Gino's 6-inch round Crack Pie. Chow Buzz photo for InterAksyon.com.
Crack (Pie) addicts are on the rise, no thanks to Crack (Pie) dealers finally invading the Manila dessert scene with their own versions of New York-based celebrity chef David Chang’s Momofuku Milk Bar’s trademark Crack Pie.
The Crack Pie, a toasted oat pie crust filled with an extra rich and gooey buttery filling was said to have been invented by Christina Tosi, a pastry chef at Momofuku Milk Bar, when she was still working at WD-50, a Chow Buzz old favorite NYC restaurant, as part of an experiment in pie making. The pie was said to have been named after the popular street drug with the same name, mainly due to its supposedly “addictive,” narcotic-like quality instead of it being named after its main ingredients and appearance.
Gustare's sliced Crack Pie. Chow Buzz photo for InterAksyon.com.
The pie initially surged to popularity in 2009, when CNN’s Anderson Cooper, confessed on a live syndicated American talk show, that he was hooked on “crack”—on Crack Pie, of course. Further investigation later showed that internationally acclaimed chef/cookbook author Martha Stewart may have been hooked to it way before Anderson’s confession, as it had featured the pie in her show a year earlier.
Red Hot Oven's individual-size Crack Pie. Chow Buzz photo for InterAksyon.com.
Gustare (tel: + 632 403-0345), the longest known Crack Pie dealer, has been supplying Crack addicts individual 4-inch round pies for over a year now at its Bonifacio Global City commissary, while Gino’s Brick Oven Pizza (tel: + 632 381-3963), currently sells a limited number of 6-inch round pies daily, while peddling some of the best Neopolitan style pizzas in town and last but, not the least there’s the newest kid on the block, The Red Hot Oven (tel: +63 0917-8194700 / 0918-9624700), a home based operation now supplying the South, with a wide range of Crack Pies in different sizes and even flavors, after recently coming out with Peanut Butter and Pili Crack Pie variants, to cater to those looking for a new level of high.
