Pie à la Mode

Pie à la Mode was not invented by the French. The expression, "Pie à la Mode," was borrowed from French, where it means “in the fashion.” It’s been used in English since the mid-1600s as an adjective to mean fashionable and as an adverb to mean fashionably, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. It’s also been used adjectivally since the 17th century in the name of “beef à la mode,” a dish consisting of beef braised with vegetables and wine, then served in a rich sauce.

The use of the expression “à la mode” to mean “served with ice cream” first showed up in the late 19th century, but it’s uncertain who coined the usage. Despite the uncertainty, you’ll find lots of claims online that one person or another or still another was the first to use “à la mode” in this sense.

John Gieriet, who briefly owned the Hotel La Perl in Duluth, MN, supposedly used the phrase “à la mode” in the 1880s to describe a dessert of blueberry pie and ice cream. Townsend reputedly used it in either the 1880s or ’90s (depending on the story) after ordering a slice of apple pie with ice cream. A Mrs. Hall is said to have suggested the phrase to Townsend. However, the only evidence that exists for these events is a handful of poorly sourced accounts written dozens of years after the events supposedly took place. There’s no report in writing from the 19th century showing that Gieriet actually served pie and ice cream together, or that Townsend ordered them as a dessert.

John Gieriet: It is claimed that Pie à la Mode was first invented and named by John Gieriet in Duluth, Minnesota. Dieriet purchased the Commercial Hotel and re-named the building “Hotel La Perl”. A saloon, that was located on the first floor, was converted into a restaurant and the rear laundry room was remodeled into a kitchen. The primary source for the story that Gieriet created pie à la mode in Duluth is a local historian, Mike Flaherty, who wrote a March 1, 2012 report that’s on file with the Duluth Public Library. In his unpublished report, which the Duluth library copied for us, Flaherty says pie à la mode is believed to have been invented on March 26, 1885, at the grand opening of the Hotel La Perl on West Superior Street in Duluth. At the Grand Opening, John Gieriet served up a fancy dinner that included French pickles, oysters, French peas, and Lake Superior Trout. For dessert, he served warm blueberry pie and vanilla ice cream. The claim is that Gieriet called the popular treat “Pie à la Mode”. The problem with this story is that no Pie à la Mode is listed on the menu (we do have a copy of the menu). Blueberry Pie is listed under Pastry and vanilla ice cream is listed under Dessert. But there’s no indication that two would be served together, and there’s no mention of “pie à la mode” or anything “à la mode.”

Townsend: The belief that Townsend concocted the dessert at the Cambridge Hotel and that Mrs. Hall named it was primarily inspired by newspaper and magazine articles published in the 1930s and 1950s—many years after the alleged events. The earliest written source of the Townsend story is an Associated Press obituary for him that appeared in various newspapers, including the May 20, 1936, issues of the Schenectady (NY) Gazette and the Emporia (KS) Gazette as well as the May 21, 1936, issue of the New York Times. The AP obituary in the Times, incorrectly datelined Cambridge, Mass. (it should have been Cambridge, NY), says Townsend “inadvertently originated pie a la mode here 52 years ago.” In our own searches of newspaper and literary databases, we could find no written evidence from the 19th century to support the claims that Townsend ordered pie à la mode in the 1880s or ’90s, or that Mrs. Hall suggested the name “pie à la mode” at that time.

The first printed source mentions a “pie a la mode” served at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. But it doesn’t describe the dish, so we have no idea what the “fashionable” addition was. The article, headlined “Chicagoans Indignant at Probable High Prices for World’s Fair Pie,” reports that the city’s residents “are inclined to kick at the impending raise in life’s necessities.” Among the “necessities” listed, “apple pie, a la mode, was raised 20 cents—10 cents for apple pie and ten cents for a la mode.” However, the article is unclear about what “à la mode” actually meant at the World’s Fair (officially the World’s Columbian Exposition). Did it really mean “served with ice cream” at that time? Not necessarily. An article in the April 6, 1896, issue of the Duluth (MN) News Tribune, for example, has a recipe for “Apple pie a la mode” that’s actually an apple meringue pie, served with a dollop of whipped cream, not ice cream.

The earliest example we [https://www.grammarphobia.com/] could find for “à la mode” clearly used to mean “served with ice cream” is from an article in the Aug. 4, 1895, issue of the Chicago Daily Tribune that describes a diner chowing down at a Windy City restaurant: “He’s got a glass of beer and a great big piece of pie with a chunk of ice cream on top of it. Pie a la mode, I believe they call it.”

Although the first pie à la mode may have been made with blueberry pie or apple pie and vanilla ice cream, apple pie with vanilla ice cream has become a classic. Any fruit pie goes well with vanilla ice cream; think about rhubarb pie with vanilla ice cream, peach pie with vanilla ice cream, and so forth.

If you are serving ice cream on top of your slice, it should complement—not clash with—the flavor of the pie. Stick to simple, smooth ice creams without a lot of bells and whistles. Vanilla works with just about everything. Choose (or make) an ice cream flavor that adds another dimension to the pie, even if it's just a mellow, creamy, vanilla accompaniment. In other words, no pumpkin ice cream with pumpkin pie. Let them play off of each other. Let the pie sit until it’s just warm before serving it a la mode, otherwise the ice cream will melt too fast.

These are other combinations that can be just as good and interesting:

- Fruit Pies and Vanilla Ice Cream, as already noted (apple, blueberry, raspberry, huckleberry, rhubarb, cherry, peach, etc.)
- Apple Pie and Caramel Ice Cream
- Blueberry Pie and Lemon Ice Cream
- Warm Pecan Pie and Vanilla Ice Cream
- Pumpkin Pie and Maple Walnut or Butter Pecan