The success story of one of Astorias favorite expatriates, Chef DAYMON GARRETT EDWARDS, pictured, who now lives in Seoul, Korea, just keeps getting better. He started by opening Ruby Edwards TARTINE Bakery & Cafe, specializing in homemade pies, which was a huge hit. But that was just the beginning.

We opened TARTINE Galleria in October 2012, Daymon wrote in the latest edition of his newsletter, The Tasty Tattler. Then in June, Daymon and his partner opened another new branch, TARTINE Pangyo. But thats not all. Oh my goodness no, we have not finished, he added. They recently opened another branch at the Shinsegae Department Store, Express Bus Terminal.

As busy as hes been, he still had the time be in a TV ad for a pharmaceutical company and to grant a wish to a terminally ill youth through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Korea, who came in to the bakery and made a large banana cream pie. We are so pleased that she would want to be a Ruby Edwards TARTINE Bakery & Cafe pastry chef, Daymon explained. It gave everyone in our kitchens renewed pride in what we do.

And finally, the original TARTINE Bakery & Cafe has celebrated quite a landmark: Nov. 15, 2012, we sold our 1 MILLIONTH PIE, Daymon wrote. It took us four years and seven months to accomplish this feat in Korean Pie Baking History. At the rate of our sales now, we predict that we will sell our 2 millionth pie around April 2014, in time for our sixth year anniversary. Getting to the 1 million pies sold mark seems to be the hard part; the rest has been a piece of pie, so to speak.

Elleda Wilson