Banana "dream" pie

When it comes to desserts, I usually leave the baking to professionals, especially people like the good folks at Sweet Somethings on Union Street in Wilmington. If you haven't been there before, this dessert shop is definitely worth a visit. In my humble opinion, owners Lee and Pamela Slaninko whip up some of the best confections in the state. (Southern Living Magazine just gave them a nod in the October issue.) If you want to make a dessert statement at a holiday party, order their chocolate silk torte.



But I must also save a place in my heart and stomach for the banana cream pie - or, as my sister likes to call it, the banana DREAM pie - at the new Lucky's Coffee Shop & Restaurant, 4003 Concord Pike, Wilmington. (It was formerly the Ranch House.) The photo by News Journal photographer Bob Craig, is of their banana cream pie.

I wrote about Lucky's in a recent Dish column. Here's the review. Owner Mickey Donatello recently wrote to say that the place has been jammed:

"My poor sister (the pastry chef) has been making Banana Cream Pies non-stop...people are coming in just for the pie," he wrote.