New York’s Little Pie Company

A hearty slice of the Big Apple from a Manhattan bakery

I used to live in Hell’s Kitchen in Manhattan, an area currently going through a phase of hipster gentrification. But despite the arrival of pork pie hats and designer beards, one thing remains the same: the aroma of freshly baked pie wafting from the Little Pie Company on 43rd Street. To me it evokes a whiff of Norman Rockwell’s America in what was once one of the toughest neighbourhoods in the city.  

Opened in 1985 (and celebrating its 30th anniversary this week) by Rada-trained American actor Arnold Wilkerson, the bakery was close enough to Broadway to give him an immediate audience. There is something theatrical about sitting facing the kitchen with a hot cup of Joe and a slice, watching the pies being made by hand, slipped in the oven only to emerge beautifully crisp with an overwhelmingly wholesome smell.

Such was the Little Pie Company’s allure that it became a bit of a problem for me. See, it’s not just apple pies they make. When in a gluttonous mood, there was the chicken pot-pie or banana coconut-cream pie. The lemon pound cake did just what it suggested when I jumped on the scales. I always knew exactly what to take to friends for dinner and bookmarked the many top restaurants the Little Pie Company supplies. When, around Thanksgiving, I discovered its pumpkin pie, the game was up. From then on I limited myself to a slice a week and took a different route to the gym, so as not to get distracted by the smell.

With all the artisanal food chatter, the Little Pie Company felt like straight-talking New York. Once bitten, this slice of the Big Apple is not easily forgotten.