I love pie. I’ve loved pie since I was 3 years old and took that first wonderful bite of fresh apple pie that my mom made with apples from our neighbor’s backyard. So when I was riding my bike down 12th street last fall and noticed the sign on F Street that said, “Coming soon: The Real Pie Company” I was elated. Our very own pie shop here in downtown Sacramento—it was too good to be true. But it IS true. Not only do we have our very own pie shop, it is filled with the best tasting, most interesting pies I have ever tasted.

Kira O’Donnell and her husband Paul own The Real Pie Company. Kira learned her expertise working her way through college as pastry chef for top restaurants such as Chez Panisse and Piatti. Like me, she has a love affair with pies. “Pies make people happy,” she says. That is part of the reason she opened a pie shop instead of a dessert restaurant. The other reason is that she loves fresh fruits and vegetables. “We don’t just do pies,” Kira says. “What we make are produce-focused pastries.”

She is a passionate supporter of small family farms and the Real Pie Company uses local produce almost exclusively. Her parents owned a farm and she grew up seeing first hand how hard local farmers work to bring fresh fruits and vegetables to their communities. “We source as much of our produce as we can locally,” she says. She goes to the farmers market every Sunday. “I just load my car up with, not just fruits, but vegetables as well, since we make pot pies and quiches.” They even have a board on the wall that lists the produce and each farm where it was grown.

“So if someone buys a cherry pie and just loves the cherries, they will know where they can go to buy their own,” she says.
Because they use locally grown fresh ingredients, The Real Pie Company’s menu is ever changing. Right now, stone fruits, which are fleshy fruits like peaches, plums, apricots and nectarines, are coming into season. That means that Kira will be baking all kinds of light, summery pastries like cobblers and crisps.

Kira’s favorite pie is rhubarb-blueberry. But, don’t worry. They always make one plain rhubarb on Saturdays. “There are rhubarb purists that come in and want just a rhubarb pie because that’s what their grandmother used to make,” she says.
Traditionally, rhubarb is paired with strawberry, but Kira likes to pair flavors that will add to the experience of the pie. That is why she makes rhubarb-blueberry, or rhubarb-raspberry. “Because they are both zesty, feisty, brightly-colored pie ingredients that work well together.”

Kira often experiments with fruit combinations in her pies. There is creamy banana-butterscotch which has just a hint of butterscotch flavor, just enough to enhance the sweetness of the banana. My personal favorite is peach-raspberry. I came across this one by accident. Over the Mother’s Day weekend, I stopped by for a pie and there was only one left, peach-raspberry. I would never have thought that the two fruits could taste so good together. It was like biting into a refreshing spring day. The buttery crust just melted in my mouth.

Speaking of crust, Kira uses butter instead of shortening, which makes these pies absent of trans fat. She won’t give with the secret to her delicious, flakey crust so you will just have to taste for yourself.

Another specialty offered at The Real Pie Company is the chicken potpies. The vegetables are oven roasted before being added to house-made gravy. The potpies are almost a full pound when finished. You can’t just walk in and get one of these babies though—you’ll have to pre-order the day before. If you let them know by one o’clock Wednesday through Friday, your potpie will come fresh out of the oven around 11:30 the next day.
As the weather gets hotter, Kira will be making lighter, fluffier pies. She says that the best pie for a hot summer day is a watermelon-chiffon because it is light and frothy and doesn’t weigh you down.

The process of baking these treats is a labor of love that takes two days. The crusts are prepared the day before baking because, as Kira puts it, “Butter pastry has to rest in the fridge over night or it gets really cranky.” The next day, starting at five in the morning, the fruits and vegetables are added and the pies are baked and ready to eat by the time they open.

These pies are best served fresh and just a little warm. If you are like me though, you can’t eat a whole pie all by yourself in one day (and don’t think I haven’t tried). If you won’t be eating it within the first two days, Kira recommends that you wrap your pie tightly with plastic wrap and put it in the freezer. When you are ready to eat it, you should let it thaw and then pop it in the oven for six to seven minutes at 300 degrees. “Warming the pie will wake up the crust,” she says. “The butter crust loves being put back in the oven for a couple of minutes.”

Pies are made fresh daily. If there are any left at the end of the day (there almost never are) the pies are donated to a local non-profit organization. The Real Pie Company is currently developing a relationship with a local women’s shelter to take any leftover pies.

For now, The Real Pie Company is take-out only. They have applied for a permit to include a sidewalk café and will find out soon whether they will be allowed to include dine-in. They do make one pie every day that they serve by the slice, but Kira says that if you call ahead of time, she will make you an individual sized pie of anything that is on the menu.

You can stop by The Real Pie Company at 1201 F Street, Wednesday through Friday from 10am—6pm. On Saturday they are open from 10am—5pm. You can check their website at www.therealpiecompany.com for the current menu, but keep in mind that the pies change daily, so you might miss out on some special additions for that day. You can also call in your order one day ahead of time at 446-2885.

Did I mention that I love pie?

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