Chocolate Cream Pie in Lexington, Ky

When I was in Grad School at the U of Kentucky, back in the early 70's, there was a little sandwich shop on South Limestone, just north of the university. It had interesting food but what I remember best, actually the only thing I remember was the great chocolate pie. Does anyone know thew name of this place and more importantly, does anyone have or know where to get that pie recipe? I sorta remember hearing that it was once written up in Gourmet Magazine but don't know if this was true.
You can email me any info direst to: ddbstuff@aol.com

Thanks,

Katmaan

If JimInKy is lurking around the forum, he most certainly will be able to help you. He covers Lexington like spring dew.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Hey Katmaan, I was in grad school at U.K. in the mid 70s and lived directly across the street from the tiny restaurant you're thinking about. The gentleman who owned it retired after many years, and it became a successful restaurant under it's next owner, who operated it as Linda's Sandwich Shoppe. Linda retired this fall after running the restaurant for 20 years.

I cannot recall the restaurant's name when you enjoyed it, but I will, and I may even learn something about that pie recipe.

I loved their hamburgers and the wonderful buns they were served on. The restaurant baked their own loaves and hamburger buns. As I recall, the food was always good. I ate quite a few lunchs there for a few years.

We'll supply the name and any pie information soon.

I was in grad school there in the 60s and I certainly remember the sandwich shop, but can't remember the name (seems as though it was an unusual name).

Also remember the Two Keys farther on up toward the University on Limestone. Wonder if it is still there?

quote:

Originally posted by PCC

Also remember the Two Keys farther on up toward the University on Limestone. Wonder if it is still there?

Two Keys is still in business as a bar/restaurant at the same location and is doing fine. As far back as I can remember the name has been Two Keys.

I also spent a lot of time in Adams.(I think that was the name) I ate my first Hot Brown there. Drank a lot of beer and layed pinball. Anyone remember that place?

Katmaan

Hey Jiminky,

Keep working on the Sandwich shop and Pie recipe.
I'd love to find that recipe. I don't remember much from those tree years in Lexington (wonder why?) but that pie sure sticks in my rusty memory.
Good Luck
I don't remember the Two Keys at all but when I'd get a little extra cash I'd go to some steak house down town that had great steaks. Funny, I can't remember that one either. Gee, what was I doing for those three years????

What did you study in Grad School? I was in the Art Dept.
Later,

Katmaan

You must have gone up North Limestone to Columbia's Steak House for the great steaks you mentioned. I go there sometimes for the "The Special", beef tenderloin broiled in garlic butter.

I do indeed remember Adam's on South Broadway by the tracks. For a few years it was my favorite hangout.

That must have been some chocolate pie. I know I can get the sandwich shop's name for you. As for the recipe, we'll see. I'll call Linda next week.

You'll need to email me for an answer to the personal question.

Columbia Steak house, thats it. I have fond memories of that place. It was a real treat at the time to go there.
Thanks for coming up with the name.

Katmaan

Didn't the Adams House burn down?
The downtown restaurant that I liked was Levas' (spelling?). First time I ate greek food. It is long gone. Also liked a place on Nicklasville Rd. called Chef Sear's. He had a lot of regional specialites, like beaten biscuits with country ham.

Oops! Not Nicklasville, Nicholasville. I've been away too long. But I seem to remember another steakhouse, not in the downtown area, where all the college kids liked to go.

Adam's may have burned down (I believe it did), but it did close a long time ago. A new railroad underpass eliminates the long wait for passing trains near where Adams stood. I think the Adams building was once my late brother's fraternity house, but I'm not sure.

Could the other steakhouse you recall be one of the following: The Little Inn or La Flame on Winchester Road? What years are you talking about?

Unfortunately, I never made it to one of Chef Sear's places.

Levas really did do wonderful Greek food. The family built and moved into a larger, flashy place where they remained until retirement. I always believed they were happier in their charming, original location on a corner of Limestone.

La Flame was the one I was thinking of, but I remember The Little Inn too. Thanks for the memories. Now all you have to do is come up with the name of the sandwich shop.

As the young professionals say, "I'm all over that." It's been a matter of getting a certain retiree's unpublished phone number.

Incidentally, when I was 13, my college kid brother took me to my first college sporting event. U.K. upset a mighty Old Miss team in a Saturday afternoon football game at old Stoll Field.

My brother had the unpleasant task of returning me to our hometown after the game - a 3.5 hour drive. We had dinner and on the way out Winchester Road, he asked for my indulgence so he could stop in at La Flame where friends were celebrating. I had to wait in the parked car. Oh, how my brother would like to have stayed at La Flame until the wee hours. But in a short while, he returned with a bunch of Cokes for me and some kind of dessert. And he was sober.

