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Pies on the Plaza
Pies on the Plaza
NORMA MILLER CHECKS THE SLIP OF PAPER taped to the stainless steel kitchen counter that lists the amounts of flour, salt, sugar, butter, shortening and ice water needed for a piecrust. She pauses and eyes the 32-cup container of flour. It's only half full now, but that amount should last. The pie-making frenzy at the Southmoreland on the Plaza ends the next evening on Thanksgiving. Then, the eating begins.
This year marks the seventh annual Pie Fest at the historic 13-room inn on East 46th Street a few blocks northeast of Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri. More than 100 people—inn guests, neighbors, friends and family—arrive at Pie Fest minutes after the holiday lights flick on in the Plaza. That event, complete with live music and a fireworks display, draws more than 75,000 people each Thanksgiving.
But Pie Fest begins as a family affair. Owners Mark Reichle and wife Nancy Miller Reichle (Norma's daughter) welcome nearly a dozen out-of-town family members during the Thanksgiving holiday. They all pitch in to roll out piecrust, slice fruit, bake pies and string lights all over the Colonial Revival home in time for Thanksgiving night.
The process starts the weekend before; by Thursday, the cooling table off the kitchen fills with pies. By noon, two picture-perfect, lattice-topped cherry pies; a double-crust boysenberry; and two soon-to-be filled tart crusts sit side-by-side on wire racks.
The aroma of spices and chocolate beckons from the kitchen, where voices mingle with the clatter of utensils, the hum of the mixer and a promise of pies to come.
