SWEETER THE SECOND TIME AROUND
REAL PIE COMPANY IS A FAMILY TRADITION WORDS RONNIE CLINE • PHOTOS DILLON FLOWERS
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hough Real Pie Company sits on 24th and Broadway in Sacramento, husband and wife team and owners Kira O’Donnell Babich and Fred Babich have created a space that transports you from the lively streets of Broadway to a comforting, cozy pie shop. You’re welcomed with the sights and sounds of a bustling open kitchen, smells of baked berry pies and multilayered cakes as you hear customers greeting each other. “We were so warmly welcomed by Curtis Park, Oak Park and Land Park,” said Kira. “We feel blessed; we’ve had a lot of support.” Real Pie Company returns the support by making it a point to stay local when buying supplies for their pies and other baked goods. “We buy almost all of our fruit from the local farmer’s market. We sort of just go and check it out, see what’s there,” said Kira. “We want to support sustainable farms when we can. We go to the farmer’s market with an eye out for whatever looks amazing that week.” Keeping a changeable menu means there’s always something new at Real Pie Company. “We’re so lucky because our middle menu changes all the time,” continued Kira. “It’s completely capricious, so when we get new stuff in, we just pull it down and rewrite it. It gives us the ability to be creative and to use whatever beautiful produce we happen to bring in or what someone brings in for us.” I caught up with the owners of Real Pie Company just in time for the holiday season and learned how a commercial helicopter pilot and a former Chez Panisse pastry chef shared the same dream of wanting to be in the dessert business and how they made it happen.
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Issue 304 • November 6 – November 20, 2019
Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas