Gray House Pies - West Side Decedance

Recently WNCX had a sale on the gift certificates available on its website; you could get $50 gift certificates for $15, a very good deal. One of the sets of certificates that I picked up was 5 $10 certificates for Gray House Pies at 22560 Lorain Road, Fairview Park, Ohio 44126 (see map here). I had not heard of them before, but a quick search online turned up some very good reviews, so I figured it was worth a shot. So on Saturday I took a nice ride through the Metroparks, stopped off for a wonderful meal at Melt and then headed over to Gray House. You need to pay attention to the address, since Gray House is located in a small strip of fairly nondescript shops and the only sign out front is a "Pie" sign. Once inside, you have a nice homey feeling bakery front with a refrigerated case under the counter with fruit pies displayed behind. The pies all look spectacular and there were small samples of blueberry pie on the counter. The blueberry pie was very good, with the blueberries tasting fresh and less overly sweet than many pies you encounter. The pies come in 8" and 12" sizes and there are fruit pies, cream and specialty pies and quiches available. You need to ask for pricing, since none are posted, but it seems that fruit pies and quiches start around $11 and the cream pies start around $13. The list of varieties available are listed here. The man in charge was incredibly helpful showing off what was available and talking about the flavors. He is either very proud of his work or very cruel, making sure to show me the Chocolate Mountain Mud Pie and its variations topped with Strawberries or Raspberries along with the other decedent cream pies available. I finally settled on a small chocolate malt cream pie. Once again the man showed his concern for the product, when he learned on would be taking the pie back to Beachwood on my motorcycle, he went to get an ice pac for the ride, and when he found that he was out he tried to give me several dollars to buy a bag of ice for the trip home. I refused, but did really appreciate the offer, it is nice to see someone more worried about his reputation then the bottom line. So the pie made it home, although the whipped cream did melt a bit. The pie itself is incredibly good. The crust is made of crushed chocolate cookies that they bake fresh and it shows, the crust is rich and chocolaty on its own. The filling is a very good chocolate pastry cream, it has a thick texture and you can tell that it is made from high quality ingredients. This is much different than most cream pies and more resembles a custard like texture and taste. If you are looking for some very high quality pies give Gray House a try, they may very well be the best you have tasted.