Stopped by yesterday and was blown away by their grapefruit/malort custard pie. Tart w/slight bitter overtones. Winner.

I've been lucky enough to stop by the outpost in Evanston a few times recently. My SO and I have tried the smores pie, the fig and pear pie, the apple sour cherry pie and the ginger custard. Every time I get a different slice -- it's a revelation. I swear this place can do no wrong in the pie world. I especially loved the fig and pear pie -- it was dreamy. It was my favorite piece until I was introduced to the apple/sour cherry pie -- which was like two magical delicious pies combined and had a very lovely baby. And then THAT was my favorite pie -- but then -- dear reader -- I had the ginger custard. And reader -- I married that pie. So stunningly delicious and creamy and gingery. Ah....I did not taste the smores pie but my SO said it was incredible. We are very lucky to have Hoosier Mama in our neck of the woods. And the crust -- so flaky and tasty. I love having pie where I want to eat all the crust -- so often I leave crust behind. There is no crust left behind on a Hoosier Mama pie, people. None!

I think that everyone who reads this site recognizes the greatness of the pie at Hoosier Mama and plenty has already been said. Nothing profound for me to add other than to note that I think this is the absolute best time of the year to go - berries and stone fruits abound - so a bump seemed appropriate. Here was my haul from the Evanston location today:

Hoosier Mama may have had the best item at the recent Green City Market BBQ. It was a do it yourself pie. First, you selected a crust -- shortbread, butter or graham cracker. They had them pre-made in small tins. Then you selected a filling from several berry options and sorrel. They put a scoop of the filling in the shell. Then you selected toppings which include fruits and several crumbles. It was both fun and made for a really good mini-pie.

Jonah wrote:Hoosier Mama may have had the best item at the recent Green City Market BBQ. It was a do it yourself pie.

+1!

Jonah wrote:Hoosier Mama may have had the best item at the recent Green City Market BBQ. It was a do it yourself pie.

stevez wrote:+1!

+2 for Hoosier Mama, though the plus size blackberry macaron with raspberry ice cream filling from One Off Hospitality was a close second.

Today is the first day this year that I've seen peach pie on offer. As science has proven that peach pie is the best of all pies, this is indeed a time to rejoice.

Its Pie o'clock


Pie, count me a Fan!

A couple of days ago, I had a sour cherry/plum pie with a streusel top that was among the best of the HMPC pies I've tried.

Also, I'm not sure if it's been reported upthread, but the Chicago Ave location now has a back patio that is pretty magical. You can't hear a whit of traffic because it is totally secluded among tall neighboring buildings. It's tranquil, there are repurposed pie plates turned into water features, and - the best part - you can buy great pie inside. Highly recommended.

gastro gnome wrote:Also, I'm not sure if it's been reported upthread, but the Chicago Ave location now has a back patio that is pretty magical.

Both locations are on Chicago Ave — one on the city of Chicago's Chicago Ave, the other on Evanston's Chicago Ave.

nr706 wrote:

gastro gnome wrote:Also, I'm not sure if it's been reported upthread, but the Chicago Ave location now has a back patio that is pretty magical.

Both locations are on Chicago Ave — one on the city of Chicago's Chicago Ave, the other on Evanston's Chicago Ave.

Good point. I'm talking about the Chicago Ave location that is also IN Chicago.

gastro gnome wrote:Good point. I'm talking about the Chicago Ave location that is also IN Chicago.

Hoosier Mama on Chicago Ave in Evanston also has an outdoor patio bordered by Kedzie just to the north. Coincidentally also a street in Chicago, IL.

I have only been at the Evanston location, and while I very much enjoy the apple pie, I have found all the others I have tried to be too sweet.

FYI The reason why, unlike other border suburbs, Evanston does not share street names with Chicago is that it was incorporated long before Chicago's border was any where near that far north.

scottsol wrote:FYI The reason why, unlike other border suburbs, Evanston does not share street names with Chicago is that it was incorporated long before Chicago's border was any where near that far north.

Thanks for that info, I never knew that.

Your homework assignment is to figure out why Skokie, Morton Grove and eastern Niles closely adhere to the Evanston names for east-west streets but begin to diverge starting with the west edge of Niles.

scottsol wrote:Your homework assignment is to figure out why Skokie, Morton Grove and eastern Niles closely adhere to the Evanston names for east-west streets but begin to diverge starting with the west edge of Niles.

Maine/Niles Township border is the common sense reason, but lacks any interesting historical background or nuance. The point at which the naming changes tracks roughly on a NW-SE angle along Milwaukee Ave.

bweiny wrote:

scottsol wrote:Your homework assignment is to figure out why Skokie, Morton Grove and eastern Niles closely adhere to the Evanston names for east-west streets but begin to diverge starting with the west edge of Niles.

