A SLICE OF AMERICANA

Beverly West isn’t interested in croissants, brioche, petits fours or any other pastries. She bakes pies-fresh,
delicious pies that have earned her the distinction of being “the pie lady” to a number of folks in Lewisville.

West, 49, makes her pies from scratch, just like her grand-mother used to make them years ago in a steamy, fragrant
kitchen in Fort Worth. As a child, West watched her grandmother make homemade chocolate and vanilla puddings and pies.
Then, when she married and moved away, she recorded the recipes, which had never been written down.

She says that for as long as she can remember, she’s been asked to bake one of her pies whenever a special occasion
arose. And by word of mouth, she’s developed a fairly lucrative business-al least as lucrative as a homemade-pie
business can be. She makes each pie herself. You won’t find any industrial equipment in her kitchen; the only special
gadget is a pie press (a tool that presses the crusts, giving each pie a finished look), which was given to her by a
Lewisville restaurateur, as well as an electronic chair that helps her move around her kitchen with ease. (She walks
with crutches, a result of childhood polio.)

West produces at least 15 pies a week; and on holidays, she has made up to 80 pies in two days. She says she can “make
just about any pie you put her up to,” but she has 10 specialties: lemon, cherry, butterscotch, German chocolate,
apple, pecan, pumpkin, strawberry, peach and her favorite, coconut cream.

These days, after years of practice, West says she can bake a pie in less than an hour.

Her clientele varies considerably. She makes pies for bridge club meetings and birthday parties; for a while, she made
40 a week for the Seascape Inn restaurant. (“They sold them for $3.75 a slice,” she says.) Her regular customers now
are Jody’s Café in Lewisville and Hearthstone Manor, where you can sample one of her pies just about any day of the
week.