North Shore Com-Pie-Tition
If you’ve ever visited Duluth, or anywhere along the North Shore of Lake Superior, you’ll know about Betty’s Pies. There’s a lot of hype around Betty’s. They have a huge reputation as being the place for pie. It’s been a North Shore staple since 1956, so they must be doing something right. During the summer, their restaurant is packed. The food isn’t much to write home about…burgers, sandwiches, a greasy-spoon style breakfast. It’s the pies that shine. If you get there early in the day they can have up to twenty kinds of pie. It’s pretty crazy.
Betty’s is the undisputed pie champion in terms of gross selling power. They are the high capacity restaurant and are the must-have stop when you’re driving north along the shore. Enter the challenger, Rustic Inn Cafe. Rustic Inn Cafe is a lot less well-known and isn’t too far up the road. The food options are a much better choice, in my opinion. The menu is more expensive and frankly tastier. It’s still home cooking-style, but it’s not as greasy-spoon as Betty’s. The pie selection is more limited but still expansive.
For me, I love pie. I am a pie aficionado. All types of pie. Cream pies, fruit pies, tarts…I’m into it. The only pie I don’t really like is banana…and no one likes banana. Because the definition of pie can be so broad, we tried to keep our experiment as scientific as possible. We went for a traditional double-crust fruit pie, in as similar a flavor as we could get from each, and then a cream-based pie, but those flavors weren’t even close.
Packaging
We ordered both pies to go so that we’d be able to taste both at the same time. Betty’s is a lot more serious about the pie game. They have plastic take-out containers specifically for the pie that are the perfect size to hold a slice. It kept the pie in better condition. Rustic Inn Cafe threw our pie into a square normal take-out container, and it got banged around on the way home. If the presentation matters, then Betty’s is the clear winner.
Crust
Fruit Pie
Both of the fruit pies that we tried came with a traditional double crust, and both were dusted on the top with coarse sugar to provide extra texture and a satisfying crunch. I’ll be honest, neither of these crusts was stellar. If you’re a crust person, I think that you’ll be disappointed. If I had to choose, I would say that the Rustic Inn Cafe wins on both taste and texture. It’s more of a win by default. The pie from Betty’s, although looking much nicer, had much worse texture and taste by every measure I could think of. It’s just not memorable.
Cream Pie
The cream pie from Rustic Inn Cafe was more a crispy, flaky puff pastry, and bottom crust only. It had a delightful chewiness that gave a nice contrast to the smoothness of the filling. In contrast, that crispiness was missing from Betty’s pie. Instead, Betty uses a blind-baked traditional pie crust. Similarly to the fruit fie crust, it was just lacking. Lacking in taste and texture. Another point to the Rustic Inn Cafe.
Filling
Fruit Pie
Our two fruit pies were Raspberry-Peach and Raspberry-Rhubarb. I was expecting the Raspberry Rhubarb to have more flavor right off the bat, but I didn’t expect the difference to be so stark. The peach just had no flavor. Bland and fruity mush. It also didn’t have any mouthfeel. The consistency was essentially pureed. In contrast, the rhubarb still had quite a bit of texture and provided a much greater range of textures. It was also just better. The winner? Rustic Inn Cafe, again.
Cream Pie
There weren’t two comparable flavors of cream pie available, so we chose two options that sounded the best. Betty’s provided coconut cream pie with a hefty layer of whipped cream and toasted coconut. Rustic came with lemon angel, which was a layer of baked meringue, then lemon filling then whipped cream. I think that the combination of flavors and textures again wins it for Rustic, but Betty’s does make a mean coconut pie. This one was perhaps the closest of all of the competitions.
Overall Impression
After both slices of pie, I don’t think that this is even a close race. Betty might be killing it on sheer volume and reputation, but Rustic Inn Cafe has the hands-down better pie. From the crust to the filling, to the whole flavor, I’d pick Rustic any day. If you’re heading up the North Shore, drive past Betty’s to the superior choice.
This review is entirely based on my (and my husband’s) opinions. We took the drive and bought the pie with our own money, and didn’t tell either place we were doing this. Also that thumbnail is from a different pie shop, sorry!