Restaurant Review: Mom’s Apple Pie

By MARY ANN KAUCHAK/For the News & Messenger
Published: August 27, 2008

Mom's Apple Pie proves it's more than just a place to get delicious homemade pie. It triples as a general store and wine shop.

Mom's Apple Pie, a family-owned bakery of humble origins, established in 1981, is dedicated to baking the highest-quality natural, preservative-free pies. Mom's currently employs three generations, and has occupied its friendly farmhouse structure on a hillside on Commerce Street in old-town Occoquan since 2004.

Farmer and baker Steven Cox and his wife, Avis Renshaw, his marketing expert and retailer, started baking pies in their home and selling them at Reston Farm Market in the early '80s. The pies became increasingly popular, and they eventually moved the operation into a much larger space in Herndon. Now the family's bakery has four locations spread throughout nothern Virginia.

THE GOODS

The entrance to the bakery is temptation-central with macaroons, powdered wedding cookies and brownies displayed at eye level under glass-domed cake plates. The convenient table by the front window flaunts single slices of any of Mom's 25 pie selections in a protective see-through container.

The year-round favorite pie is Butter Pecan Apple Crumb. This pie, made with Steven Cox's signature recipe, combines buttery pecans, brown sugar, cinnamon and a touch of cornmeal to create a tasty crumb topping.

"Open face" berry pie is another favorite creation made only during the growing season when berries are fresh. To keep it crispy, a combination of cream cheese and homemade fruit glaze is spread lightly over the bottom crust. Whole berries are then piled on top and coated with glaze.

All apples and peaches for Mom's come from Marker Miller Orchards in the Shenandoah Valley. The namesake apple pie has a flaky crust, baked to a golden brown.

It's filled with pleasantly firm apples. Sugar is added sparingly, as is the case with all their pies, to savor the natural splendor of the fruits.

Mom's makes other goodies, too.

Countless jams, jellies and honey envelop the store. Homemade breads such as "Sunflower Crunch" are made from the farm's own stone ground wheat. Bushel baskets clustered on the floor display fresh pesticide-free corn, tomatoes, squash, green beans, eggplant and other seasonal produce grown on the Cox's 40-acre farm.

Try a slice of Summer Corn Quiche while available (priced at $2.75 per slice or $12.99 for a whole pie). The rich blend of heavy cream, asiago cheese, milk and eggs combined with the texture of onion, red and green peppers and crunchy sweet kernels of fresh corn is a taste sensation.

The bakery side of the store also sells steaming hot cups of gourmet brand Panache coffee, freshly ground from whole coffee beans ($2.25 for an 8-ounce cup). The coffee menu includes flavored coffees, expresso and lattes made with organic milk.

IN GENERAL

Petra Cox, Steven Cox and Avis Renshaw's affable daughter, became Mom's wine buyer after studies abroad in Italy and Peru, where she learned about wine and how to pair it with food. Both Old World and New World wines are available in the general store and occasionally free wine tastings are offered.

Mom's sells some Virginia wines, including 8 Chains North, Petra Cox's Uncle Ben Renshaw's special blend of 50 percent Traminette and 50 percent Vidal Blanc. (A chain is an agricultural unit of measurement equal to 66 feet.) This delicate white wine has hints of pear and honeysuckle and is excellent paired with light cheeses.

Petra Cox, who manages the Occoquan location, is admittedly health conscience, so she provides customers with a culinary experience, offering a wide variety of quality products, including organic groceries, international and domestic beers, local and imported cheeses, deli items, cleaning products and even fish bait for trolling the Occoquan River.

Petra Cox's eclectic taste is evident throughout the store, with products such as China Cola, made from Chinese herbs and spices, and haute sodas, like all-natural, caffeine-free and lavender or rhubarb flavors (lightly sweetened with pure cane sugar not corn syrup).

Of course, it wouldn't be a general store without an old fashioned candy counter, displaying nostalgic candies in giant apothecary jars that can be purchased by the piece or in bulk.

Browse through Mom's, then enjoy your slice of pie, chilled soda or piping hot espresso on the huge front porch (building codes do not allow for restaurant service); you'll be back for more.

Mary Ann lives in Lake Ridge. Her third cookbook, "SHORTCUTS, TOO," is now available at Salt & Pepper Books in Occoquan. Send questions or comments in care of this paper at P.O.Box 2470, Woodbridge, VA. 22195.

WANT TO GO?

» MOM'S APPLE PIE & GENERAL STORE, 126 A Commerce St., Occoqua

Call: 703-497-7437

Hours: Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Friday, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Saturday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Sunday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.