grayseas pies

Meeting Gracie, baker/owner of Grayseas Pies, was a wonderful convergence yesterday (10/24/21). First heard of Gracie venturing out with her successful pies and pop up collaborations from fellow Yelp Elite/IGer friend, Wendy K. I missed out on a previous event hosted at Musang, but lucked out this time with a pre-order placed for pickup on Sunday afternoon. Often these baked goods are sold out pronto. Thankfully, there were no sports events scheduled, but freeway traffic was dense, trying to arrive in time, and dodge the forecasted bomb cyclone deluge. The pop up was hosted at Archipelago in Seattle's Hillman City where I received warm greetings from both Gracie plus Archipelago's Chef Aaron and Amber with their young child. Shortly thereafter even Wendy K was there too. Convergence of all these individuals truly made my day. This pop up was also a collaboration for Filipino American History Month. Her Calabasa Pie was baked with squash from local Filpino farmers and spice mix crafted with Archipelago. Delicious and with such depth of flavor! The paired beverage was from Enroot, a sparkling cold brew tea with apple lemon, cayenne, and yerbe mate. Side note : founded by Brad Pitt to help support the James Beard Foundation. Pairing beverage with dessert to highlight tasting notes was brilliant. And the unique sticker provided in the pop up package was inspired by Amber at Archipelago and created by the Ninang Nunu line available through Etsy. Yet another supportive, creative Filipino artist! Gracie of Grayseas Pies also raises donations through sales to benefit social justice organizations. The overall cross pollination and collaborative spirit among so many individuals in the local community is something I can truly support. The enthusiasm and genuine baking with love is truly apparent. Keep up with future Grayseas Pies pop up events and collaborations through www.grayseaspies.com and/or via IG @grayseas.pies

It's no secret to people who know me that I like to support small local businesses, particularly Asian owned. If I find a business that gives back that means even more to me. That's Grayseas wrapped into one little Filipino Woman owned business. I believe everyone one of her pop up a certain amount of proceeds have been donated to various foundations. on top of that she's genuinely one of the sweetest people I've met. So gracious and welcoming. I had been following Grayseas pop ups on Instagram thanks to fellow Yelpers Bryan K, Nelson L and another friend Ray for awhile but timing and location didn't always work. Until I was visiting my dad's on a weekend where the pick up was at The Station coffee house on Beacon Hill. The majority of the time you'll find her picks at minority or women owned businesses. This particular pop up she and another baker were doing a fundraiser for Filipinx Food Seattle documentary. I had pre ordered three of her pocket pies. The flavors were Peach Mango, Elote and Alex Pie a tribute to her brother (strawberry cream Oreo). So delicious!! What I like most about her flavors are that they aren't overly sweet. She doesn't do savory often so if you see one jump on it. My favorite that day was the elote!! So far one of my favorite Filipino inspired flavors has been the calamansi meringue and I'm not usually a meringue person. The pick up was at Hood Famous in the ID another Filipino Woman Owned business. Loved the unique tartness of the calamansi also if you have seen how small calamansi are you would understand how much work went into this one. My sister in law is Filipino and my brother is always trying Filipino recipes so whenever I get one of Gracie's pies that is influenced with Filipino flavors I'll save some to share with them. For the entire month of October Filipino American History Month Gracie did collaborations and pick ups at a number of Filipino owned businesses around town. A portion of proceeds for all sales in October are going to the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns. The pies were paired with Enroot Tea another Filipino owned business. I was able to pick up two of the five offerings. The pick ups I was able to get were the cassava langka at Musang and the Kalabasa pie at Archipelago. Both were delicious and ingredients I hadn't had before also loved the teas and can't wait to buy more. Each pairing also had stickers created specifically for each location pick up by artist @ninangnuni What I reallu loved was reading the stories behind the reason she selected each location. Can't wait to share the pics from Seattle Restaurant Weeks menu by Grayseas.

Got the Seattle Restaurant Week special - chicken pie, beef pie, and two little heart shaped apple pies. Gracie's pastry is amazing: it is incredibly light and delicate and flaky, and the fillings were flavorful and yummy. We decided that the pies were "company pies", elegantly designed for having company over or maybe a date at home. Each pie was perfect for one person and the apple pies for dessert were delectable, and they were all beautiful to look at and very tasty to eat.