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<\/p>\nPie Day<\/i>?\u00a0 Who thought of this?\u00a0 And who would be crazy enough to drive 170 miles to check it out?\u00a0 Pie Day?<\/p>\n
Well, to answer the second question, I was.\u00a0 Clay\u2019s Family Restaurant, a stone\u2019s throw from the Michigan state line on former US27, just held its eighth annual Pie Day to celebrate what many agree they do best.\u00a0 Mind you, most all their food is worth celebrating, not just their scrumptious pies. \u00a0 But they make about thirty different kinds, and their customers find themselves in a quandary as to which one to choose\u2013assuming they are capable after finishing their meals, which are tasty and generous.\u00a0 And so. . . Pie Day was born.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve written about Clay\u2019s before.\u00a0 (Check them out here Clay’s Family Restaurant<\/a> ) For sixty years this family-run restaurant, perched above Lake George not far from Pokagon State Park, has offered great food and friendly service to local folks and people passing through who prefer the old highways.\u00a0 When the restaurant opened, US27 was one of the major routes into Michigan, all the way up to the Straits of Mackinac.\u00a0 When I-69 opened decades ago, US27 was routed onto it, but business remains brisk at Clay\u2019s, owing, no doubt, to its having laid such a solid foundation.<\/p>\n Their entrees and especially the soups are fabulous, but the pies are positively divine.\u00a0 I learned of Pie Day last year and thought it might be fun to do.\u00a0 This is how it works:\u00a0 normally Clay\u2019s is closed on Mondays, but in June there comes a Monday designated as Pie Day when, for just four mad hours, Clay\u2019s is open.\u00a0 The restaurant sells advance tickets for a buffet offering of every pie they make\u2013cut into smaller-than-normal pieces, of course, so one has a better chance of sampling several.\u00a0 Just so that it is not complete decadence, along with the plethora of pies, Clay\u2019s serves soups and melt-in-your-mouth pot roast.\u00a0 Tickets, priced at $12.99 for all you care to eat, sell out quickly.\u00a0 Even if your capacity gives out before you sample all the pies, it\u2019s a good deal.<\/p>\n For about two weeks before the event, the owner and all the family frantically roll out pie dough in large square pans and refrigerate them, because the pies themselves are made fresh the morning of Pie Day, starting VERY early.\u00a0 During the course of the four-hour event they sell the equivalent of 80-100 regular pies.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n And so, just for the\u00a0experience, last month I called Clay\u2019s and made the reservation. \u00a0 As it happens, I had a number of libraries to see on the way up since I\u2019m still hawking my books, so it\u00a0was not entirely crazy to make such a trip.\u00a0 (Well, okay, perhaps it was.)\u00a0 My route included stops, all successful, at two small college libraries and two little Carnegies, one in Converse and this one in Montpelier.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 On arrival at Clay\u2019s around 6pm, the small parking area was full and there were only a few spaces across the street.\u00a0 The aroma of home cooking was tantalizing and soon we were seated by the harried but friendly waitress.\u00a0 Overindulging in the main dish fare would have been easy, but this was Pie Day, after all.\u00a0 Even so, there was no hope to taste them all.<\/p>\n I think I managed to try about ten or twelve.\u00a0 My vote still goes to the blueberry, which is the piece at top right, although the cherry is equally good. \u00a0 My companion, who wore an appropriate shirt (pi), favored the blueberry also, along with the strawberry.<\/p>\n Pie Day?\u00a0 Who thought of this?\u00a0 And who would be crazy enough to drive 170 miles to check it out?\u00a0 Pie Day? Well, to answer the second question, I was.\u00a0 Clay\u2019s Family Restaurant, a stone\u2019s throw from the Michigan state … Continue reading ![\"gjblog2\"](\"http:\/\/gloryjune.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/gjblog2.jpg\")
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<\/a>Virtually every fruit pie one can imagine, but also several cream pies, and a chewy concoction called \u201coops\u201d pie tempted the customers.\u00a0 The atmosphere was festive, the staff resolutely friendly\u2013indeed, everyone was smiling and laughing.\u00a0 I do not advocate gorging oneself on a regular basis, but indulgence now and then sweetens life, and Pie Day is the place to do it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"