KCRW pie contest embraces community

Imagine gathering a group of close friends in your living room to taste home-baked pies. The taste-testing session would be designed as an art critique, with people analyzing aspects such as flavor, texture and appearance. In preparation for KCRW’s 6th Annual Good Food Pie Contest last Sunday, friends Alina Bezdikian, J.P. Bolles and Pat O’Brien conducted this process every week starting in June.

After entering the contest last year on a whim, Bezdikian, Bolles and O’Brien were determined to produce a winning pie.

“Last year we came into it totally blind, and it was totally for fun,” Bolles said. “Seeing the community and seeing hundreds of people getting together eating pie is just an amazing thing. So we were like, ‘Let’s keep doing this and see if we can actually get good at it.’”

Hundreds of hopeful bakers submitted their best recipes to the contest, which was held at UCLA’s Wilson Plaza, next to the Fowler Museum. Home cooks and professionals alike competed for top honors in seven categories: cream, cooked custard, fruit, nut, savory, vegan and world pies.

Up until Saturday night, Bezdikian, Bolles and O’Brien revised their recipe, ultimately settling on an apple and browned butter pie. They won the coveted award for best crust and placed second in the popular fruit category, which had 139 entries alone.

Evan Kleinman, host of KCRW’s “Good Food” podcast, emceed the afternoon’s festivities, which featured an artisanal marketplace, live music and cooking-themed activities for children. Contestants baked two of each pie they submitted — one for the judges and a second to serve to attendees.

Despite Los Angeles’s reputation for having  health-conscious residents, the event attracted hundreds of eager attendees.

“It’s just fun and everyone’s happy,” attendee Andrea Gunadi said. “People don’t just have their eye on the pie. It feels very communal.”

Bezdikian echoed Gunadi’s sentiment.

“The sharing with friends and community aspect of this has definitely been my favorite part,” Bezdikian said.

Some of Los Angeles’s most notable food writers and pastry chefs served as judges, including Na Young Ma of Proof Bakery, Valerie Gordon of Valerie Confections and Zoe Nathan of Huckleberry Bakery & Café.

Jonathan Gold, Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic for the Los Angeles Times, announced the Best in Show. Gold said that selecting the winner inspired a controversial debate about the definition of a pie. While the judges held differing views on the issue, they agreed that Allison Brooker’s chicken pot pie galette wowed on the basis of flavor alone.

“So without further ado, the year that a galette won the pie contest, like a camel winning the Kentucky Derby, we award the Best in Show to the chicken pot pie galette by Allison Brooker,” Gold said.