Bang Bang Pie Shop

I made a quick stop for a to-go order at the Bang Bang Pie Shop.
Hand written menu listed 3 types of pies ($5/slice, I don't recall pie price) and biscuit ($2.50 for 1 biscuit.) Interesting hand-made butters and jams.

The biscuits were insanely rich. Ridiculously good. I had one with black pepper butter and one with blueberry lavender jam.

I brought home a slice of shaker blood orange and dark chocolate chess. I am waiting on the reviews from the resident pie eater.

Descriptions from their web site:

Peanut Butter Cream:
Layers of custard & silky whipped peanut butter topped with fresh whipped cream combine for this decadant pie.

Shaker Blood Orange:
An old fashioned recipe. Whole blood oranges thinly sliced & macerated in sugar then turned into a flaky double crust custard pie balanced by a balsamic reduction.

Dark Chocolate Chess:
Fudgey dark chocolate topped with our very own Old Overholt Rye Whiskey Caramel.

Morning Biscuits:
Fluffy, tender & truly unique, our biscuits are often warm from the oven; great plain or topped with house-churned compound butters & jams from our biscuit topping bar.


Bang Bang Pie Shop
2051 N. California Ave.
http://www.bangbangpie.com/
773-276-8888

Monday: Closed
Tuesday-Friday: 7-7
Saturday: 9-5
Sunday: 9-4

Monday: Closed
Tuesday-Friday: 7-7
Saturday: 9-5

And what of Sunday?

Sounds lovely, but I understand they use lard in the crusts, I don't know if they use it in the biscuits as well and while lard is the reason Hostess Apple Pie was delicious when I was a kid, I don't knowingly eat lard now.

Really strange "About" section on their website. Not sure if others saw this:

From County Fair From Our Grandmother’s Grandmother From Verdant Mountains From Manhattan Circus Vegas Crème de la Crème.  BANG BANG! —it’s here.  

  Churn the butter earn the dough.  Go and play in the Ringmaster’s tent.  Go and fight a Mustachioed Boxer.  Befriend a Brake-hand off the Orient Express.  Drink a Strongman's weight.  Sit awhile.  Life's a circus--sip that concoction and fly.  Bring on home a sugar pie romp, a savory hunk of everything.  BANG BANG!

   From Ipsento to Dark Matter, now Dave roasts his own BANG BANG! Magic Beans picked from a carnival barker’s pocket.  Each morning, Megan searches her dreams for the recipes which her family has forever sang to their children’s ears: delicious pies of extravagant joy.  And Michael, a connoisseur, jet-sets every night from Hong Kong to Tennessee fields, St Louis pig farms to high Manhattan--always to return each day to elevate and enlighten the Logan Square storefront.  To sip a hot cup of Dave’s perfectly roasted and brewed coffee, taste Megan’s from scratch delicious pies.

    They’ve been traveling BANG BANG! They’ve been colorfully dreaming BANG BANG! The train’s pulled in BANG BANG! Now home, now each daily daybreak, each pie, each roast, the floors swept and the chairs brought down from the tables. The sign has turned BANG BANG! PIE SHOP; OPEN for business at last!

They seem to be channeling their inner Ezra Pound...

sundevilpeg wrote:

Monday: Closed
Tuesday-Friday: 7-7
Saturday: 9-5

And what of Sunday?

Huh - not listed on their site. Metromix says they are open 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Sun.

I stopped in and shared a Shaker Blood Orange and Chocolate Chess. It's a cute little shop with a fair amount of seating (certainly more than Hoosier Mama). I loved the Shaker Blood Orange - nice, flaky crust, delicious filling (might have preferred a little more tartness, but still great). I didn't love the Chocolate Chess, which was served with a whiskey caramel sauce. The issue with Chocolate Chess Pie was more a textural thing . . . not smooth, almost curdled - flavor was good though, and so was crust. I did like the whiskey caramel quite a bit though.

But the Shaker Blood Orange was so good that I'm fairly certain these guys know what they're doing. I'll definitely be returning. I guess the upscale pie shop trend has officially hit Chicago, and I'm not complaining.

pairs4life wrote:Sounds lovely, but I understand they use lard in the crusts, I don't know if they use it in the biscuits as well and while lard is the reason Hostess Apple Pie was delicious when I was a kid, I don't knowingly eat lard now.

