Bay Area pie: 12 best shops to find pastry perfection

Feb 16, 2024

Is there anything more nostalgic, more all-American, more all-around satisfying than a well made pie? Swirls of meringue float atop lemon curd. Creamy flounces adorn a fresh banana pie. And crumbly, gooey deliciousness oozes from flaky pastry shells everywhere.

Many Bay Area restaurants feature a slice or two on their dessert menus, but this region is also home to some stellar pie-centric bakeries, each with its own spin on the classics. Here are a dozen hot spots to try, from a patisserie in Walnut Creek to an Argentine-inspired bakery in San Mateo and a worker-owned pie shop in Union City, where savory pies compete with the sweets.

The hardest part about going into a pie shop, of course, is deciding what to order. So many flavors, so little time. And once you commit to that big slice of apple, you might not have room for the berry. Horrors!

Pie fans can (at least partially) bypass that problem at this San Jose shop, which specializes in mini pies — 1.5-inch diameter pies you can devour in just a couple of bites. (Or one. Just saying.) So go ahead and order that apple almond pie — and the blackberry AND the pineapple, too. Minis start at $2.90, but the shop also makes medium versions ($8) as well as large pies ($31) that are 9 inches across and feed six to eight pie lovers.

Owner Voahangy Rasetarinera spent years as an IT admin before starting an online pie shop. When production outgrew her home kitchen in early 2021, she opened this brick-and-mortar. As for the name, the company donates a portion of its proceeds to the nonprofit E-Sports, which has helped kids with special needs play sports since the foundation began on a Foster City soccer field in 2000.

The slice: The lemon pie may be a big house favorite, but we’re all about the juicy blackberry with a crumble crust.

Details: Opens at 9 a.m. Mondays, 7 a.m. Tuesday-Friday and 8 a.m. on Saturdays at 569 W. Alma Ave. in San Jose; thegivingpies.com.

When pastry artist Karen Del Bonta moved her bakery from Martinez to downtown Walnut Creek in 2013, she kept to her French patisserie theme. A large mural depicting a sunny cobblestone courtyard lets visitors imagine they’ve stepped in off the rue to pick up the day’s tarte aux pommes.

As the bakery’s name suggests, those gateaux — Del Bonta’s custom-designed wedding cakes and a Christmas-season Buche de Noel among them — are Del Bonta’s claim to célébrité. But when loyal customers began asking for holiday pumpkin and pecan pies, Del Bonta complied. And soon, her customer requests led to year-round pies ($27-$35) — classic banana, coconut and chocolate cream, as well as fruit pies made with the bakery’s signature buttery streusel topping.

The slice: The pecan pies are a customer favorite, but Del Bonta’s apple pie — with its fresh fruit, butter, sugar and cinnamon filling — is just outstanding. And it’s a harbinger of what’s to come as cherries, peaches and other stone fruit come fully into season, bringing the flavors of summer.

Details: Opens at 9 a.m. Tuesday-Saturday at 1479 Newell Ave. in Walnut Creek; www.legateauelegant.com.

Argentina native Silvia Leiva-Browne’s pastry shop and cafe on El Camino Real may be new to customers, but her recipes are time-tested — on two continents. “I grew up in my parents’ bakery. This is my legacy,” she said, explaining that the name Lolita honors her mother. The legacy starts with the famous South American sandwich cookies and extends to a large lineup of small pies, tarts and other pastries.

“We bake throughout the day so there’s always an inviting aroma floating through the air,” she said.

Maple Pecan Tarts ($6), glistening fruit tarts and cheese pies share display space with Alfajores ($2.75-$3) in flavors of dulce de leche (that’s the traditional one), fig and Valrhona chocolate. The Pasta Frola ($4.50) is a popular mini-pie traditionally made with quince; Leiva-Browne substitutes guava, popular here on the Peninsula. And if the Ricotta Cheese Pie ($5.50), with its hint of citrus, sounds Italian, that’s because Argentina is home to a large population of residents with Italian heritage, she said.

