By Chuck Martin
The Cincinnati Enquirer

THE BEST

1. Busken Bakery "Flaky crust. Pumpkin-y" 2. Bluebird Bakery "Looks homemade" 3. Frisch's "Good, but plain."

Hard to deny: Busken Bakery knows how to make pumpkin pie.

In our third taste test of pumpkin pies in seven years, the Cincinnati bakery chain won again. Busken claimed our first pie test in 1995, and then faltered in the 1998 test, slipping to sixth place. (That year, the Taste Team chose another hometown favorite, Frisch's, as the best pumpkin pie.)

But Busken made a strong comeback this year, winning the "rubber match" taste test and earning an average score of 7.3 points out of a possible 10.

Bluebird Bakery in Glendale followed closely with a score of 7.1. Frisch's finished third at 6.8. Graeter's and Servatii Pastry Shop tied for fourth place with average scores of 6.5.

This was the "best of the best" pumpkin pie taste test. We couldn't sample every pie in town, so we assembled the top five place finishers from the 1995 and 1998 tests and added a couple of new entries earning praise - Costco Wholesale (Deerfield Township and Springdale) and Bonomini Bakery in Northside - to complete the field of nine pies. As usual, the eight-member Taste Team, which included guest Teri Quatkemeyer, pastry chef at Maisonette, sampled the pies blindly, scoring them on appearance, taste and texture. This time, though, we asked the team to rate each pie crust and filling separately. We then added and averaged the scores, which were relatively high - perhaps reflecting the overall quality of the pies. (The lowest score, 5.6, went to Bonomini's pie.)

Busken impressed the Taste Team with its balance of fine crust and filling. Members described the Busken pie crust as flaky and "just right" and called the filling "firm" and "pumpkin-y."

Not flashy, but well-made and honest: Undeniably a Busken pumpkin pie.