Mr. Depleted My Heart pie wins ‘Waitress’ competition

Seventeen pie bakers baked from their hearts for the Waitress Pie Contest, submitting fruit, nut, chocolate, boozy and savory entries with whimsical titles, and the blue ribbon went to Mr. Depleted My Heart Raspberry Cream Pie.

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust launched the pie bake-off in conjunction with the upcoming PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh series of “Waitress” at the Benedum Center, which will be staged March 6-11. The creative pies baked by Jenna, the lead character in the stage version of the 2007 movie, are a major part of the storytelling.

The Trust oversaw an internal panel that conducted the initial review of the submissions. Contenders were narrowed down to five and then to three. “We were looking for creative pie recipes that mimicked Jenna’s whimsical ones,” said Diana Roth, senior communications manager.

Everything I Wanted in a Partner, But Found in a Pecan Pie and Won’t You Be My Neighbor Pie were among the entries, but it was Mr. Depleted My Heart Raspberry Cream Pie, Eat Your Feelings and Drown Your Sorrows Whiskey Pie and When You Turned Left and Left, You Left a Pothole in My Heart Pie that moved on to become the finalists.

Winner Stacie Lefes, an elementary school teacher in Center Township in Beaver County, had won the first place in a cake bakeoff contest when she was in middle school, but this was the first time she entered a pie contest. “I did not know what I was going up against,” she said.

She tweaked a flour-shortening pie crust recipe that she learned in her home economics class when she was in seventh grade by adding cocoa and sugar to it. She then layered the crust with a sweetened cream cheese before adding the final layer — raspberry filling. She said raspberry pies were her favorite ever since she was a little girl, especially the ones made by her paternal grandmother. So when she was thinking of entering the contest, raspberry was an obvious choice.

But the name wasn’t so obvious. She toyed with a couple of different

ones including ones not appropriate for print, she said, laughing, and finally settled on Mr. Depleted My Heart, which is based on her personal relationships with men.

Eat Your Feelings and Drown Your Sorrows Whiskey Pie wasn’t the only title semifinalist Eric Reese had in mind for his dessert pie made with mashed potatoes, whiskey and orange zest. The 30-year-old Shaler resident, who works for a software company, said his alternate title was I’ve Got the Pirates are Trading My Favorite Players Blues Whiskey Pie. “But I was encouraged to go with a name that has a wider appeal” and so went with Eat Your Feelings and Drown Your Sorrows, which he said is what people typically do when they feel down and out — smack binge by eating and drinking.

The other semifinalist, Catherine S. Vodrey of East Liverpool, Ohio, said she was all too familiar with the pothole mess in Pittsburgh, having lived in the city for many years when she attended Shady Side Academy, Carnegie Mellon University and Duquesne University, and so christened her chocolate-pecan creation When You Turned Left and Left, You Left a Pothole in My Heart Pie. The filling is so dark and chunky, said the vice president of Tuition Mission, that it looks like tar and resembles the mixture that is used to fill potholes. “I have made this pie for years and created the recipe myself,” she said.

The three finalists were chosen based on the ingredients they used in their pies, overall creativity and the pie title, which needed to be tied to the “Waitress” show or have a local reference. Heather Abraham, host of “Pittsburgh Today Live,” meteorologist Ron Smiley, both of KDKA-TV, and Jenny Rump, bakery team leader at Whole Foods Market in the South Hills, were the tasting judges and they picked the winner by basing their entry on 25 percent for appearance, 25 percent for smell and 50 percent for taste.

Ms. Lefes won four tickets to see “Waitress” when it comes to the Benedum Center along with the cookbook, “Sugar, Butter, Flour: The Waitress Pie Book,” a $100 gift card and a bag of baking ingredients from Whole Foods. Mr. Reese and Ms. Vodrey got two tickets each for the musical, a $50 gift card and the baking items from the grocery store.

Whole Foods also will provide 30 pies in total that will eaten as part of the performance when “Waitress” is staged here. Mason jar pies also will be sold during each performance in the Benedum Center lobby.