Pies in Northwest Indiana and south suburbs

I'm looking to taste some good pies--and I mean really AWESOME, not the Greek restaurant type--to incorporate in a weekly column I write. Fruit, cream, deep-fried, nut, anything except savory pies.

Any suggestions in Northwest Indiana?

Pies:

Gooseberry pie at Phil Smidt's

Lincoln O

Miner-Dunn Hamburgers
8940 Indianapolis Blvd
Highland IN
219-923-3311

Johnsen's Blue Top Drive In
8801 Indianapolis Blvd
Highland IN
219-838-1233

Village Market...it's at the corner of Wentworth and River Oaks Drive in Calumet City.

Village Farmstand has great pies! I forgot about them! As for Phil Smidt's, I interviewed the chef about a year ago, and he revealed that they buy their pies from a bakery in Chicago.

I doubt you'll find pies, except for maybe the deep fried kind at Sonic.

Cathy2 wrote:Miner-Dunn Hamburgers

I'm not sure I'd call it AWESOME but Miner-Dunn's strawberry pie seems to have a following and I think it's made on site. The strawberry pie is seasonal but they make others year round.

Cathy2 wrote:Johnsen's Blue Top Drive In

Not exactly a pie, here's Blue Top's "home made" blackberry cobbler. Now that I think about it, it wasn't exactly a cobbler, at least not like any I've had before. It seemed to have the crust mixed throughout. As far as I know Blue Top doesn't make traditional pies but their apple dumpling could be worth a try.

MarisaR wrote:As for Phil Smidt's, I interviewed the chef about a year ago, and he revealed that they buy their pies from a bakery in Chicago.

They don't seem to make a secret of this. Our waitress told us without hesitation the pies weren't made in house.

Marisa, for whom are you writing this column? Your location makes me think it's the Times, but their food columnist is Barb R, not Marisa R...

, there is a reporter for the NWI Times named Marisa Kwiatkowski, maybe that is the MarisaR who posted above?

Hmm...to make things clear...it is rare for someone to write columns about food in NW Indiana, and I'm simply curious to know which publication supports such efforts!

HI,

I wonder if Marisa's food writing can be linked to in the future. That would be really cool.

Regards,

This could also be an article for Lake or Shore or one of those other "lifestyle" magazines popped up in NWIndiana and SW Michigan.As far as pies goes the only thing that pops into my mind is the Essenhouse in Middlebury but I am sure that is out f the area.This is why everyone in the area gets excited when a Baker's Square opens.

It's true that food is rarely a topic of discussion in the NWI papers, unfortunately many of the residents of the region just don't care about or demand good quality food of their local dining establishments like so many Chicagoans do.

Of course it's all speculation as to who Marisa is and for whom she is writing her column. I suspect that Trudie may have hit it on the head though.

As far as decent pies are concerned, I think that the Bread Basket and both ouposts of Butterfingers should turn out good pies. All of their other baked goods, cakes, etc that I have tried over the years have been very good. I actually thought of suggesting Baker's Square, my family gets pies from the Ridge Road outpost in Lansing each year for T-day and they have been surprisingly good in quality.

SMT wrote:, there is a reporter for the NWI Times named Marisa Kwiatkowski, maybe that is the MarisaR who posted above?

Nope, I'm the food writer for the Post-Tribune.

stevez wrote:I doubt you'll find pies, except for maybe the deep fried kind at Sonic.

I wish they had deep-fried pies at Sonic. But, alas, I am left to to those sumptuous beauties they sell at the Hostess thrift store.

It truly is hard to find really good homemade pie anywhere in NWI/south suburbs. When all of these homespun diners tote their desserts as "homemade", it means they pop open a can of pie filling and pour it in a pre-made crust. But I know that there has to be some gems out there! Has anyone tried the pie at Smokey's BBQ in Chesterton (actually Furnessville)?

Round The Clock in Highland and in Schererville makes their own cheesecakes. 7 lbs. and 3 lbs. The only thing not homemade is the whipped cream. They use Rich's cream. I've seen the bags, when they put topping on people's desserts. I love their cheesecakes. So good!

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=115103#115103
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=113594#113594
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=113486#113486

You've made six posts here, and four are about the things you like at Round the Clock. One of the other two gave wrong directions to a competitor's restaurant (I just posted address, phone, and correct directions).

Just making an observation...

MarisaR wrote:I'm looking to taste some good pies--and I mean really AWESOME, not the Greek restaurant type--to incorporate in a weekly column I write. Fruit, cream, deep-fried, nut, anything except savory pies.

Any suggestions in Northwest Indiana?

A great new bakery is the Bakers House in Miller Beach. It is in a cute old house painted yellow. They have wonderful homemade pies, cakes, scones, quiche etc. It is opened only until about 3pm unless they are busy. It is on Miller Ave. right off of Lake st in downtown Miller.

Now that I think of it how about Truffles in Michigan City.Its a bakery with more frou-frou and not doughnuts and longjohns etc.I've had some very good tarts and pies there.