To eat humble pie means to apologize and to face humiliation for a serious error. Yet, contrary to what the idiom implies, eating humble pie courtesy of Humble, located at 10 S. Allen St., will not cause humiliation. In fact, the only potential error in this scenario would stem from one’s failure to bask in the deliciousness that is Humble. For within the close confines of this corner bakeshop rests a highly concentrated aroma of caramelized sugar and autumnal spices heartily injected with a dose of bonafide love. It’s just like grandma’s house.
The bakery also engages pie fans with its deliciously enervating Facebook posts. While these viral announcements are most certainly not in your body’s best interest, these guys offer true therapy for the soul. Not much can brighten the day more than reading rapturous descriptions of the bakery’s daily menu, laden with pictorial representations of their latest sugary concoctions.
The name Humble serves as a sincere embodiment of the way in which sisters and co-owners of the pie shop — Shelly Cross and Jill Long — run their business. Devoted to the concept of extracting bold flavors out of a modest set of ingredients, Humble expertly resembles the degree of humility and delicious subtlety that its name implies. With an admirable dedication to locally-sourced, farm-fresh ingredients, Humble offers pies that are both estimable for their divine flavor profiles and dedication to the sustainable food movement. With a tantalizing menu of sweet and savory pies that rotates based on local availability, each week delivers a wonderfully unforeseen array of seasonally-inspired pie varieties.
Humble pies thankfully come in more than nine shapes and sizes, which allow for great versatility for customers and their various events. Free-form slab pies and large rustic tarts offer copious amounts of sugary goodness, while the rustic pinch pies and tiny pie bites are perfection in terms of indulgence for one. Regardless of size, Humble blurs the line between sweet and savory by making pies that gloriously meld both of these two distinct taste classes. Most recently, their menu has incorporated the wondrous tastes of fall with the classic sweet flavors of pumpkin, apple, rustic plum, salted honey, pecan and cardamom sweet potato, as well as the more savory flavors with bacon leek potato quiche, chicken pot pie, rosemary grape and goat cheese pasty.
A fair amount of new flavor developments can also be found on the menu, specifically in the form of a delightful maple glazed sweet potato, goat cheese galette. An indulgently flaky brandied apricot and brie hand pie as well as an innovative creamy chocolate tart in a parmesan walnut crust join these tasty concoctions. In spite of the ever-changing pie varieties at Humble, the selection is not complete without the nearly unfailing presence of one of the shop’s best sellers: the chocolate peanut butter pie. A classic fixation of all two-legged beings who are fortunate enough to not have a peanut allergy, chocolate and peanut butter are the perfect dessert partners-in-crime. Their compatibility beats that of peanut butter and jelly any day, and Humble’s version of the classic duo certainly proves it.
Humble is excellence on all levels. Their minimalistic approach to the art of pie craft combined with constant development of their weekly menu is commendable. Eat Humble pie and be humbled by its sheer deliciousness.
