Pies (Dessert)

Does anyone know where to get good pie in the city? I have searched the site and it seems like pie isn't a huge topic. I take it that Chicago is not a pie town. I'm looking for a restaurant that has a good pie or maybe even a diner that's known for pies. I'll take any kind of pie. It can be a a fruit pie or even something like a pecan pie. Did I mention, I like pie.

Joe's Stone Crab has an all pie dessert menu. I recommend the Banana Cream Pie, but also the cherry, peanut butter, and chocolate cream are also delicious choices.

The strange lack of pie in Chicago is an old subject:

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=8

Yes, that's right, thread number 8. And even before that:

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/112742

That said, I can name at least two places that have pretty good homemade pie now: Depot Diner and Feed.

Actually 1-4 and 6-7 do not exist so it is the second existing thread on the board after a red Burgundy inquiry.

http://www.firstslice.org/

Great pie for a great cause -- what more can you ask for!

Hoosier Mama pies are pretty good. They're available at several places around town, including Metropolis Coffee and forum favorite Glenn's Diner.

tonirogerspark wrote:Joe's Stone Crab has an all pie dessert menu. I recommend the Banana Cream Pie, but also the cherry, peanut butter, and chocolate cream are also delicious choices.

You forgot their superb key lime pie. It's one of their signatures.

Hi,

Over the weekend, I had a very good double-crust chicken pot pie at Royal Oak Orchards in Harvard, IL. Several years ago, they had a battery of older women making pies. They outsourced it to someone locally, which I was initially disappointed about until I tried my chicken pot pie. The pie crust was actually, genuinely flaky. The filling was heavy on content: diced chicken, carrots, green beans, potatoes and pearl onions. Usually when you cut into a chicken pot pie, you content with a lot of gravy. This had nominal gravy with not enough to pool up on my plate anywhere. (I'll insert a picture later when I get to it.)

The only pies they are making on the premises are their nut pies: pecan and pistachio. They also have a number of fruit pies. Whoever they have outsourced to for the pies is very good, I don't miss the in-house team like I thought I might.

Royal Oak Farm Orchard
15908 Hebron Road
Harvard, IL
Tel: 815/648-4141
www.royaloakfarmorchard.com

Regards,

Have you tried Baker's Square? (I keed, I keed).

A couple of good slices I have found...the coconut creme at Fat Willy's and the strawberry pie at Alex's Washington Gardens in Highwood.

Fat Willy's
2416 W Schubert Ave
Chicago, IL 60647
773-782-1800

Alex's Washington Gardens
256 Green Bay Road
Highwood, Illinois
(847) 432-0309

Cathy2 wrote:pecan and pistachio.

I am so there!

I can't speak to the quality of this place since I just heard that Pie Chicago opened in the past week(?) or so.
I saw it on Daily Candy last week.

http://www.piechicago.com/index.aspx

PIE
615 N. State St.
Chicago, IL 60610
312-642-4192

Please post if you go. My husband is crazy for pie.

His favorite pie is from Bittersweet on Belmont.
Their cherry and blueberry pies are outstanding!
http://www.bittersweetpastry.com/
1114 W. Belmont
773-929-1100

We also like the pies at Bleeding Heart
http://www.thebleedingheartbakery.com/
2018 W. Chicago
773-278-3638
Though call first. What they have in stock seems to vary day to day.

I just checked out the menu at PIE Chicago, and all I can say is that for $26 I would be happy to make you any kind of pie you like!

Don't forget Sweet Mandy B's. Usually they have a few old-fashioned cream pies on hand (chocolate, coconut, a killer banana cream etc.), pecan, pumpkin (at least in the fall). I don't know about their fruit pie selection off hand, but almost everything else there is excellent. Plus you can eat in.

Sweet Mandy B's
1208 W. Webster Ave.
Chicago
773-244-1174

I love the banana cream pie at Mandy B. For my money the best banana cream pie that i have had lately is at Lula Cafe in Logan Square. Big fresh chunks of banana=delicious pie.

LULA CAFE
2537 N. Kedzie Ave., Chicago
Tel: (773) 489-9554

iblock9 wrote:Big fresh chunks of banana=delicious pie

What about Banana Pudding?
Can this be found anywhere?

SCUBAchef wrote:

iblock9 wrote:Big fresh chunks of banana=delicious pie

What about Banana Pudding?
Can this be found anywhere?

Cookie is a banana pudding lover and swears by the classic prep (with 'nilla wafers) at the aforementioned Sweet Mandy B's.

Best,
Michael

I haven't tried them myself, but Bar-B-Que Bob's pies have been discussed here: he has lemon cheese, pecan, and sweet potato. It's more of a takeout joint, however - not the place to go if you're looking for a cuppa with a slice.

Bar-B-Que Bob's
773-761-1260
2055 W Howard St,
Chicago 60645

It is really odd, isn't it? Especially considering what pie-eating people Midwesterners are...I've been off my game lately, but am an avid pie baker, and make a fine blueberry pie if I do say so myself. Maybe it's because there are too many home cooks?