KATMAAN & PCC,

The restaurant whose name we seek:

Lawrence's Sandwich Shop

Got a lead on the chocolate cream pie. Keep thy fingers crossed.

::shivers at all the UK talk..::GO Cards ::runs::

It is funny to see all of you who went to grad school at UK. I am waiting at the edge of my seat right now to find out if I have been accepted to the geology department. I visited a few weeks ago and I do not think I will hear anything until Feb 15th at the earliest. This sucks!

Anyway, about pie. I don't which place y'all are talking about, but I had some great pie from Missy's Pies while I was down there. I ordered mine at Ramsey's Diner which was a place that one of you guys had suggested. I actually ate there twice, once at the one near campus and also at the one off Harrodsburg. We tried to get a seat at the Merrick Inn but it was so damn crowed that we opted for another round at Ramseys.

Glad you got to try the pie from Missy's. I don't know who owns that pie shop now, but it has enjoyed a great reputation over the years. I suppose you noticed it's immediately next door to the campus area Ramsey's.

My first slice of pie at Ramsey's made me a very happy person. It was Missy's butterscotch cream and it tasted exactly like the delicious ones Mom made from scratch for the family restaurant. I've had several pieces of that pie since and once received a whole one in lieu of a birthday cake.

Butterscotch pie. It's a good thing.

Good luck on UK grad school, stormycat!

And try the Merrick Inn again during the first part of the week or "off hours". I especially liked the side dishes served with the main course.

And Thank You JimInKy, for the name of the sandwich shop, and for another memory of La Flame. That restaurant and a bar, The Buffalo, in Chevy Chase were two popular places when I was in school.

I'm not sure what tipped Mom off, but she made my uncle drive her to Lexington for a sneak check on my older brother at U.K. She found him somewhere he shouldn't be - at the Buffalo bar in Chevey Chase.

The shock he must have experienced when our mother (a woman who hated Demon Rum) marched into The Buffalo and marched him out!

He had skipped three grades and was very young to be away at college.

JimInKy, I had a similar, but less humiliating experience at the Buffalo.
Two of us from my home town went to UK, and when I was back home people kept asking if I had run into John. My answer was always "no" until one night when they announced at the Buffalo that the police were on the way and that all the underage patrons should leave. In the mad rush for the door I looked up and there was John.
Needless to say, neither of us ever mentioned seeing each other.

quote:

Originally posted by JimInKy

KATMAAN & PCC,

The restaurant whose name we seek:

Lawrence's Sandwich Shop

Got a lead on the chocolate cream pie. Keep thy fingers crossed.

Jiminky,

You done good!
Lawrence's Sandwich Shop it was. Thanks for the name. I have gone to Epicurious Forums to try to find the recipe. I will post it if I come up with it.4

katmaan

quote:

Originally posted by KATMAAN

Jiminky,

You done good!
Lawrence's Sandwich Shop it was. Thanks for the name. I have gone to Epicurious Forums to try to find the recipe. I will post it if I come up with it.4

katmaan

KAATMAN, I wrote you note with a question. I have the information about the recipe but wanted to hear from you first.

Jiminky;

I don't understand your last message.
Please explain...

Can't wait to hear about the pie recipe. Where and how etc.?

Katmaan (NOT KAATMAN)

I sent you an email on February 8 with a question (subject: some news from Lexington). I didn't receive an answer.

Jiminky,

Never got your email. Please try again.

Thanks,

Katmaan

Katmaan, I sent the note with a question your way again.

quote:

Originally posted by pogophiles

I ate at the Columbia Steak House back in the early 80's while visiting friends at UK. Love that garlic butter steak!!

Columbia's still does the garlic butter beef tenderloin dinner, and are constantly advertising a special price. It's called The Special and the discounted prices are 9.99 or 10.99 (A deal!). The steak comes with a generous amount of salad, potato and rolls. I hope you were able to sample Columbia's huge, homemade house fries; they're great in the garlic butter.

quote:

Originally posted by JimInKy

Katmaan, I sent the note with a question your way again.

Jiminky,

You must have the wrong email address.
Try ddbstuff@aol.com

Hey Katmaan, Here is the followup question: Can you tell me specifically what years you ate chocolate pie at the sandwich shop?

I used the correct address in every missive I sent you (three), but you only received the first one. One of those mysteries.

