Savvy diners order pie first

There is a general consensus on the proper order of dinner courses: appetizers or salad, entree and sides, dessert. Dessert comes last. Always last. How else could Mom enforce that "no dessert if you don't finish your vegetables" rule?

But at Charlotte's Eats & Sweets in Keo, dessert comes first. It has to. Otherwise, it might not be there by the time you get around to it. And that would be, if not a tragedy, at least a crying shame.

An old-fashioned pie with no frills sounds easy, but a scrape-the-plate-and-lick-the-fork pie is not so simple to pull off. Charlotte's has mastered the trick.

We'd been tipped off about Charlotte's and knew to get there early for two Saturday visits. Both times, we arrived by 10:45 a.m. to find tiny downtown Keo virtually deserted. But as we sat and waited, the parking spaces around us began to fill. By 10:55, people were milling around the door, pretending to admire the antique curio cabinets and leather cases in the windows (courtesy of Morris Antiques a couple of blocks away).

A weekday visit was less crowded, and at opening time, we were the only ones there. But by 11:30, a steady stream of people was coming through the door.

Charlotte's is in an old drugstore, and it retains the glass-front cases, the old counter and the pressed-tin ceiling. But now, instead of bottles of tinctures, powders and tonics, there are teapots -- dozens of them lining the shelves -- and a collection of jams and knickknacks.

Guests in the front sit at small, round, wood-topped tables with cast-iron legs and matching chairs. They're not terribly comfortable, but they fit the setting. There's also a back room with larger tables to accommodate big groups. Charlotte's does accept reservations, so some tables may already be occupied by the time you walk in, even if you're first through the door.

Another important tip: don't wait to order dessert.

Each day's pies and cakes are written on a white board propped up on the counter. Once they're out, they're out. People in the know order dessert when they order the rest of the meal to prevent disappointment. On one Saturday, I arrived at opening. By the time I finished eating and was headed out the door at 11:45, two pies had been marked off. Sold out. Before noon.

Various pies rotate on a daily basis: custards, fruit pies, cobblers ($4.25 per slice or, with 24 hours notice, $22.50 for a whole pie). But the three C's -- chocolate, coconut and caramel -- are so popular they're served every day.

Each C filling comes under a pile of nicely browned, fluffy meringue that's substantial but doesn't overwhelm the filling or become unwieldy.

The caramel (aka burnt sugar) is very sweet and rich, and the chocolate is a deep, dark, fudgy treat. As for the coconut, it deserves the accolades it has received -- like being named "Best in the South" by Southern Living magazine. Like the other pies, it's creamy and decadently rich, with the coconut mixed through the meringue and the custard.

But the real key is the crust. It's firm enough to hold together and resist turning soggy under the creamy fillings, but also flaky and tender. One dining companion declared the crust "like Mom's." Another noted, "I thought I was finished and then I thought, 'Wait, there's more crust, so ...'" He cleaned his plate.

There's cake, too ($4.25 a piece, no whole cakes): strawberry, Italian cream, German chocolate. The square slab of German chocolate was excellent -- moist, just dense enough, and fairly smothered in a gooey coconut-filled icing that made it sinfully rich.

If given a choice, I'd choose the pie, but the cake was certainly nothing to scoff at.

For those who prefer their desserts colder and creamier, there are cones, banana splits, sundaes, malts and shakes from $1.50-$4.50.

Just a word of warning to those with weak willpower: ordering dessert early means it usually arrives at the table before the meal.

Yes, there are sandwiches and salads. It's not all sweets.

Charlotte's main menu -- printed and laminated, not the one on the white board -- leans heavily toward the sandwich crowd and is divided into categories: Grill It! (burgers, Reuben, grilled cheese), Toast It! (BLT, chicken and tuna salad), Chop It! (variety of salads), Build It! (make your own sandwich) and Reduce It! (a couple of light burger and sandwich options).

Their signature is the Keo Klassic ($7.75): smoked turkey, tomato, onion, avocado and Monterey jack cheese on sourdough, dipped in parmesan garlic cream and grilled. A dining companion found it very tasty, although the onion slices had a tendency to slide around, making it a bit slippery. While it was lightly greasy (to be expected in anything grilled), it didn't make his hands messy, and the bread had a nice crunch.

According to diners on two occasions, the cheeseburger ($7.25) was juicy and had good flavor. The Four Pointer ($5), turkey on toasted light sourdough with onion, pickle, tomato, lettuce and fat-free mayonnaise, is not terribly special but good enough for those trying to save calories and stomach space for pie.

Sandwiches (except those on the Reduce It! menu) are served with chips, pickle spear and garlic olives. Reduce It! items come with chips only.

As for salads, the Fresh Fruit Plate ($10.95) is only offered March 15-Sept. 15 and is a very generous serving (watermelon, cantaloupe, grapes, strawberries, sliced banana and pineapple) served with two garlic cheese biscuits, a little cup of poppyseed dressing and a scoop of chicken salad, tuna salad or cottage cheese. The biscuits are crunchy and soft little flavor bombs.

While the fruit is out of season, the salads are offered on toast ($7.25), stuffed in a tomato ($8.25) or with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and crackers ($9.75).

The chicken salad was rather overwhelmed by mayonnaise and pickle flavors, but it was fine.

If the main meal leaves you too full for your slice, you can always get it to go. A take-out slice of chocolate pie held up very well in its foam container, and the crust was still firm hours later. Some of the meringue did stick to the top of the box, but that wasn't exactly an insurmountable problem.

Weekend on 10/01/2015