Bang Bang Pie Shop

I have a tradition every year that's based on a bad pun.  March 14th is Pi Day because March 14 is 3/14 and Pi is 3.14.  Because Pi sounds like Pie, I have to go for pie on Pi Day.  This year, I went to a pie shop that opened in my neighborhood in the last year.  Bang Bang Pie Shop started out as a food truck run by a husband wife team, Megan and Dave.  Megan baked throughout Chicago and Portland and her Great-great-grandparents owned a Pie shop near Springfield, IL and she has inherited many of their recipes.  Her husband Dave is the coffee expert, formerly owning Ipsento, and working at Star Lounge/Dark Matter Coffee.  The Bang Bang Pie Truck was very popular so they were able to open their own shop last year.  The shop is on an angled corner, so the building that they are located in is pie shaped.  The front wall is glass and the irregularly shaped dining area will seat about 20.  The order counter is directly in front of the door and the menu consists of a rotating selection of at least one fruit, cream, and chocolate pie and one pot pie (in addition to coffee and biscuits).  The sweet pies are sold by the slice or whole pies.  The pot pies are smaller than the sweet pies and are sold as whole pies.  On Pi day, they were serving about 5 sweet pies and a pot pie.  I decided to go with a slice of sweet pie and a pot pie.  For my sweet pie, I had a slice of Key Lime Pie which wasn't actually sweet, it was actually very tart, but that's how a key lime pie is supposed to be.  It was topped with a dollop of whipped cream to tone down the tartness and add a little sweetness.  The crust was a graham cracker crust which was crumbly and slightly sweet, and the pie was smooth and tart as a key lime pie should be.  While it was good, it wasn't spectacular and I have had key lime pies elsewhere that were as good.

The Pot Pie on the other hand was spectacular.  The pot pie that was being sold on the day that I went was a corned beef pot pie.  While I do like corned beef, I wasn't sure about the idea of a corned beef pot pie.  What I didn't consider was the fact that it was close to St. Patrick's Day and Corned Beef and Cabbage is a traditional St. Patrick's Day dish.  When I speared into the pie, the first thing I tasted was sauerkraut.  I was surprised but then considered the corned beef and cabbage.  Besides the corned beef which was shredded, and the sour cabbage, the filling included potatoes, carrots, and pepper.  It was dryer than I would have expected of corned beef and cabbage but it was moist enough.  The crust was also very good.  It was flaky and slightly chewy and had a good amount of black pepper so it was pretty peppery.  This tasted very good and I really enjoyed it.

Bang Bang Pie Shop makes some very goods pies and I will certainly return for more.  As it is in my neighborhood, it doesn't take a long trip so it won't take a special day like Pi Day to return.