Maine/Niles Township border is the common sense reason, but lacks any interesting historical background or nuance. The point at which the naming changes tracks roughly on a NW-SE angle along Milwaukee Ave.

Unfortunately, the township divide is at Harlem, east of Milwaukee; and side streets Harrison, Emerson, Davis and Crain extend will past Greenwood.

scottsol wrote:

bweiny wrote:

scottsol wrote:Your homework assignment is to figure out why Skokie, Morton Grove and eastern Niles closely adhere to the Evanston names for east-west streets but begin to diverge starting with the west edge of Niles.

Maine/Niles Township border is the common sense reason, but lacks any interesting historical background or nuance. The point at which the naming changes tracks roughly on a NW-SE angle along Milwaukee Ave.

Unfortunately, the township divide is at Harlem, east of Milwaukee; and side streets Harrison, Emerson, Davis and Crain extend will past Greenwood.

Hi everyone,

As fascinating as this digression is, let's keep the thread on topic as a courtesy to those coming here to get information about Hoosier Mama.

Thanks,

=R=
for the Moderators

Evanston location is closed for at least two weeks.

Evanston Hoosier Mama Pie Company now has “Take and Bake” on a variety of items and an “Isolation General Store” for several more basic grocery items. Pickup is Tuesday and Saturday from 12:00 to 4:00.

B2B wrote:Evanston Hoosier Mama Pie Company now has “Take and Bake” on a variety of items and an “Isolation General Store” for several more basic grocery items. Pickup is Tuesday and Saturday from 12:00 to 4:00.

Both locations have it and the pickup days are Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Orders have to be pre-paid and pickup is contactless. You tell them the day and time you're picking up when you order, call with your order number when you're there, and they'll bring your order to a table outside. At least those are the instructions for Chicago. Presumably Evanston does something similar.

Order from Chicago here
Order from Evanston here

HM Evanston closed until at least Saturday (employee tested positive).

Reopened.

Still the reigning champion of the Chicago pie scene. I'd say the country's and the world's though I haven't sampled quite enough to say so definitively. New pie out this week: Strawberry S'mores.


In pretty much anyone else's hands, the strawberry s'mores pie (chocolate ganache, strawberries, chocolate pastry cream, and toasted meringue in a graham cracker crust) would be an over the top sugar bomb. It's definitely a sweet indulgence, but I didn't think it went too far at all. The strawberries (which were way more abundant than the picture shows) definitely tone the sweetness down from the regular s'mores pie there.


Also available frequently at the moment is the harbinger of summer fruits: rhubarb. Flawless flaky buttery crust stuffed with tart rhubarb is magical every time.

I love passion fruit and I love chocolate, but I'm not sure I've ever thought about having them together. Fortunately, the fine folks at Hoosier Mama did because the passion fruit chocolate, the pie of the month in West Town, is a winner. Dark chocolate ganache and passionfruit mousseline in a chocolate wafer crust and topped with chocolate whip cream, it comes across more like a plated dessert than a pie, but it's a damned fine plated dessert. Be warned, as anyone who's had Hoosier Mama's passion fruit meringue knows, they don't hide the sourness.

Shame on me for not bumping this thread more frequently. For years after the Evanston shop opened, the Chicago shop was consistently better in terms of selection (more fruit pies) and execution (I got several crusts that were overworked in Evanston) and it seemed to be the location where more new pies were introduced. It's been ages since I got a problematic crust in Evanston and now they consistently have more fruit pies. I still prefer the space and the staff in Chicago, but good fruit pies trump all and there were two winners in Evanston today.

Plum Raspberry

The plum raspberry was heavy on the raspberry flavor and was absolutely delicious. Just bursting with fruit. Their pies with stone fruit typically come with a crumble instead of the extra layer of their world class crust, so this was an extra special treat.

Pear Plum Raspberry

Despite having the disadvantage of the crumble top, the pear plum raspberry was still top notch. Look at those chunks of fruit.

Hoosier Mama remains one our greatest dining treasures.

I stopped by Mama Hoosier (Chicago location) yesterday around noon to pick up Sugar Cream Pie. Unfortunately, the store had low pie inventory due to the previous day being Pi Day. I ordered one pie flight for dine-in and one pie flight for carry-out. We tried chocolate cream, coconut cream, matcha custard, and passion fruit. Our favorite pie was the passion fruit one. The pie flight special is offered on Fridays. The below picture shows how the pie flight is packaged for carry out.




I ate a sausage-parmesan hand pie as well. I thought I would be able to eat at least two pieces from the pie flight, but I was already stuffed after eating the chocolate cream pie slice and one bite of the passion fruit pie. After I got home and compared the pictures, I noticed that one server gave me chocolate shavings on the chocolate cream pie and the other did not.