Peanut butter pie at Elmo's Diner

For several years now, people have been telling me about the peanut butter pie at Elmo's Diner (downtown Carrboro, NC), saying things like, "You have to try it!," or "It's the best pie ever," or "It's the only pie that I like."

Despite these rave reviews, I had yet to try a slice until last night. After a long walk through town we were itching for something sweet. We were about to step into the grocery store to buy a pint of ice cream when the Elmo's Diner sign caught my eye: "Let's get some peanut butter pie instead!" I said... and that we did.

To be perfectly honest, most slices of pie that I try in restaurants are true disappointments. The crust is rarely worth eating and the filling generally tastes as if it has been sitting, neglected, for several too many hours (or days in some cases). Considering those two factors alone, the Elmo's peanut butter pie was a treat. The crust was made of graham crackers, and while nothing too unusual, it was actually tasty and managed to avoid the usual fateful problem of a flaky-crust-gone-wrong. The graham cracker crust also served to offer a nice textural contrast to the smooth peanut butter filling. The Elmo's diner folk are smart, too: they avoided the problem of having their pie waste away to a mediocre near-expiration quality by sticking the whole thing in the freezer. Our slice was served frozen, dominated by a creamy cold peanut butter filling, drizzled with also frozen chocolate, and topped with a dollop of light whip cream that serves as a lovely counterbalance to the cold and sweet peanut butter filling.

My review is not without criticism, however, First and foremost, the filling was entirely too sweet. Such sweetness nearly overwhelmed the peanut butter flavor on which we should have been focused. Secondly, the quality of the chocolate drizzles could have been superior, perhaps more rich and, again, less sweet.

All in all though, this is a pie that is worth trying. Not as good as homemade pie but in a pinch and when faced with a sugar craving, a slice is well worth the relatively low $3.50 price-tag and the trip out to Elmo's.