Pie Junkie & Bakery used to be known as The Pie Hole & Bakery. I loved the old name, but nothing else about the bakery itself has changed – their pies are still amazing; the crust made with lots of butter. They have, however, expanded and become more accessible to many more people – you can now find them in Kensington!
Kensington: 1081 2nd Avenue NW (under the old Lido sign, behind Reds)
Spruce Cliff: 8 Spruce Centre SW (near Shaganappi Golf Course)
Pie Junkie can be found selling their hand pies at the Stephen Avenue and Marda Loop farmers markets – sometimes selling from their new bicycle! Hand pies come in a variety of seasonal flavours: blueberry, saskatoon, peach/apricot, mixed berry, rhubarb, etc. The hand pies are great to eat while wandering around the farmer’s market or they are a perfect serving size for one person for dessert. They offer pie by the slice at both locations Thursday through Sunday, but I’m not sure why you’d want to settle on just one slice!
I went to Pie Junkie in Spruce Cliff to get a pie to bring to dinner at a friends that night. Pie Junkie has their standard selection, including coconut cream and key lime, but they also switch up their fruit pies based on whatever fruits are in season (e.g. mixed berries, apple, strawberry/rhubarb, etc.). Last weekend I purchased a peach/apricot pie (shown above). The standard 16cm size is a bit small, but perfect for 3 or 4 people if you don’t want a huge dessert. I certainly wouldn’t try to serve it to more than 4 people. The pie was $16 and worth every penny. You can custom order pies in a variety of sizes, with large ones ranging from $16 to $30 and smaller ones from $6 to $8.
When I was at the bakery I decided to have lunch. I chose a tomato tart for $8. If you like cheese, you should try this tart! Although beautiful in appearance, the tart is likely to scare off the hard core meat eater because all they can see is tomatoes. But don’t let these little veggies scare you away from a salty taste and texture explosion! The crispy, buttery crust is filled with smooth goat cheese, ricotta and parmesan with a touch of cayenne, and it’s topped with tomatoes and herbs then baked to perfection. When you eat this tart in the restaurant, they slowly heat it up for you so the cheese is warm and gooey. Unfortunately because of all the cheeses it is a bit salty, so make sure you have a glass of water nearby, but it really was delicious!
The bakery also sells a variety of other baked goods – all of which looked super decadent. There was a fair selection of cookies and brownies if you are in the mood for chocolate. If you want to relax a bit, the Spruce Cliff location has a number of tables inside the bakery and a couple small ones outside. Grab a drink – they offer a wide selection of loose teas you can enjoy in classic tea cups with matching saucers, drip coffee and San Pellegrino sparkling beverages.
If you’re in the mood for a savoury treat or something for lunch or dinner, they make a wide selection of savoury hand pies and meat pies: Jamaican beef, Italian job, butter chicken, Aussie beef, steak & mushroom and chicken pot pie. There’s also sausage rolls, the tomato tart and potato galette.
I grabbed a potato galette ($7) to go so that I could eat it for breakfast the next morning. I’d had one of these before, and had eaten it as a side for dinner. At that time I knew I wanted to try it again for breakfast with some eggs. Heated up slowly as per the instructions they give you (Put the pie in a cold oven, turn it to 250F and let the pie heat up along with the oven. When the oven is heated to 250F the pie should be warmed up too). The potato galette is kind of like scalloped potatoes in a pie shell – there’s nothing wrong with that! Super tasty, it made for a hearty breakfast.
Pie Junkie does catering for weddings, dinners and corporate events. Check out their Instagram feed for photos of their custom orders. I think the wedding idea is really neat! Everyone gets their own individual pie – makes it easy to serve.
The Spruce Cliff location also sells a selection of cut flowers. If you’re off to a friends’ place for dinner and want to bring pie for dessert and flowers for the host, Pie Junkie becomes a nice one-stop-shop. It also has lots of easy access parking in the lot in front of the mall.
I will have to check out their new Kensington location as soon as I can. I don’t get over to Kensington very often so I should make an afternoon of it and just wander the streets.
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