That Pie Place, Dunwoody GA (CLOSED)

This is Marie, contributing an article about pies. There is hardly any food substance short of chocolate that is dearer to my heart than pies, and unfortunately that means that many a time I have had my heart broken. You know that exciting feeling you used to get as a kid when you emptied out your Halloween bag onto the bed and saw that someone had given you a couple of full-sized chocolate bars? Or the disappointment when you saw that nearly all the chocolate was that generic chalky stuff that comes in foil wrappers with badly-drawn cartoon ghosts and no brand name on them? Well, that experience is very like how I feel about pies, which is why, unless I can actually see the pie in a display case, I hardly ever order a slice. Because all too often, you get a plate of disappointment that reminds you of the chalk-olate Halloween candy.

This is NOT the case here. That Pie Place serves the full-sized candy bar of pies. When you walk in you see a case full of ingredients, and order off a menu full of choices, or you can make up your own. When you order your pie, they will put the ingredients onto a round piece of dough, then tuck it gently into a folding machine that turns it into something that looks rather like a small calzone. It then goes into an oven that gets your pie done in a flash. It comes out flaky, hot all the way through, and beautifully brown.

On my first visit, I got the second-most popular kind of pie, the Chicken Pot pie. It was so good I came back and got one of the third-most-popular kind, the Chicken Cordon Bleu. Perhaps I will eventually get over my contrary streak and get the most popular kind. You should go yourself and ask what it is. And enjoy it! Mind you, of the kinds I have tried, I actually enjoy the savory pies better than the sweet, which surprised me quite a bit (my sweet tooth, as regular readers know, is larger than the rest of me combined). But I haven’t had the s’mores dessert pie yet and that might possibly change my mind. It’s something that will require further exploration.

That Pie Place does an excellent job on the lunch time limit challenge. Because their magic oven cooks the pies so quickly, I was able to eat there at the restaurant and still get back before my break ended, even on the day when a lane of traffic was closed for construction. Oh, and just to make things better, they have a Coke Freestyle machine.

I’ve actually had one of the breakfast pies as well. My office ordered in a tray of them for a meeting once, which is how I heard about the place to begin with. Breakfast isn’t my biggest fave, however, and I enjoyed the lunch pies much more. Something visitors need to know, however: the sign on the building is partially obscured by trees; it was very helpful of them to have a folding sign out by the street to help indicate the turn. If you stop by, look for the sign by the sidewalk. The location is a new strip mall/office area which still mostly empty; hopefully the surrounding spaces will fill soon, because this has become my favorite lunch place and it needs to stick around. So you, reading this – go! Eat pie!

*Update, 8/5/15: Unfortunately, this location has closed. There’s presently a food truck version of the concept, and the owners hope to reopen at a new site.

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