The slice: The surprise layer of almond cream adds a sophisticated touch to the Frangipane Fruit Tarts ($5.50). Lolita’s bakes them in apple, apricot and blueberry versions.

Details: Full-size pies and tarts are available by special order. The bakery-cafe at 3790 S. El Camino Real, San Mateo, opens at 7 a.m. Wednesday-Sunday. Takeout from Lolita’s Hillsdale shop, 60 31st Ave., opens at 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday-Sunday. www.lolitaalfajores.com

This longtime Oakland pastry purveyor mimics a speakeasy, what with its narrow staircase leading underground. One might pass it by were it not for the eye-catching mural of Black-American chefs that include James Hemings (chef to Thomas Jefferson), Carla Hall of “Top Chef” fame and a person identified simply as “Gregory.” That would be Gregory Williams, a Brooklyn-raised chef whose inclusion in this pantheon of greats might seem audacious, were it not for the creativity and deliciousness of everything that exits his ovens.

The shoebox-sized foyer is loaded with snacks for all times of day, from cast-iron apple pancakes to pastrami croissants, peach cobblers and “8UP Cake” (that’s right, it’s one more than 7UP cake). But if it’s pies you’re after, head to the case in the corner where you’ll find them lined up like dessert debutantes waiting to impress your belly. They’re sold by the slice ($7.29) — whole pies are available by preorder — and feature the daily staples of Key lime, lemon, chocolate and coconut cream. If you let your fingers slip – whoopsy! – you might pick up one of the cooler’s cheesecakes, which come in varieties like honeydew melon and “Best Milkshake,” instead.

The slice: The coconut-cream pie is an elevation of the recipe, with custard tropical-fresh as coconut water, spiked with chewy shreds of coconut meat. But the chocolate-cream pie edges it out for sheer decadence: It has a jiggly filling so rich it mimics brownie batter, a buttery crumble crust and an avalanche of freshly whipped cream.

Details: Open 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday at 285 23rd St., Oakland; gregorysgourmetdesserts.com.

This wildly popular South Bay bakery — as evidenced by the take-a-number system — is so well-known for its cakes (especially the fresh banana with cream cheese frosting) that some customers don’t even realize the bakers are also pros when it comes to pies. Since the bakery’s opening 38 years ago, flaky pies have been coming out of the ovens every day. “Why wait for a holiday?” founder-owner Lynn Magnoli reasoned.

The evolving menu of housemade pies typically offers cherry, berry, apple, some dietary specials (vegan berry, wheat-free berry) and a cream pie like Key lime. And there’s a monthly seasonal cream pie special. Right now it’s a Lemon Berry Cream Pie made with lemon curd, blackberry compote, cream cheese and whipped cream that manages to be rich and ethereal at the same time. It’s available as a whole pie ($47) or by the slice). During the months when the Peanut Butter Cream Pie is featured, you’ll want to reserve yours early.

The slice: The berry pie ($30), with its sweet-tart blackberries and crackling crust, is one of the bestsellers. “The top crust gets a milk wash, then a sprinkling of granulated sugar, which helps with browning and adds more flakiness and texture,” Magnoli said. Come stone-fruit season next month, Peach and Streusel Peach will join the hit parade.

Details: Opens at 9 a.m. Tuesday-Saturday, but they start answering the phone (408-354-2464) at 8 a.m. for orders. 50 W. Main St., Los Gatos; www.icingonthecakebakery.com

Old Towne Danville Bakery and Cafe, Danville

If the pies you taste at this bakery make you happy and nostalgic, that’s by design. Owner and pastry chef Karen Cordeiro loves the fact that her bakery has been a Danville fixture since 1952, when the town was starting to transition from a farming community to family-friendly suburb. “A bakery in town is a piece of Americana,” Cordeiro says.

Cordeiro, who bought Old Towne Danville Bakery in 2006 after 25 years in the grocery store business, is passionate about creating treats associated with people’s cherished celebrations, including pies for family holidays and summer picnics. Not surprisingly, Cordeiro’s menu sticks to classic flavors, such as an old-fashioned apple pie topped with her signature sweet “crumble.” She makes a variety of cream pies – coconut, chocolate and banana – as well as a mixed-berry pie and holiday pies including a caramel pear and a bourbon pecan, punctuated with chocolate chips. Pies ($20) must be ordered at least a day in advance via the shop’s website.