Having judged quite a few baking contests, I can confidently state that leaf lard makes the very best pie crusts. It's also not nearly as bad for you as it has been painted to be. But, of course, it is not vegetarian. You could call ahead, perhaps, and see if you can special order products made with coconut oil instead.

They are open on Sunday - I made a second visit today.

The biscuits are really outstanding. They're not the flaky, layered type I prefer, but rather the very tender type. I mean, amazingly light and tender but with a slightly crisp exterior crust. The sour cream flavor really comes through in a terrific way. I've never, ever met a non-flaky biscuit that excited me, until this one. I also tried both the black pepper-honey butter (outstanding) and the strawberry-___?___ jam (also fantastic).

I also tried the peanut butter cream pie today and it is really excellent. The filling is really fantastic, smooth, not that thick, but it really delivers terrific peanut butter flavor and is not too sweet. Topped with freshly made whipped cream, no complaints here.

As for their pie crusts, they use a butter/leaf lard combo, and the leaf lard comes rendered from Smoking Goose. I still prefer an all butter crust in terms of flavor, but no complaints about Bang Bang's crusts.

LAZ wrote:Having judged quite a few baking contests, I can confidently state that leaf lard makes the very best pie crusts. It's also not nearly as bad for you as it has been painted to be. But, of course, it is not vegetarian. You could call ahead, perhaps, and see if you can special order products made with coconut oil instead.

Nope, I'm 1 of those vegetarians that can't go half & half on the pizza & always asks what kind of stock is used in the soup ;D. I agree, lard is best for pie crusts & french fries, but just not what I do so I'll stick to Hoosier Mama or make my own.

It's not like pie is a health food in the first place.

They updated their site to include Sunday, and it is indeed 9–4.
I can't quite make it on my lunch hour. Alas, it will have to wait til the weekend. I think my father-in-law's stopping by...what a great excuse!

BR wrote:They are open on Sunday - I made a second visit today.

The biscuits are really outstanding. They're not the flaky, layered type I prefer, but rather the very tender type. I mean, amazingly light and tender but with a slightly crisp exterior crust. The sour cream flavor really comes through in a terrific way. I've never, ever met a non-flaky biscuit that excited me, until this one. I also tried both the black pepper-honey butter (outstanding) and the strawberry-___?___ jam (also fantastic).

Those biscuits are amazing! I stopped in Friday to pick up a pie for a dinner I was attending and got a biscuit also. I wanted to take it home and eat it so I didn't get the butter or jam (they actually refunded me a quarter since I didn't take any), that biscuit didn't make it two blocks before I polished it off. Like you I prefer the flakey, layered type, but this was just outstanding.

The pie was a big hit also, but I thought it was a little too sweet. They had macerated the fruit which is the proper way to do it, but I thought they could have used less sugar. It was still a great pie and I can't wait to go back and try the peanut butter.

I am intrigued by the stories I've heard of this place so far. How does this compare to the pies from Hoosier Mama pie company? I really love the pies from there though they are a bit pricey and you pretty much have to plan ahead because often the selection of pies available varies. This place is also much closer to where I live which is an added plus.

I am a big fan of Bang Bang Pie Shop. Their coffee is great. The biscuits are really good with a great variety of house made butters. My favorites were the black pepper honey and there was also one with meyer lemon that was quite good. I bought a key lime pie to share with people at work, and across the board everyone loved it. Really delicious graham cracker crust, good balance of sweet and tart.

I think it's important to note that the space that Bang Bang Pie Shop currently occupies was basically nothing before they built out the shop. I walk past this place everyday on my way to and from the California Blue Line stop and didn't even realize it was a useable space until they started construction. It is a great addition to the block and the neighborhood.

Stopped by Saturday @ closing time to pick up a pie for a party that night-
and the owner unlocked the door to allow me to purchase a French Silk Pie that they still had.
(everything else was SOLD OUT!- guess business is "....berry-berry-Good")

The owner shared abit of his "ignorance" of LTH forum-
but did note that he discovered the site through
Googling for reviews of "Bang-Bang Pie Shop".
Let's hope that he becomes a contributor!