Jiminky;

I think your emails are being eaten by my Spam Fighting Software which I am now figuring out. So try again.
I was in grad school at U of K from 1970-73

Katmaan, here's the lowdown on the chocolate pie at Lawrence's:

Lawrence's Sandwich Shop was sold shortly after Mr. Lawrence died in 1980. Linda G. bought it, named it Linda's Sandwich Shop, and ran it until October 2003. Beth Hanna, a former food writer from the local daily, now owns and operates the shop.

It took some time to track Linda down as she's retired and lives outside Lexington. I phoned long distance and had a very nice talk with her about the restaurant and the chocolate pie you so loved in the early 70s.

Linda doesn't think there was ever a homemade recipe for that chocolate pie. When she bought the restaurant from the heirs, she discovered a huge supply of instant chocolate pudding mix, which she immediately threw away. At the time she believed the mix was the filling for Mr. Lawrence's chocolate pies. She continues to think so.

During her years operating the shop, Linda served a homemade chocolate pie, using her own recipe. Though I lived directely across the street from Lawrence's in 1974 and lunched there frequently, I cannot remember having the chocolate pie.

I wish I could have given you a wonderful recipe. The good news is that this particular instant pudding (and pie filling) is probably still around. I wish I had asked Linda if she remembers a brand name (it could have been a common supermarket brand, or a institutional mix from a food broker). If you need to know, contact me. If you would like to talk directly with Linda, I'll ask her permission to share the phone number with you.

Jiminky;

WOW! You went to a lot of work to get the low down on that pie. I can't believe it was instant pudding. I know pudding and unless they did some doctoring to it, its going to be hard to believe that it was instant. It is also a huge disppointment. I was expecting some secret combination of interesting ingredients. To think it just came out of a box is unreal. It was soooo good, really!

My girlfriend and I would go to Larwrences just for the pie. It was a very special treat.

I'm not sure if I should thank you or not. It like finding out that Santa wasn't real.

Oh well, sometimes it just hard to digest reality. Still, that pie will always stay in my memory as a special thing. Like my first bicycle, a Roadmaster by the way or my first kiss. Gee, I wonder now if that was fake as well???

Nevertheless, Jim, thanks for all the effort.

Happy eating.

Katmaan

Hey Katmaan, You are very welcome and I enjoyed trying to be of some assistence to you.

I think I can appreciate your disappointment. Such a revelation would be distressing for me. I really did hate to be the carrier of this news.

You have an interesting idea. Mr. Lawrence could very well have gussied up his pie filling. After all, he daily baked fresh hamburger buns and loaves of sandwich bread from scratch.

Again, if you'd like to speak directly with Linda, let me know. She's a very nice lady.

I am the daughter of Virginia who worked for Mr. Sheets and then bought the restaurant from him and ran it as Laurence's Sandwich Shop for some years. She died in 1979 and I ran it for a year and then sold it to Linda Pennington who ran it for 20 years as Linda's. It is still going but now called Hanna's.
The chocolate pie recipe that someone is looking for is not a secret. There was nothing special about it.
Glad to hear that people still remember the place and that the recipes are wanted.

quote:

Originally posted by JimInKy

Katmaan, here's the lowdown on the chocolate pie at Lawrence's:

Lawrence's Sandwich Shop was sold shortly after Mr. Lawrence died in 1980. Linda G. bought it, named it Linda's Sandwich Shop, and ran it until October 2003. Beth Hanna, a former food writer from the local daily, now owns and operates the shop.

It took some time to track Linda down as she's retired and lives outside Lexington. I phoned long distance and had a very nice talk with her about the restaurant and the chocolate pie you so loved in the early 70s.

Linda doesn't think there was ever a homemade recipe for that chocolate pie. When she bought the restaurant from the heirs, she discovered a huge supply of instant chocolate pudding mix, which she immediately threw away. At the time she believed the mix was the filling for Mr. Lawrence's chocolate pies. She continues to think so.

During her years operating the shop, Linda served a homemade chocolate pie, using her own recipe. Though I lived directely across the street from Lawrence's in 1974 and lunched there frequently, I cannot remember having the chocolate pie.

I wish I could have given you a wonderful recipe. The good news is that this particular instant pudding (and pie filling) is probably still around. I wish I had asked Linda if she remembers a brand name (it could have been a common supermarket brand, or a institutional mix from a food broker). If you need to know, contact me. If you would like to talk directly with Linda, I'll ask her permission to share the phone number with you.

It might not be the same recipe (for better or for worse) but Beth has done a great job with the restaurant/sandwich shop and her pies, including the chocolate cream, are fantastic!