I feel in all honesty I should mention that when Sparky forces me to go to Old Country Buffet, I enjoy the banana pudding which is traditional to a T: nilla wafers, vanilla pudding, hefty chunks of banana and Cool Whip. Please don't kick me off the forum....

SCUBAchef wrote:

iblock9 wrote:Big fresh chunks of banana=delicious pie

What about Banana Pudding?
Can this be found anywhere?

Feed always has banana pudding. Nilla Wafers and all.
And as long as I'm here, I will go ahead and add a second plug for the Depot's pies. All of them. Lately I'm partial to lemon cream, but they're all worth a trip.

Feed
2803 W. Chicago
(773) 489-4600

Depot Diner
5840 W. Roosevelt
(773) 261-8422

Kristen

The former pastry chef at lula is a piemonger at the logan square farmer's market on the weekends, and she is absolutely amazing.

(full disclosure: she is a good friend of mine and just made my wedding cake for me a couple of weeks ago, but I'm being as objective as possible!)

SCUBAchef wrote:

iblock9 wrote:Big fresh chunks of banana=delicious pie

What about Banana Pudding?
Can this be found anywhere?

Decent to good nanner pudding can be found at any soul-food place in Chicago,
usually. I like the food from Macarthur's, and often get banana-pudding as the
dessert there... but I think all soul-food places have this.

The other place Ive gotten it from is Abundance Bakery on 47th street on the
southside - the second-best apple-fritter in the city for breakfast, and a
banana-pudding picked up to go in the evening before they close They
do a fine banana pudding too.

(BTW, this thread has reminded me to try one place again... Mrs Lee's Good
Food on Garfield ie 55th street, near Washtington Park. I was last there a
year ago, and picked up a slice of pecan pie only, but it was very good
from what I remember. She does whole pies too IIRC).

c8w

anybody else craving a fried pie? for breakfast?
(as alweays, thnaks for the kind words, we're not worthy)

We made our annual trip to Twin Gardens Farm in Harvard today for Mirai corn. Since we live in McHenry, it's not *that* far, but it's still not popping into the local store, plus it was pouring for most of the ride, so it felt road-trippy.

Cathy2's tantalizing post about pies at Royal Oak Orchards made it a must for a second stop. Very cute place. They had a few prepicked bags of apples and then some other produce that seemed to be brought in from elsewhere (I saw boxes of Michigan peaches, for example). We bought a mini chicken pot pie, a mini strawberry rhubarb crumble pie and a full sized blackberry raspberry pie, which I've baked already for Sunday dinner. It's going to be yummy, judging from what was oozing onto the cookie sheet under the pie plate.

My real impetus for going there was this:

The only pies they are making on the premises are their nut pies: pecan and pistachio.

We speculated on the way there if it was pecan like in nature or more of a cream type pie. I know, I coulda asked here on the board, but I enjoyed the mystery. Alas, when we got there, the woman at the bakery counter had no idea what we were talking about. She said they don't carry pistachio pies and directed me to the freezer case for what she said was all the varieties. So, I still don't know what the elusive pistachio pie looks like. Cathy2, did you happen to see it there or did they just list it when you asked?

It was all good, though. I have lots of pies to keep me happy and I'll go back in the fall to pick apples--because it's a BIG orchard.

Hi,

I was at Royal Oak today for another chicken pot pie. When I talked to the counter girls last week in the dining area, they told me they made their pecan and pistachio pies on the premises. All the other pies were made to their recipes by an outside source. I also have not seen the pistachio pies, but I will make a point of inquiring again.

I went over to the gift shop to buy cider donuts, which were divine. I also checked out the pies in the freezer case.

Driving around today, I found Mirai signs popping up everywhere.

Regards,

Aha! The dining area looked closed when we got there (close to 4:00), so we went right into the gift shop which also had a bakery counter. Maybe we weren't in the right spot to ask.

We saw signs for Mirai too, Cathy. We got a free sample of Mirai (raw) at Royal Oak, as a matter of fact!!

And I had a box of cider donuts in my hand--and put them back. Next time!

Are you allowed to post about another city in the Chicago Forum, anyway, if you ever get down to Louisville, check out a little, and I mean little, place called Le Gallo Rosso. Best place in town, and they have the best dessert that I have ever tasted. EVER.


~Cally~
Looking to get ahead? You can, with an online business degree

My family really likes the pies from Costco. My favorite pies are from my Jewel Bakeshop! And you can't beat the price!

Has anyone tried the mystery Cranberry Spice Elite Pie from Baker's Square? I got wind of this in an email last week, but there has been nothing on their website. You can't buy it, read about it, or order it, apparently. It's an odd looking thing, like two slabs of wet rye bread with a rather yummy looking berry mousse between. There is absolutely nothing online about it. I have reason to believe that this thing does not exist and that email was a mindfuck.

gls wrote:http://www.firstslice.org/

Great pie for a great cause -- what more can you ask for!

Came to post this. Get their peanut butter pie!!

Their coffee toffee is nothing to sneeze at, either.