Pie Lady – Memphis Flyer

2017 was looking to make me a liar. In last year’s “Look Ahead” story, I had several places set to open that just barely made it this year. They include: Sunrise, the biscuit-centered breakfast place from Central BBQ’s Craig Blondis and Roger Sapp and Sweet Grass’ Ryan Trimm, which opened in late November; the food hall South Main Market, which held a grand opening on December 2nd with an opening roster of promising eateries; and the Liquor Store, from the same folks as City & State, which opened in November.

One of the bigger food stories was related to the opening of the Crosstown Concourse building. Mama Gaia was the first out of the gate in early spring. They were followed by French Truck Coffee, Farm Burger, Next Door Eatery, MemPops, So Nuts, Curb Market, and I Love Juice Bar. I frequent the place and pay — gasp! — $11 for a small smoothie from the Juice Bar at least once a week.

Closing down and moving on: The first location of LYFE Kitchen in East Memphis closed in the fall. The second, in the Chisca downtown, closed for a short while and reopened as a reinvented space with a new menu and new decor. Also seeing new life were Brass Door and the Riverfront Grill (now the Front Porch), both forced into shape by Deni and Patrick Reilly of the Majestic Grill. The much-beloved Elwood’s Shack was closed for several months after a fire in December. It reopened in March.

Happy news: The Cosmic Coconut was turned into the City Silo, a vegan-forward space with several great, thoughtful dishes. The oldie but goodie Front Street Deli changed owners and reopened with a John Grisham-themed menu.

Elwood Shack

Sunrise

More milestones: Beauty Shop marked its 15th year with beehives and 1997 prices. Jim’s Grill, the longtime place for graduate lunches and Mother’s Day brunches, closed for good after an attempt at a revival by Alex Grisanti. Other Memphis favorites, the Peanut Shoppe on Summer closed earlier this month after 58 years and Spaghetti Warehouse closed after 30 years in downtown.

A few things found life beyond the confines of this column. Let’s start with Meddlesome and its cheekily named 201 Hoplar IPA, which a lot of folks found problematic, while the vast majority really loved the name-play. (Also, the IPA is really good.) Another hit was the video by Michael Donahue of the “Pie Lady” Katherine Perry. Perry made her caramel pie and a few others and found an enrapt audience. That video had more than one million (!) views. David Scott of Dave’s Bagels is, how do we put it???, super-hot. And folks like his freshly made, truly excellent bagels, too. You can find them pretty much everywhere.

After pouring millions into the old 19th Century Club building to open the restaurant Izakaya, the owners quickly reconsidered the rather unfocused approach, reopening as the chiefly Japanese and quite good Red Fish. The popular food truck Sushi Jimmi found new life in a brick and mortar space on Poplar. The same goes for Riko’s Kickin’ Chicken, which opened on Madison near Cleveland. Lucky Cat gathered quite a following for its pop-ups before settling on a space at the corner of Cooper and Peabody.

Nobody knows trouble like Taylor Berger. His grand vision for shipping crates serving as a venue was almost quashed as the some of the campus of Railgarten did not have proper inspection. It was all eventually worked out, and now the place serves as a happy meeting ground for young folks looking for fun.

Kathryn Perry made her first pie from a recipe in her fourth-grade arithmetic book.

“It was a recipe for cookies,” she said. “I asked my mom if I could do this, and she said, ‘Yes, go on. I guess I’ll let you mess up my sugar and flour and what have you.'”

That was thousands of pies ago. Perry, 75, makes 30 pies a week for Bozo’s Hot Pit Bar-B-Que in Mason, Tennessee. People call her “The Pie Lady.”

“I make coconut, egg custard, chocolate, German chocolate, pecan, caramel, cherry, apple, lemon meringue, and key lime.”

by her work

Everything is from scratch. And Perry doesn’t use recipes.

A native of Somerville, Perry said her mother was a good cook. “My mom never used self-rising or anything like that. She always used baking powder, soda, and salt.

“She could just make the best soup. Not with all these different vegetables and things in them like we use now. She would use soup bone and potatoes and onions and tomatoes. It was good.”

Her mother hurt her back, so Perry took over the kitchen duties when she was 13. She already knew her way around the kitchen because she watched her mom cook. Perry prepared dinner, which included fried chicken and vegetables, including green beans, pinto beans, cabbage, and squash.

Perry cooked for her husband after they were married in 1968. “He was satisfied with meat and bread. He wanted biscuits every day.”

After her son and daughter were born, Perry went to work as a teacher’s assistant at Jefferson Elementary. She also studied computer science at night at a technical school.

She later became a secretary at Jefferson, where she remained for three years before moving to Oakland Elementary, where she worked as a secretary for 31 years.

Perry got into desserts after her children began volunteering her to make cupcakes. “I made pies for the teachers.”

She became known for her pies when she went to work 30 years ago at The Hut in Somerville. Her dad, who did the barbecue, asked her if she would make pies at the restaurant during her summer vacation. She ended up staying at The Hut.

“They always just called me ‘The Pie Lady.’ At school, this lady who worked in the office with me made me a bunch of cards with ‘Pie Lady’ on it.”

Perry left The Hut about 10 years ago after she was offered a job at Bozo’s.

She makes pies two days a week. Perry, who still works for the school system, says, “I just monitor on the school bus. Sit down and look at the children.”

She also cooks once a month for her AARP meeting. She recently prepared chicken salad, which she served with potato chips, lettuce, and tomatoes.

Perry still makes an occasional pie at home. “Well, there’s not that many people at my house to eat pie. So, most of the time when I make it at home, I’m making it for a neighbor or somebody.”

She also cooks for her six grandchildren. Her 14-year-old will enter her kitchen and say, “Whatcha cookin’, Gran?” They love her spaghetti and chili, she says.

What’s the most difficult pie to make? “Well, if you don’t really know what you’re doing, the caramel pie would be a difficult one for you because your milk and your sugar have to be the same temperature to keep the caramelized sugar from curdling.”

Perry forgot to add sugar the first time she made caramel pie. She threw it out because it was too bitter.

But, she says, “It was so beautiful.”

Pie Lady from Michael Donahue on Vimeo.

Kathryn Perry is the Pie Lady