Pie News
Humble pie shop treats East Dallas to hot coffee and perfect flaky crust
The Garland Road corridor east of White Rock Lake gets a little more foodie-esque with the arrival of Humble Pies, a new pie shop opening in late March.
Humble will open at 9014 Garland Rd., joining other recent-ish hipster arrivals in the vicinity such as Lounge Here and Hypnotic Emporium Ice Cream.
Humble comes from Sean Jett, a Dallas native and El Centro College grad who has worked as a chef and community college cooking instructor. The shop will be a proper pie shop whose pies have actual crust, not some home-ec concoction of ground-up graham crackers.
Just as the true star of pizza is the dough, so is crust the telltale element of real pie.
"My pie dough is one I've used for years that came from a family-based recipe," Jett says. "It has a splash of vinegar, and then I go old-school on the fat and use both lard and butter."
They'll start out with 7-8 pies a day, and see how things unfold. Jett will use whatever local ingredients are available, such as Texas blueberries when they come into season.
He'll do local favorites like Key lime, and Southern classics such as pecan pie and his signature coconut cream. They'll also serve coffee, sourced from a local roaster still to be named.
"We're not doing fancy espresso drinks, just brewed," he says. "And we're not making a bacon-jalapeno bourbon pie. That's why we're Humble Pies — we're not pretentious."
He and his wife, Erin, have been thinking about opening a pie shop for more than 15 years. A Houston native, she introduced him to House of Pies, Houston's incomparable pie shop chain, back in their college days at Texas A&M. More than once, they'd close out a night of partying at the pool hall with a midnight run, 100 miles one way, NBD, to get a slice of pie.
One of his pies is a homage to HOP's French blackbottom, with layers of chocolate and rum custard.
Jett grew up in East Dallas; being in the area was key. "Getting our location was happenstance," he says. "I was driving down Garland Road and saw that the old Metro Barber shop was out of business. It just seemed perfect."
He's in the same center as Cheesecake Royale, but he says that won't be a problem.
"People have asked, 'How could you open a pie shop two doors down from the cheesecake place?'" he says. "But I've had conversations with them, and they're excited we're going to be there. We do the same sort of things but we don't actually do the same thing. We're complementary. And we've already talked to the guys at Hypnotic, we're going to trade products, maybe get some of their ice cream."
For Jett, pie occupies a unique place in the dessert realm.
"Pie is special because it invokes memories," he says. "For me, it's my grandma's Alabama pecan pie. You don't have that with cookies and cakes. Everybody has emotional memories attached to pie."
The Garland Road corridor east of White Rock Lake gets a little more foodie with the opening of Humble Pies, a new pie shop opening in late March. Humble will open at 9014 Garland Rd., in the same vicinity as other recent-ish hipster arrivals such as Lounge Here and Hypnotic Donut Emporium.
Humble comes from chef Sean Jett, a Dallas native and El Centro College grad who has worked as a chef and community college cooking instructor. The shop will be a proper pie shop whose pies have actual crust, not some home-ec concoction of ground-up graham crackers.
Just as the true star of pizza is the dough, so is crust the telltale element of real pie.
"My pie dough is one I've used for years that came from a family-based recipe," Jett says. "It has a splash of vinegar, and then I go old-school on the fat and use both lard and butter."
They'll start out with 7-8 pies a day, and see how the business unfolds. Jet will use whatever local ingredients are available, such as Texas blueberries when they come into season.
He'll do local favorites like Key lime, and Southern classics such as pecan pie and his signature coconut cream. They'll also do coffee, sourced from a local roaster still to be named.
"We're not doing fancy espresso drinks, just brewed," he says. "And we're not making a bacon-jalapeno bourbon pie That's why we're Humble Pies - we're not pretentious."
His wife, Erin, is a Houston native who introduced him to House of Pies, Houston's incomparable pie shop chain, while they were students at Texas A&M. More than once, they'd close out a night of partying at the pool hall with a midnight run, 100 miles one way, NBD, to get a slice of pie.
One of his pies is a homage to HOP's French blackbottom, with layers of chocolate and rum custard.
Jett grew up in East Dallas and opening in the area was important to him. "Getting our location was happenstance," he says. "I was driving down Garland Road and saw that the old barbershop that had been there for XX years was out of business. It just seemed perfect."
since that's the area décor: keep it fun enough I just spent a lot of time at orr reed picking up shiplap wanted to do all exposed brick but there’s so many colors – concrete floor. Opening in the area was important to him. "This is my neighborhood, I grew up in East Dallas, and my mother was a Bryan Adams graduate," he says.
Location: happensant looking in Lakewood driving down road disgruntled by whole Lakewood rent thing – driving down garland road and he old barbershop ws out of biz. How could you open a pie shop 2 doors down from he cheesecake place? I’ve had converestions they’re excited we’re going to be there – do same sort of thigns bu don’t do the same thing. already had convestionw with guys at hypnotic – trade products – guys at lounge here
pie involkes memories. Everybody has emotional memories attached to pie. You do’thave ht same thing with cookies and cakes. My grandma’s Alabama pecan pie. A coconut cream. Memories attached.
Namkeen's take on the classic melt, packed with seasoned chicken and paired with fries.Photo courtesy of Namkeen