Apple Lucy's Drive-In
In past years, if you arrived late at Boise’s Capital City Public Market on a sunny Saturday morning you knew the disappointment of seeing the “sold out” sign at the Apple Lucy’s booth. It was a sad sight for a palate prepared for sweet huckleberry filling sandwiched between flaky, buttery crusts. This season, that disappointment will be even more pronounced: For the first time in 11 years, due to changing family obligations, Apple Lucy’s won’t be a regular at the Capital City market. Thankfully, fans of Apple Lucy’s won’t be shut out completely. They’ll just have to make the drive to Parma.
Apple Lucy’s Drive-In is not exactly a pie shop. Sourcing beef from Homedale, they serve up fresh burgers, fries, finger steaks and milkshakes— including their pie shake, which is exactly what it sounds like: your choice of pie blended with soft-serve ice cream. Order at the counter and hope to find a spot among the locals at one of the six indoor tables.
Michelle Davis and her family have a decades-long history of running restaurants and serving legendary pie in Parma. In the ’50s, her great-grandma, Helen Anacabe, ran the Dutchess Restaurant down the street from the drive-in, formerly known as Rory’s. The Davises took over the latter in 2007 to supplement the pies they were selling to a few restaurants, grocery stores and at the farmers market.
Pie making starts by 6am most mornings in the commercial kitchen located next to the Davis home, taunting the field hands with the smell of country air infused with fresh-baked pastry. The pies are all handmade using a family recipe handed down by Davis’s aunt. When asked if the recipe is a secret, Davis’s husband, Steve, said, “Sort of. Michelle has given it out to a few select people, but no one ever seems to be able to reproduce it the way she does.”
To make pie fillings, they hand peel hundreds of apples each year, sourcing as much of the fruit as possible from local orchards such as Symms Fruit Ranch. At the height of the season, they bake 100 4-inch pies and 50 to 60 full-size versions each week. With all that baking, the Davises’ daughter, Holly Mote, and Michelle’s dad, “Doc,” are on deck to lend a hand.
If you’ve noticed by now, there’s no Apple Lucy mentioned as a member of the Davis family. So who is she? Turns out, she was the family’s beloved golden retriever who had a taste for apples. Even though she’s gone, her love of fresh fruit lives on at her namesake drive-in.
Apple Lucy’s Drive-In
203 N. 9th St., Parma
Facebook.com/AppleLucysBakeryAndDiner
Open Monday–Saturday, 11am–8pm