I really like the energy that you feel inside this shop - you can just feel their passion for "good food"!
Please support this new business (not that they "need" help- they have already captured the attention of LEYE!!).
Shops like this will continue to help craft Logan Square the epicenter of uber-hipness (IMHO)
I mean- he uses a SQUARE card scanner attached to his iPad as a "Cash Register"- how cool is that??

I picked up a shaker lemon pie a couple of weeks ago to share.

I thought the crust was flaky and excellent. It was probably as good as the the better Hoosier Mama pie crusts I've had. I thought the filling was too sweet and I think I would have preferred a firmer texture. The crust was good enough to encourage my return, though. And I'll be excited to see how their fruit pies are when the season comes around again.

not ignorant of lthf any longer. thanks for all the kind words on here. i'm loving how positive and educated lthf is! we hope to have many more of you in and as people who obviously know your food, we'd love your feedback!
thanks

you are most definitely right about the leaf lard! that's why we use it. our goal is to make the best pie in the most ethical way. we use an extremely good local leaf lard from humanely treated animals. with only a tiny oven and huge demand this far, it's almost impossible for us to make special order vegetarian pies that taste excellent. in the future that is definitely an option for us, but we just can't right now. we also make the "best" biscuits and those are intentionally vegetarian. otherwise, hoosier momma does make great pie and it's all butter. i hate to have to turn away business, but we can't risk accidentally mixing up a pie and giving someone a lard pie who wants vegetarian or giving pie we don't think is the best of it's kind. thanks for your understanding!

LAZ wrote:

pairs4life wrote:Sounds lovely, but I understand they use lard in the crusts, I don't know if they use it in the biscuits as well and while lard is the reason Hostess Apple Pie was delicious when I was a kid, I don't knowingly eat lard now.

Having judged quite a few baking contests, I can confidently state that leaf lard makes the very best pie crusts. It's also not nearly as bad for you as it has been painted to be. But, of course, it is not vegetarian. You could call ahead, perhaps, and see if you can special order products made with coconut oil instead.

Welcome bangbangpie,

Thanks for being honest about the pie and I agree, getting the pies mixed up would be a problem.

Next time I'm in the area, will try the biscuits.

Cheers & Continued Success to you,

Swung by the shop just after it opened on Saturday. Glad to see a busy kitchen space with six workers.

Come to Papa

Never thought I'd say this, but this biscuit can get by without a pat of butter. I was concerned that the top was overdone, but it must have just been given a heavy layer of melted butter prior to baking.
(The bottom of one of my two biscuits actually was a little burnt, but this didn't really detract as it added the sort of complexity one gets from the char on a blistered pizza crust.)

Key Lime

A very good rendition. Fresh whipped cream at no additional charge? No time to be a purist.
The filling has the lingering tartness I expect from a good key lime pie. The graham crackers for the graham cracker crust are made in-house. The crust was pretty sweet, but that goes with the territory.

In addition to the Key lime, rhubarb, and French silk shown on the website, Bang Bang has banana cream this weekend. If you get shut out of a Mother's Day pie at Hoosier Mama, this is quite the backup plan.

(I noticed that the $26 price here for pies, across the board, puts this a few dollars above the average Hoosier Mama pie. But Bang Bang has terrific homey fare, with flavor as king.)

Love the rhubarb Pie, Bang Bang's baker has a deft touch with tart perfectly calibrating, at least for my palate, the fine line between overly tart and situp and take notice. Same with Bang Bang Pie's blood orange pie, noticeable tart, balanced flavor.

Bang Bang Pie, count me a fan!

Bang Bang Rhubarb Pie

(cell phone pic)

I agree the rhubarb got the tart/sweet balance just right. It was my breakfast and dessert for a whole week.

When I got there it looks like they'd received a sampler of Leopold Bros. liquors to try. They gave me a sip of the Michigan tart cherry, which was delicious, though they were thinking of ways to incorporate it into baking, of course.

Did my eyes deceive me, or are they also selling little bundles of fresh bacon to go?

Just popped in for the first time. They were out of pies around 1:30...many happy mothers today!

We got an iced coffee and a biscuit with a few smears of the different butters to go. My wife exclaimed repeatedly, "So f'n good!...what the f' is in this! ...so f'n good!". She was then immediately sad two minutes after it was finished.

