Sir Ken, who is proud of his Yorkshire roots and shuns the City, keeps traditional northern pie counters and models his fruit and vegetable displays on market stalls.
Past that pie-counter, up a few steps, you'll find a long room seemingly unchanged since the 1970s, and which, with its adverts for old music hall shows and tilework recalling such brands as Brasso and Pears, seems to be harking back to an even older era.
The slapstick, with custard pies vainly countering goo-shooting splurge guns, is fun.
At the Friday noon rush at Poopie's diner, a Glens Falls institution, Pat Whalen, a home remodeling contractor and a registered independent, polished off a slice of pie at the counter.
Because I've got a homemade blueberry pie on my counter, and you're going to have to pry it out of my cold, dead hands.
Q.: Pizzerias generally display their cooked pies on the counter for as long as it takes to sell them, reheating the pizza one slice at a time until it finally disappears and a fresh one takes its place.
You may simply set the pies on the counter to cool.
Even the piece of half-eaten pie on the kitchen counter arouses suspicion".
But the coxinha – palm-sized, deep-fried croquettes which sat in a pie warmer on the counter, and just £1 each – were sensational.
RECOMMENDED DISHES: Grilled fish from the seafood counter, spinach pie, grilled octopus, stuffed grape leaves, zucchini and eggplant chips, Greek bouillabaisse, walnut cake, semolina custard.
