A News Tribune field trip to Metropolitan Market in Proctor this week yielded an overload of carb finds. Our purchases included a Desserted Island pie, made by the Seattle Pie Company, which is opening the Old Town Pie Shop in March. We also popped by Met Market’s new gelato counter for a pint of pistachio flavored gelato. And our final purchase was a half dozen paczki – a thick, chewy, filled doughnut that is a Fat Tuesday tradition (emphasis on the Fat), and available in the store only for a short time.

Click “more” to read about our finds.

in this post about the opening of the Old Town Pie Shop.

Desserted Island Pie ($17.99): Apples, strawberries, raspberries and marionberries with a crumb top produced a supremely sweet, tart and crumbly pie. The crust was flaky and moist. The crust, made from leaf lard and not shortening, caused quite a back and forth between TNT Diner readers in this post about the Seattle Pie Company opening the Old Town Pie Shop in March.

I put the pie and the other treats on the big news meeting table in the center of the newsroom and it disappeared moments later (see the “newsroom table of destruction” picture below). Tip from a few reporters and an editor: microwave the pie for 15-20 seconds. It gets even better.

Gelato: The gelato counter near the coffee bar at Met Market is a new addition, and I’ve been hearing much feedback from North Enders about the creamy dessert. I ordered a pint of the pistachio ($7.99). I thought the gelato was a touch too cloying. I liked the pronounced pistachio flavor, but the ice cream was just so sweet, I could only manage a spoonful. Gelato, by nature, is sweeter than most ice creams, which is why I usually steer toward the more tart flavors. I find the acidity provides balance for the high sugar content.

Cups of the creamy ice cream range from $1.99-$5.39. Mango, strawberry and hazelnut were among the flavors we saw in the display case. The gelato comes from Gelatiamo, a Seattle gelato company. Web site here. and Facebook page here.

Speaking of gelato, where else around town do you get yours? Thoughts on the selection at Indochine? Where else?

Paczki: This Polish baked treat is a Fat Tuesday tradition. Pronounced “poonch-key,” the doughnut is a staple in bakeries in the Midwest, but it’s not widely sold here. The fried, filled doughnuts will be available for a short time at Metropolitan Market.

We bought the chocolate-covered, chocolate-filled paczki, and the sugar dusted lemon-filled paczki (they also come in other cream and fruit-filled varieties). The doughnuts tasted dense, eggy and chewy. I was surprised at how heavy they felt in my hand. I wanted the doughnut-to-filling ratio to be a little more even in the chocolate filled doughnut. Instead, I got mostly cake and a small plop of dark, rich chocolate filling. When I split open the lemon paczki, it oozed into a gooey, tart, lemony pool. I like pools of lemony goodness. Paczki are priced $1.69 each right now.

Metropolitan Market
Where: 2420 N. Proctor, Tacoma
Phone: 253-761-3663
Website: http://metropolitan-market.com/locations/