Kooky Cornbread
Kitt's Kornbread in Carrollton cranks out crazy sandwiches and pies
Kitt's Kornbread also makes cobblers such as this cinnamon-apple.Photo courtesy of Kitt's Kornbread Sandwich Bar
Signature item at Kitt's Kornbread is a sandwich made on cornbread.Photo courtesy of Kitt's Kornbread Sandwich Bar
Banana cream pie at Kitt's Kornbread boasts a mighty fine pompadour of whippedcream.Photo courtesy of Kitt's Kornbread Sandwich Bar
You have to hand it to Kitt's Kornbread Sandwich and Pie Bar, a Carrollton restaurant serving amazing pies as well as a specialty that no one else has: sandwiches made with slices of cornbread. It's just like a regular sandwich, but with cornbread taking the place of traditional bread.
This sandwich unlike any other is the invention of owner Kitt Williams, who first devised the concept when she was a mere 8 years old.
"I was looking for a snack and saw my mother's cornbread left over from the night before," she says. She filled it with ham and cheese and heated it up, and it subsequently became her signature thing when she was young.
The signature item is just like a regular sandwich, but with cornbread taking the place of traditional bread.
Cut to her adult life when she and her mother were in business together with a bed-and-breakfast and then a pie shop in Jefferson, Texas. Williams was removing a pan of cornbread from the oven, which they served with chicken and dumplings, when the fragrance jogged her memory.
Recalling her invention, she decided to offer it at the pie shop. People latched on to it. By the time they opened this second restaurant in Carrollton in spring 2013, the cornbread sandwich was a centerpiece of the menu.
And then of course there are pies, including savory pot pies for $6.95 in choice of chicken, shepherd's pie or veggie. There's a huge menu of dessert pies, including buttermilk, berry, apple, cherry, pecan, chocolate pecan, Key lime, lemon ice box, chocolate cherry, double chocolate cream, and cheesecake in three varieties (New York, turtle and cherry).
There's a sad note: Kitt's mother was diagnosed with breast cancer; she died in May. But her spirit lives on in the cornbread recipe, not crumbling but holding up to the filling.
Cornbread sandwiches include ham or turkey with American cheese; corned beef and Swiss; fried bologna and American; vegetarian with cheese, tomato, red onion, mayo and spinach; pastrami and provolone; BLT; and Texas chili and cheese — "our only sandwich that must be eaten with a fork," Williams says.
