Coffee and Pie

I live on the Northside (Montrose and Kedzie) and I am looking for a place where I can just get a good slice of pie and a cup of coffee. I am willing to take a drive as long as there is a chance at parking.

shanty wrote:I live on the Northside (Montrose and Kedzie) and I am looking for a place where I can just get a good slice of pie and a cup of coffee. I am willing to take a drive as long as there is a chance at parking.

You know, that was like the first thing I ever asked when I started posting on Chowhound. And I never found a good response. I am mostly resigned that in our area, great pie, like great BBQ brisket, is something to get from a great hobbist (or as I've been told, hobbyists) (so to speak) not a commercial establishment.

Still, I'd like to proved wrong.

Rob

Angel Food Bakery, 1636 W. Montrose

They don't specialize in pie, per se, but they do a very nice job with a variety of baked things. Real flavors, not just cosmetic good looks. Also good light meals, and the coffee is Intelligentsia, as I recall.

It may not hit a bulls-eye in terms of exactly what you seek, but I would say its worth at least a visit. Very nice folks.

I adore good pie, too, and would love to find some around, but I also think that Chicago is not much of a pie town. If you'd like a longer drive, I know of two places that are just what you have in mind: the Green Mill diner in Ottawa, IL (especially the coconut creme pie!) or Andy's Restaurant in Kenosha, WI. Great diners both, with exceptionally good pie. As I've noted before, you can get a pretty good apple or cherry pie at the Bakery from Elm in Wilmette, but that's not what you're really looking for. You want to sit in a comfortable booth and read the paper or have pleasant conversation with a great slice of pie and a decent cup of coffee. Me too.

My friend, Jane, sells her pies (both large and small) at the Sunday Wicker Park Farmers' Market. I think she usually has two flavors, and in the past has had mixed berry, raspberry apricot and strawberry rhubarb. (I know she reads LTH, so maybe she'll pipe up with some self promotion!) I have eaten more than my fair share and can honestly say they are the best pies I have ever eaten (sorry, Grandma!). She also does weddings cakes, ice cream (swoon) and other pastries. She used to work at Blackbird as a pastry chef, so someone more trustworthy than me also thinks she can bake. And she bakes all her goodies at Kitchen Chicago, so you'd be doubly supporting the Chicago culinary community by buying her pies.

As for coffee, well there's plenty to be found in the area. Buy a paper cup full, buy a small pie at the market, and sit in the grass and enjoy!

Kristen

The coffee isn't as much of a priority as the pie. You give me a good slice of pie and some Stewarts and I'll be happy.

How about Sweet Mandy B's at Webster & Racine. Not too far north, but they have great pie, a cute "retro" atmosphere & yummy coffee drinks. I had their strawberry rhubarb pie last fall and it was so good...Plus they have a wonderful selection of other tasty treats

I've been begging for the same thing for years. I'm still begging, but have found that you can get apple pie - not great pie - at the mediocre Angelo's/ Mi Rancho on Montrose and Sacramento. Bonus is that they'll deliver it with a not so terrible taco.

When they have it, Edgebrook Diner has excellent home made apple pie (sometimes other types). It is best to call ahead, because they don't always have pie and when they do, it sells out fast. Of course, you can always get a damn fine breakfastthere, too.

Edgebrook Diner
6322 N Central Ave
Chicago, IL 60646
773-792-1433

Thanks for the tip on the Edgebrook Diner..

those biscuits and gravy look fine..

A long time ago on another board we had a long discussion about why Chicago is a pie-less island in the middle of serious pie country-- start driving through any of the states around us (especially, but not only, Michigan) and you've got pie everywhere. Yet in the city, nuthin'.

I developed an elaborate economic theory about it, which is as good as any. Basically it's that the Greek-owned coffeeshops don't come from a southern/midwestern tradition where pie is important, so even if they offer it, it's industrial-made pie, they don't care that much about pie. And the Okies and Iowans and such who emigrated to work in industry here would have brought their love of pie, but the kinds of places they wound up opening tend to be such tiny snack shop places that they don't have the space to create and bake something like that from scratch; the same capital that would get you, in a farm town, a great big restaurant with plenty of room to bake in instead gets you a tiny place with a grill and a half dozen seats at the counter in the city. So you stick to what you can fry or buy, basically.

This links to one really good pie I found commercially (and to the discussion I was talking about). But I have to say, I still don't have an answer to your question of where to sit and have a cuppa joe and a piece pie.

Is it not a coincidence that the initials to Bakers Square are BS?

kennyz I live within spitting distance of Angelo's. Their whole menu seems to comprise of average food at above average prices. You'll never get a bad meal there, you just won't get a good one.

MikeG I think your theory on Pie is on point. It probably explains the rarity of chicken fried steak. I grew up in Nebraska, and one staple that I have never found up here was the Breaded Pork Tenderloin sandwich. Usually served at bars or diners as an alternative to a burger, I have yet to find one up here. I don't know if it a result of southern influence on Nebraska cuisine, or being surrounded by farmers that also have hogs, but I do know I can't find it on the North Side.

On Jane's pies: My husband reminded me last night that Jane is out of town for two weeks, but she sould be back at the wicker park farmers' market last weekend in August or so.

Having watched (and helped) my wife make countless wonderful pies, it's easy to see why you rarely find decent pie in restaurants anymore--it's the crust. Pie crust resists mass production because the fat, either butter or shortening, must be kept very cold and worked very gently. This produces little fat globules that melt inside the crust, leaving the air pockets that we perceive as flakiness. Plus, each crust requires a slightly different amount of water to bring it to the perfect consistency. Like making risotto, it's entirely about feel. So, it ends up being a labor-intensive, one-off process most restaurants simply can't afford, and factory bakeries can't match.

Here's a delightful book about a young woman's nationwide odyssey in search of great pie:

American Pie : Slices of Life (and Pie) from America's Back Roads

"Is there any dish more American than pie? Seeking to determine its unique place in our cultural and culinary life, journalist Pascale Le Draoulec's American Pie: Slices of Life (and Pie) from America's Back Roads chronicles the author's cross-country pie hunt. Her search by car--from San Francisco to New York--uncovers every native pie variety, from Montana huckleberry to Pennsylvania shoofly; it also reveals, perhaps predictably, an America of towns with 60 churches for 2,500 inhabitants and "white-haired women with calloused rolling pin palms," a breed sadly in decline, as is pie making, which takes time we don't seem to have... "

Paul SL, that's a wonderful book. I bought it for my mother last year, but had to (carefully) read it myself before I gave it to her!

For a decent pie (not even remotely close to the north side), we had success at Around the Clock in Crystal Lake. It's a Greek-style diner, but I guess far enough out in what used to be farm country that some of the country-style cooking survives. Great egg-skillets, too. Pies are all homemade in the basement bakery.

Around the Clock Restaurant
(815) 459-2100
5011 Northwest Hwy
Crystal Lake, IL 60014

Without a doubt the best apple pie I've had in Chicago can be found at Silver Palm Diner on Milwaukee Ave (just east of Ogden/Chicago weird intersection). Made by the owner's wife, w/coconut gelato on the side and bourbon caramel for dripping. Damn, damn good. Their food is also wonderful--soft shell crab sandwich, when in season, is super. And it's housed in an old train car, so it's very cozy and, depending on the situation, romantic. The staff is great and it's in a cool hood (my hood, of course). I go here as often as possible--prices allow repeated and frequent visits.

I can't speak to the coffee (I'm a tea drinker), but I'm sure it's good.