Three Babes Bakeshop is what they call a pop-up. It's not a full fledged restaurant bakery but more like a small stand that sets up shop inside of another business, in this case they are in the courtyard of Stable Cafe near the corner of 17th and Folsom. Pop-ups are a relatively new trend that allows new chefs/bakers/cooks who can't afford to open a whole restaurant, a place to try out their recipes and build business while also bringing in new business to an established place that maybe can benefit from a new clientele. Whatever the case, it like the new new thing in San Francisco now, much like what food trucks were a few years ago. Anyway, I got on a bus then another bus and schlepped my way over there having heard a multitude of raves about their pies, which now seem to be the new cupcake.
Nestled in a back corner of Stable's outdoor patio was a small booth. Listed on one of the doors was that days selection of pies, which change on a daily basis and depending on what they find from their local organic food supplier and farmers market. Making them a totally food pc people which goes over big here. This day they were sporting about six sweet pies and only one savory. Seems normally they have two savory but had already run out of one by the time I got there. They seem to specialize in interesting mixes of ingredients like White Nectarine Blackberry, Black Raspberry Rhubarb or Santa Rose Plum and Tayberries. I decided to go a little traditional and try the Sweet Honey Peach Lattice for my sweet and went of course with the only savory Tomato Basil Parmesan. As you can see from the photo above I think the slices they give are kind of on the small side and when you are paying $5 a slice I felt they could have been a little freer with the knife cuts.
First up the savory: because they are in an outside set-up they didn't have a way to warm up the pie which to be honest might have helped it a little. I'm going to say it was just ok. I found the basil a bit overwhelming and the eggplant and tomato in the pie were just a tad over-cooked and I couldn't even taste the spinach though it was plentiful. The parmesan was more like a sprinkling across the top only and probably needed to be kicked up a notch in order to off-set some of the basil flavor. They told me there was a hint of mint and they weren't kidding. I caught just the barest whiff of it before, again, the basil killed if off. I tasted more garlic than mint and actually spent the rest of the day burping up basil-garlic fumes. Not appealing.
Next up the sweet: again it could have used a little warmth, maybe then I might have splurged the extra dollar for the scoop of ice cream they were pushing with every slice. I have to say this was not as sweet as I thought it was going to be, especially with the honey. The peaches had an interesting tanginess to them that was, well, just ok. My biggest peeve with the pie however was the fact that they left the skin on the peaches and no I did not like that at all. It changed the texture of the filling for me and was just a distraction to what should have been a good pie.
Now all the above being said there was one saving grace that both slices had and that my friends was their crust. For both pies the crust was the same and I have to say it was very good. Crunchy, flaky, crumbly and buttery buttery buttery. And this fact alone gives me hope that maybe I just chose the wrong fillings this time around and on my next visit I will be more careful with my selections. Though I will definitely skip the savory, unless they have some really hearty thing with LOTS of bacon, and go straight for the sweet and I may even plop down that dollar for some ice cream.