The Slice: Cordeiro’s cherry pie features whole ruby-red cherries, a reminder of other happy Bay Area traditions at this time of year: Sampling fresh cherries at farmers markets or plucking them right off the tree during an afternoon of u-picking.

Details: Opens at 10 a.m. Tuesday-Saturday at 105 Town and Country Drive, Suite G, Danville; www.danvillebakery.info.

There are two kinds of people: Those who scan the array of booths at the farmers market, spot the Beckmann’s stand and make a note to stop by for a crusty loaf of bread. And those who spot the Beckmann’s stand and immediately race over to buy a fruit pie before they sell out.

In business since 1985, Beckmann’s added pies to the lineup about 20 years ago. The bakery’s ubiquitous presence at farmers markets — 40 of them, from Alameda and Aptos to Saratoga and Scotts Valley — means there’s a freshly baked pie close to most Bay Area residents. And we’ll go further (true confession time) and say that Beckmann’s has saved many a summer potluck attendee.

The lineup features old-fashioned strawberry rhubarb, boysenberry, cherry, apple, pecan, strawberry marionberry, seasonal apricot and fall pumpkin. The beautiful crusts are made with unsalted butter and wheat flour.

The slice: Beckmann’s combines four berries — blackberries, strawberries, raspberries and blueberries — to create the bestseller called The Berry Bomb ($24). The addition of strawberries helps this one stand out from a standard mixed-berry pie.

Details: Find the full lineup of farmers market locations and hours at https://beckmannsbakery.com/.

Their pies don’t resemble the ones many of us are used to seeing at stores. Instead, owner Hway-ling Hsu cooks up single-crust open-face pies — much like French galettes — which provide tantalizing previews of what your tastebuds will soon be enjoying.

Granted, Sweetdragon might not look like much from the outside — just a nondescript little red building sharing a parking area with a liquor store — but don’t let that stop you from cozying up to the walk-up window and ordering some treats.

The 9-inch pies ($20-$22), which often include triple berry and chocolate pecan, weigh in at roughly 1.3 pounds. Prefer something a tad smaller? The 5-inch hand pies ($8) let you keep all that goodness to yourself — and there are savory offerings too, such as chicken pot pie ($8 for a personal sized pie).

The slice: We were smitten by the pies with lesser-used fruit fillings — like pineapple or orange. “These are all overlooked in the pie world,” Hsu says.

Details: The walk-up window opens at 10 a.m. Thursday-Saturday at 898 Lincoln Ave. in San Jose; sweetdragonbaking.com.

Niles Pie Company, Union City

Whoever thought that a nondescript office park in an industrial section of Union City, could become a destination? It should be, if you want to taste some pretty fantastic fruit, cream or chocolate pies.

The Niles Pie Company is a 13-year-old worker-owned cooperative that’s developed enough of a following among fans that it sells its own branded T-shirts and coffee mugs and offers subscriptions, so you can ensure your own personal, regular supply of sweet or savory pies. Its production location doubles as a retail shop where you can stop in for coffee and pastry or pick up a pie to take home.

On a recent trip, those pies included a silky, dark chocolate Chess Pie, as well as Dutch Apple Crumb and tart raspberry and Oregon rhubarb, all infused with just the right dose of sweetness and wrapped in a delicate flaky crust. Pies are available in 6- and 9-inch sizes for $14 and $29, respectively. And if you’re looking for savory, their frozen, housemade pot pies — chicken, vegetable, andouille and potato — are ready to bake at home.

Can’t get to Union City? You’ll find those pies at the Niles Farmers Market on Saturdays in Fremont, and the shop offers home delivery to many parts of the East and South Bay, including Danville, Livermore and San Jose.

