expect the Thanksgiving pies from Abaca will live up to the hype. On the menu: buko pandan pie with pistachio pandan crumble and calamansi meringue pie with candied calamansi. If both sound too good to miss, fear not — there’s also the option to order a pie that’s half of each. Orders can be placed on Resy and each whole pie costs $45. Pick-up will be at Abaca on Wednesday, November 23 from 2 to 8 p.m.

— Lauren Saria, Eater SF editor

Tarts De Feybesse

Husband-and-wife team Paul and Monique Feybesse are well-known around the Bay Area for their impressively sculpted apple tarts and gorgeous eclairs. For Thanksgiving, Tarts de Feybesse has a few special items available for pre-order including an apple flaugnarde pie ($36), which blends the French dessert with a good ol’ fashioned American classic; cinnamon caramelized apples get baked in custard then come capped with a decorative crust. Other options include a pecan tart ($35) and an impressive pumpkin St. Honore tart ($75) built of pumpkin cream-filled choux puffs. Orders can be placed on the Tarts de Feybesse website for delivery in San Francisco on November 22 between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.

— Lauren Saria, Eater SF editor