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Pie Town, Life is Good.

hank4elk

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 8, 2015
Messages
8,535
Location
SW NM
Life is good.
Green grass,wildflowers,water & PIE! Tres Lagunas is now 7 lakes.
Decided to treat myself & Rio to a green chile cheeseburger today in PT,maybe a pie to take home.
My good neighbors Sarah & Danny have a great little cafe there now after most everything around had gone under. The Pie Shop.
I've become a regular for breakfast or a sandwich & pie. Danny retired from restaurant business in ALB.....LOL, he thought. Sarah runs a quality place in the boondocks. Maybe a bit high for the locals at times pricewise,but same as I would expect anywhere these days. Good food.Simple cafe food,but quality.
Rumor had it they had recently purchased one of the other once famous cafes,The Pie-O-Neer. Stan & Kathy had turned that place from a board up to a known destination. During covid they decided to call it quits on the cafe and just run the hotel in Mogellon.
Well Sarah comes running thru while I was enjoying my home style burger,to do something and says come on over & check the other place before I go.
And there on the porch of the Pie-O-Neer is Kathy,the Pie Queen of Pie Town,all smiles for a familiar face and a hug. "Stan is inside,go say hi". Handshake & a howdy & Stan is back talking some intellectual deal,pies & life with old friends.
Turns out they spent 2 days training new owners & staff how it was done ,for many years. Not that Sarah's crew at the Pie Shop are in anyway slouches. The ladies are at a table eating lunch.
There on the rack is fresh pie,several choices. Full Pie-O-Neer pies & slices. I grab a slice of Blueberry pay up and drop a fin in the tip jar,and take a seat.
Sarah is running around checking on folks and back & forth between 2 pie shops.

Kathy comes over and sits to see how I've been. We talk life,retirement and good grass & wildflowers.
I tell her they just made a life changing deal with similarly excellent people that will benefit Pie Town & Catron county.
She knows they found the right folks. They had offers from LA to London on the business she said.
They met with Danny & Sarah at the Pie Shop last month and saw her going at it. A simple sandwich and pie. They knew.
I told her Sarah just got a couple million in free international ads.
That is how famous Kathy & Stan made the Pie-O-Neer.
She smiled and said all those years in the ad game in NY & Dallas had paid off. And folks here either get it or they eat elsewhere,but they still bring visiting families to Pie Town. To the Pie-O Neer. A group of ladies in from Chicago ask for a selfie with Kathy. All smiles.
I was in heaven when Sarah came thru again and asked if I wanted a cuppa or... a fussy type one? "Esppresso?" I asked?
Just plain coming up,on the house. Gets that going, a talks rhubarb with new local growers,from WV.
Heaven.Blueberry pie & real joe.
Stan holding fort at the table,Kathy running around taking pictures.Folks coming & going.Lots of familiar faces. They will stick around the neighborhood too, Kathy said.
I make notice of how every reliable lady,good cafe help & pie maker in the county is now employed by Sarah. Kathy is all smiles. That's what we need.Folks with a decent job that get paid & taken care of. And self respect.

One last hug and handshakes around the house and I'm out the door to give Rio his 1/4 burger & head home.
Sarah runs out to thank me & say goodbye. I'm all smiles.
I tell her that buddy I brought in for lunch last Fri.,HTer, said he will bring me a box of peaches when he comes back down in the next week or 2. We both know where the peaches will go...
Sarah's all smiles,trade out she asks? Just save me a slice I say.

Rio is sacked out on the floor.Cool breeze blowing.
Choice of apricot or southern peach pie for dinner. Elk stoganoff can wait til manana.
Life is good in Pie Town.
 
Thanks for posting this great news. Pie-O-Neer is a must stop for us whenever we are in nearby Apache County. Love that place. Hope to get the experience again in September.
 
Man, that sounds good! I’ll be out that way in November helping my niece on a Muzzleloader elk hunt. Elk or no, sounds like we’ll be having some good eats!
 
I’m north of La Madera right now visiting the in-laws. Can’t believe how green everything is. It’s rained just about every afternoon for the last week. It’s sure gorgeous up here right now.
 
....and decadent @ Camp Hank,but just a sliver or two, as Grandpa would say.
 
Oh,did I mention the 1st ? the waitress asks?
Local? Veteran? LEO? 1st responder? Teacher? ...you get a discount.
They appreciate folks like HTers, Continental Dividers,families, bucket listers and vagabonds...like me.
 
Finn and I may have to deliver some peaches, and then go look for quail.
Good luck with the quail here...
...but I told Kathy today about a picture I took, from the park area across the Pieway the 1st morning I was looking for a place to retire. Walked up from the free town campground and there lined up along the tie rail in front of the Pie-O-Neer at sunrise ,was a row of cow elk like horses at a saloon.
I gotta find that picture.
 
I would eat any of those pies, but what I miss from my Southern CO and Northern NM days is the green chili cheese burger, hold the cheese.
 
Driving through Pie Town without sampling the pie should be a crime, punishable by fine, imprisonment, or both. I've never in such a hurry that that I drive by pie from Pie Town.

Glad to hear all is good, Hank.
I give them a 5 star rating for good, & I'm watching Equalizer 2...lol.
Hope to see you around here again Randy. Stay well my friend.
 
There are several YT vids about the PT pie shop experiences,but alas I'm a dummy. Great newer one from Sarah and some classics from Kathy.
Word has it there will be a Pie Festival again too,keep ya posted on that. Only time there are thousands of people in Pie Town.
 
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