My father-in-law is big in the apple growing community in northern Washington state. He says Gravensteins make a fantastic apple pie and I agree. I've seen lots at the markets here in Northern California.

Have you tried Northern Spy? I love this cookbook Rustic Fruit Desserts- the authors are based out of Oregon. They always recommend Northern Spy as a good foundational apple.

I can't get Northern Spy that often, and I usually use Cortland or McIntosh instead.

Monsieur hirschfield straight off named my favorite apple; pink lady. You can find them in California but the season may be over.

Thanks for the info!! I'm totally with you on small orchard v agri-apple Golden Delicious apples. I grew up eating Goldens off an ancient tree. What a great-tasting apple that was, and quite a bit more tart, and crisp, than the commercial varieties. I had a JonaMac in Wisconsin that was pretty good, and the Honey Crisp I tasted recently was fabulous. My favorites though lately are Mutsus, which I believe are the same or are perhaps are very closely related to Crispins. Sweet and tart all in one apple. Love it. I don't think we get Braeburns or Empires or Pink Ladies here. I'll need to pay a bit more attention and visit all the apple vendors now, not just the one I typically patronize. ;o)

I like Pink Ladies but they are different from Cortland on the other hand Braeburn is good for pies, Emipire would be good all around. Idared, Jonathans and McIntosh would all be similar to Cortlands. I also think Golden Delicious are great if you can get them from a small orchard that would have the original strain not the industrial commercial strain you get in the grocery.