Pie-O-Neer Cafe ― Pie Town, New Mexico

Pie-O-Neer Coconut Cream Meringue Pie

Rolling in dough

In a place called Pie Town, you’d expect to find great pie. But when Kathy Knapp drove the 150 miles from Albuquerque to Pie Town, population 75, there were no pies.

The town’s name and reputation date back to the ’20s, when a gold miner started baking pies to supplement his income. Eventually, however, the population dwindled, and with the people went the pies.

So in 1994, Knapp, with the help of family and community, put the pie back in Pie Town, serving up her grandmother’s recipes ― including one for pinto bean pie (it tastes like pumpkin ― Knapp promises).

Pie-O-Neer Cafe; Closed Mon. Milepost 59 on U.S. 60, Pie Town, New Mexico; (505) 772-2900

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