By Sarah Lazarovic

Happy Thanksgiving! If you’re going to a Thanksgiving Dinner and want to pass off a store bought pie as your own what follows is Torontoist’s blind taste test of three pumpkin pies. We asked a lanky librarian with a golden palate to assess pies brought by three different guests to determine which pie was to be served. Here are his findings:

Pie #1:
2 stars out of five
Texture: Particularly soft; almost creamy but not quite
Crust: Salty and should be flakier
Flavour: Really not very good; bad vomit-like aftertaste; probably made from grade-C pumpkins
Suspected Provenance: Bought at Dominion
Actual Provenance: Harbord Bakery
Pie #2:
4 stars out of five; I like this one better
Texture: Even softer than the first
Crust: Darker, more well-cooked; like it was more browned; also pretty salty (Maybe that’s just the nature of pie crust)
Flavour: Sweet; more well-rounded and dynamic; nutmeg
Suspected Provenance: Harbord Bakery
Actual Provenance: Dominion
Pie #3
3 stars out of five
Texture: More mealy than other two
Crust: More solidity than either of the other pies; sweeter and moderately flaky; boring but not bad Flavour: Nutty; less spiced flavour
Suspected Provenance: That’s obviously Allen pie
Actual Provenance: Harbord Bakery
Conclusions: Dominion’s no fuss, slightly greasy pie triumphed over two identical pies from the Harbord Bakery (subsequent assessments cite baking time as the cause for discrepancies in the lanky librarian’s scoring of said pies). Dominion’s pies also sell for the relatively low price of $5 for the 8 inch and $7 for the 10 inch. Your best course of action – buy Dominion’s pie, and transfer it to your own plate.
Happy eating!
Pie order: Dominion, Harbord, Harbord