She declared it the best thing she's ever had. A bold claim, but that's what biscuits laced with crack....um, lard will do.


Can't wait to try the pie.

Sweetbread, I note that a few posts back in this thread, the owner of Bang Bang indicated the biscuits have no lard (they are "intentionally vegetarian"). Imagine what might happen if they DID start putting lard in there! Perhaps it is best for us not to have such knowledge.

Wow so glad you guy are enjoying everything! To make sure everything is clear,
The biscuits do not have lard. They actually taste better all butter. We tried lard and it was too heavy. Definitely not something to be eaten every day. Butter was another story. Also, the baker (my wife, Megan) loves letting fruit speak for itself so we minimize sugar in all recipes. We're so glad you a understand that!
To give you all heads up, we will be closed this coming Tuesday to work out some kinks and finish some projects we haven't had time for. Hopefully we can figure out a better way to keep the pie a biscuits available. We're also trying to develop some lunch foot that fits our pie, coffee, biscuits commitment.
Thanks for all your business and positive feedback. We're all ears if you have ideas or suggestions!
Dave

bangbangpie wrote:We're all ears if you have ideas or suggestions!
Dave

Yeah, keep up the great work! You've got a great little space there, really nice people working for you, and you're putting out really terrific stuff. It's one think to do a great biscuit and terrific pies, but those jams and butters for the biscuits (and the terrific pie crusts) really elevate the entire operation. In a society that's often too willing to settle for quickly made, cheap pastries and the like, it's so refreshing to watch true artisans practice their craft - congrats! But honestly, I'm glad I don't live that close to the shop because I'd be gaining a pound a week (or more).

JimInLoganSquare wrote:Sweetbread, I note that a few posts back in this thread, the owner of Bang Bang indicated the biscuits have no lard (they are "intentionally vegetarian"). Imagine what might happen if they DID start putting lard in there! Perhaps it is best for us not to have such knowledge.

Okay, so no one is denying that there is crack in the biscuits. Just as long as we're clear...

Was at Bang Bang last week and keep meaning to post about it. I tried the rhubarb pie, like many others, and also the French silk. I also loved the sweet to tart balance in the rhubarb pie. The topping was very interesting. Not your typical crumble, but it felt almost more like brioche-y croutons on top. Maybe the crumble topping just cooked into large chunks? At any rate, I actually really liked the texture and sweetness of the topping in contrast to the more tart filling. My only little quibble was that the filling was quite gelled. For me, it was maybe a little too much like jelly for a pie filling. I did love the crust on both pies. Absolutely loved the filling of the French silk. Very smooth and rich, but not overly so. Delicious!

LauraS wrote:My only little quibble was that the filling was quite gelled. For me, it was maybe a little too much like jelly for a pie filling. I did love the crust on both pies. Absolutely loved the filling of the French silk. Very smooth and rich, but not overly so. Delicious!

Hi Laura,
you are so right! actually we noticed the problem ourselves. unfortunately there is no way to tell everyone who tried the pie that we realized something was wrong, but we used too much tapioca. we don't try the pie every day (otherwise we'd be fat) and we didn't notice until way later in the day. we switched tapioca brands and used the same amount, but the new one was much more potent. I'm sorry what you got was so gelatanous. The new ones are more runny. The bottom of the crust gets a little soggy after a day but it makes more sense texturally. if you get a chance to come in and try it again, let us know you are from here and we'll replace it with one that is hopefully better.

Also, Everyone, the crumble is not a cruton but it is our version of a crumble which has a sweet/salty thing going on where the sugar becomes a brulee and the flour puffs like doughy bread. So glad you like it. It tastes amazing with fruits like apple and peach so expect to see those...

Stopped by Bang Bang on Saturday morning. Loved the biscuits and butter/jam bar. Took home a key lime pie. Delicious! Wonderful tartness and great crust.

Loved the sweet/salty topping on the crumble.

You nailed the sweet/tart balance on the key lime I bought on Friday as well. More tart than the lemon shaker I had a month ago. The cookie crumb crust had gone a little soft on the bottom, but I was running errands on a hot day while it sat in a styrafoam container, so I'm not going to knock you for that. The offer of a fresh whipped cream topping was a nice touch.

I've been pretty pleased with the things I've tried - and I'm hard on pies. Glad to have you in the neighborhood.