Elina Shatkin
Best known for chef Carrie Cusack's sweet and savory pies, the best pie at recently opened simplethings' may be the one receiving the least attention: the whoopie pie.
Though richly deserved, the whoopie pie's return to glory has been long in coming. Now, at least a year into the trend, Los Angeles has a handful of credible versions — yet no one makes them quite the way simplethings does.
Where other whoopie pies strive for the uniformity and elegance of perfectly rounded cookies, this is a craggy beast, resplendent in its asymmetry.
Where other pies tend toward a dense dough as flavorful and appealing as a brown Frisbee, this is a true hybrid that offers the best of both worlds: crumbly and chewy like a cookie but soft and spongy like cake.
Where other pies settle for bland vanilla frosting, often hardened after hours under bakery lights, this spry peppermint frosting has kick — and the chunks of candy cane crusting the rim won't let you forget.
Where other whoopie pies might be polished off in a few bites or slugged through until the bitter end, simplethings' whoopie pie is too big for one person, yet too good to stop eating.
Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.