The slice: The fruit and chocolate chess pies are popular choices, but the Coconut Cream wow surprised us with its subtle sweetness, coconut chunks and light-as-air whipped cream.

Details: Opens at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday-Friday and 8 a.m. Saturdays at 2990 Alvarado-Niles Road, Suite 960, Union City; www.nilespie.com, Hours: 7:30 a.m. – 7 p.m., Tuesday-Friday, 8 a.m.- 4 p.m. Saturday.

The grand opening of Edith’s Pie in late April drew an hour-and-a-half line and TV news crews from across the bay. Passing by, you almost wanted to shout, “Take a lap, people!” It’s a pie shop, how good can it be?

Pretty darned good, actually. A lot of that’s due to cofounders Mike Raskin and Jeffrey Wright – a former sous chef at Chicago’s The Publican and a hospitality veteran who helped springboard buzzy restaurants such as Snail Bar, respectively – attempting to go beyond just pie. Edith’s can be a place to grab a quick bite or an all-day crash pad for nibbling and sipping coffee and wine from local producers. An array of hand pies (spiced lamb and date, Greek cauliflower and feta) display Raskin’s savory chops, as do market-vegetable quiches served with an addictive green-herb condiment. The java is roasted by San Francisco’s Grand Coffee and, because this is the East Bay, can be made weird: A “Best Move” mixes day-old coffee, hop tonic and a cordial derived from apple peels and cores. (Um, we tried it, so you don’t have to.)

The slice: Edith’s makes excellent Key lime pie and fruit pies dictated by the season – now strawberries and rhubarb, later cherries and apricots. But if you’re going for one slice make it the “World Famous Scribble Pie” (world famous because they say it is). It’s an evolution of pecan pie loaded with huge walnut chunks and dark-chocolate nuggets, streaked with more chocolate, Jackson-Pollock style, and baked in a super-flaky butter crust ($8.25). It’s delicious, decadent and somehow not too sweet.

Details: Opens at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday-Saturday at 412 22nd St., Oakland; edithspie.com.

Walking into Crixa Cakes is like discovering a charming bakery in some out-of-the-way corner of Eastern Europe. The lights are warm, the customers well-aged and the cases stocked with curious-sounding delicacies like poppyseed kifli, bizet with cream and “Fatima’s Thighs” (flaky pastries with almonds, currants and rose water).

The name Crixa itself is curious – it refers to a “crossroads” in lapine, the fictional language of rabbits in “Watership Down.” For years, Berkeleyites would come to these crossroads of Adeline Street and Shattuck Avenue to while away time at Crixa’s cafe. That part of the business ended at the start of the pandemic, but the bakers are still churning out sweet treats – with dough made by hand, following slow-food traditions. The cakes are monuments to simple, quality ingredients, whether it be ripe strawberries in layered cream or the fresh produce in spicy ginger or apple-walnut cakes. Pies are made with few components but come together beautifully in varieties like sour cherry, blackberry-rhubarb and wonderfully eggy coconut custard.

Details: Opens at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday-Saturday at 2748 Adeline St., Berkeley; crixacakes.com.

Be prepared for a wait when you come to this much-buzzed-about Newark spot, where pie people line up before the doors even open. They come for the often adventurous, always tasty creations from piesmith Ricky Davis, such as the apple pie with handcrafted caramel sauce and brown sugar streusel, and an intriguing carrot cake/pie hybrid with walnuts, honey, brown sugar and whipped cream cheese.

Price run $7 to $8 for a slice, $5 for a hand pie and $38 to $42 for a full 10-inch pie — and they do savory pies, too. The Chicken Bacon number ($11), for example, combines chunks of herb-roasted chicken breast with bacon, broccoli, peas, carrots, red potatoes and gravy in a garlicky all-butter crust.

The slice: A good slice of Key lime can be hard to come by when you’re closer to the Pacific Ocean than the Atlantic, but the Pie Dreams entry is definitely a winner – uncommonly creamy, with just the right balance of tang and sweet.

Details: Opens at noon Friday-Sunday at 5855 Jarvis Ave., Suite D, in Newark; piedreamsco.com.

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