So you made a tradeoff with the Devil this year: In exchange for your invitation to join a Thanksgiving feast, you agreed to bring a dessert. Everyone knows what dessert means this time of year: You're not showing up with tiramisu or German chocolate cake or apple fritters -- you're bringing pie, damn it! And it better not be some apple pie made in 1998 and tucked away ever since in the grocery store's most remote freezer section.

No sir, it'd better be good. And that's just what we found today, easy as pie. A "good," or make that Goode Co., pie. At a recent visit to the dentist, the assistant said sotto voce, "Did you hear about Goode Co.? They have a drive-thru where you just pick up your holiday pies! You don't even have to order them! Pecan and icebox chocolate!"

Few things get us motivated faster than the words "icebox chocolate pie," so we tore off the dental bib and flew over to the Kirby location. Sure enough, there was a line of cars next to a tent in the parking lot, with Goode Co. employees hustling to each car to take money and orders. We'd already ordered a pecan tart from La Madeline, which does a nice job and impresses other folks gathered around the table, so we chose the chocolate.

Bam! Four minutes later and we were outta there, driving back to work with a box o' pie. The box itself is pretty quaint, labeled "Made in Texas" with the timely message: "You Might Give Some Serious Thought to Thanking Your Lucky Stars You're in Texas."

One tiny glitch: Our box - unopened until we reached an icebox - contained a pecan pie, not the chocolate we ordered. So it looks like we'll have a pecan pie showdown tomorrow, between France and Texas.