Banana Cream Pie

Everyone has a favorite kind of pie. Mine is, without a doubt, Banana Cream Pie. And a five minute walk from our apartment takes me to Banderas, where the banana cream pie is quite unique. It does away with formalities such as looking like a pie and is more like a pile of pie elements. Sure, that gives you the vibe that some chef somewhere got a little artsy-fartsy with his craft and sat around thinking, "If Jackson Pollock can just throw paint at a canvas and become a big deal, why can't I just throw some pie-ish stuff into a bowl and watch adoring fans line up for me?"

There she is.

I'm not sure that I'm prepared to call this the best banana cream pie in Los Angeles, which probably still belongs to Ocean Seafood in Santa Monica. I am prepared to confess that the keen observer is correct in thinking that there is an extinguished candle in the center of that pie-ness. Yes, I chose to have my birthday dinner with my parents and my wife at Banderas because I knew all-too-well that there would be dessert involved, and this was the desert I wanted for my birthday. Is there a more ringing endorsement than that? (The even more keen will note that my birthday was eight weeks ago, which would indicate a bit of laziness on my behalf as far as sharing this picture.)

From the petty and small department... I wish to point out that Barbie's birthday dessert in 2009 was on a "mega-yacht" anchored off the coast of Calvi, Corsica. Just in case you find my birthday dessert at all decadent, I point out that warm Mediterranean waters were nowhere to be seen near this pie.