It was last year when the 'Pie Lady' of Baytown had an epiphany. Or perhaps we should say - an eh-pie-phany.
"I heard the president say that his favorite pie was sweet potato and pecan," recalled Helen Smith, aka the Baytown Pie Lady. "And so I thought, I'm going to make the president a special pie."
Sweet potato and pecan, combined into one pie and topped with whipped cream -- it was a pie lover's dream.
She said, "Sweet potato on the bottom and pecan pie on top. And it's wonderful."
That presidential sweet potato and pecan combo took the Pie Lady from her kitchen in southeast Texas all the way to the bright lights of New York City as a finalist on Good Morning America's "Pie of Emeril's Eye" contest.
The presidential sweet potato-pecan was up against some tough competition.
"Drunken apple pie," Robert Obst, another finalist, named his creation. " You can't get any more American than apple pie, Jack Daniels and family traditions."
The winner was a custard caramel pie out of Albuquerque. But Baytown's pie still stands as one of the nation's best.
"One man who had a piece said it's a life changing experience. Life changing!"
And it's got Emeril Lagasse's stamp of approval too.
