Pie Maker’s Taste Leads To Rare Fare

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Lindsay Hollister, co-owner of downtown L.A. eatery Pie Hole, has a goal: bringing back the all-American pie shop, one piece at a time.

But you’ll find more than just Mom’s Apple Crumble at Hollister’s bakery (though it’s on the menu). Among the other unique confections, each available for around $7, are an Earl Grey Tea pie featuring tea-infused white chocolate mousse, a layer of dark chocolate and a graham cracker crust.

Or if you’re craving something savory, you can try the Chicken ’n’ Cornbread pot pie or the ever-popular Mac ’n’ Cheese offering.

“It has four different types of cheese inside and that one people really freak out about,” Hollister said.

After opening Pie Hole with her husband, Matthew Heffner, in 2011, she said the store saw a sales increase of 55 percent between 2013 and 2014. The couple opened up a second outpost in Pasadena in May, and there are plans for forthcoming franchise locations in Orange, Hollywood, Downey, the San Fernando Valley – and even Qatar and Tokyo.

“It’s extremely surreal,” Hollister said about the expansion.

Despite the rapid growth, maintaining standards across a bunch of new locations will be important. Hollister acknowledged that she and her husband are going to great lengths to preserve her mother-in-law’s old-timey baking techniques.

“All the chefs have gone to pastry school, but my mother-in-law and husband are down there showing them how to flute a pie,” Hollister said. “We won’t take any sort of premade dough.”

And if strawberries are not in season, you might just have to settle for a slice of Earl Grey.

– Natalie Schachar

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