PIEbar
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In the small town Strawberry in northern Arizona there’s a newly opened take-out restaurant called the PIEbar that specializes in pies and empanadas. We drove by it on our previous trip through the area and made sure we stopped by this time.
Strawberry is located between Payson and Winslow along Arizona Route 87. It’s a bit out of the way of most places, but the 87 is easily our second favorite stretch of road in the state (after Arizona Route 89A through Sedona and Oak Creek) and is worth the drive alone. There’s one road going through the town and the PIEbar is impossible to miss with its red and yellow color scheme and the giant picture of Salvador Dali screaming above it.
The PIEbar is a counter service restaurant where you order what you want, they get it for you, and then you can sit outside or take it home. This means there can be a line at times, but everything is already cooked so it goes pretty fast.
We got to the counter and looked at what they had to offer for the day. Apparently their selection of pies and empanadas can slightly change with the season. Everything sounded great so we ordered one of each item that was available. They also have a large drink selection to choose from.
They ended up writing down what each empanada was on the wrapper since we got so many. After we paid, we took our bag out to one of the outdoor tables they have on the side among the pine trees. All the empanadas were baked beautifully and we were glad they wrote what each was since there was no way of telling from the outside.
We started off with the savory empanadas and specifically the bean and breakfast type ones since we were saving the meaty empanadas for last. First up was the chorizo and bean empanada which was nice and spicy from the chorizo, but did have a lot of beans. Then was the egg and cheese, which Taylor loved due to his weakness for eggs. The eggs were super fluffy and with the cheese it was very delicious. Then came the bean and cheese which seemed to have less beans then the previous and a lot more cheese and the egg. It was quite tasty and oozing out of the empanada.
We then had the red chili beef, which was filled with shredded beef in a subtle red chili sauce. It was juicy and had a nice flavor. The ham and cheese was filled with chunks of tasty ham, but the cheese was seemingly melted into the crust of the empanada and not on the ham. It was still great regardless. The chicken pot pie was delicious with its creamy pot pie filling studded with bits of veggies, but we had to be careful since the filling could easily spill out. The final savory empanada was the green chili pork, which was filled with slightly spicy and juicy pork that was very tasty.
After all those savory empanadas we got to finally have dessert. First was the cherry empanada that was filled with sweet chunky cherry filling. It reminded Taylor of those Hostess fruit pies, but better. Then we had the strawberry empanada. This was filled with strawberries in a slightly sweet sauce that isn't overly sweet so we could really taste the strawberries. It was fantastic.
With our one of everything order, we also got the two mini pies they had available. We started with the Dutch apple pie with thin apple slices in a sweet filling sauce. This was Taylor’s favorite from the sweets we had. Then we ate the mixed berry pie which was filled with raspberries and strawberries. It was very berry and super good.
When we ordered one of each, we sort of didn’t pay attention to how many things we were going to get which ended up being a little bit too much. Everything sounded delicious, so we had to try everything! We were very full at the end and a bit sugared out after eating all those sweets, but it was worth it.
The PIEbar is a great little place to stop by for a snack, or in our case a huge meal, to have during a trip. With the portability of the empanadas they make for a good snack while driving. We look forward to swinging by again and trying any new flavors.
Google Maps Link: PIEbar
