I’m driving up North Russell Street, past the White Eagle Saloon, past 820 Lounge and Mint Restaurant, when suddenly–I feel it in my fingers. I feel it in my toes. Pie is somewhere around me, and so the feeling grows. Then I spy with my little eye the Russell Street Gallery and Pie Diner on the north side of the street. What’s this? I ask. A gallery with pie? Naturally, I go in, my spiedey senses on full alert. And indeed, all the way in the back corner, behind a $15,000 Edward D’Ancona oil painting of a naughty looking girl in a red dress and a bench made of what looks like giant licorice buttons, I find a little coffee counter serving Illy coffee, Two Leaves and a Bud tea, quiche, breakfast bagels and biscuits, hot oatmeal, sandwiches, paninis, salads, soups and none other than pie! Homemade apple pie with a hazelnut crust and Chantilly cream, pear cranberry pie, apple pie with a crumbly cheddar-strewn streusel topping, rich coconut pie in a light, buttery crust with a thick layer of whipped cream sprinkled with toasted coconut. So if you really love pie, get on over to Russell Street Pie Diner and let it show.

I’ve never been very sensitive when it comes to my vegan friends. I’m constantly forgetting their convictions and erroneously bringing them custard fruit tarts in my excitement over the first fresh strawberry tartlets of summer, bragging about the new triple cream I found, callling them from the dairy I’m doing a feature story on to gush about the fresh sheep’s milk I just drank. They are very gracious about my egregious faux pas’, but I’m always looking for a way to make it up to them. So, every now and then, I pop into Sweet Pea Baking Company to get them a little something special. With 48 hours notice, Sweet Pea can make you a batch of gorgeous vegan cupcakes or a splendid gluten-free cake, in yummy flavors like Lemon, Coconut, Oatmeal Spice, Carrot, Banana, and German Chocolate, with beautiful bright pink raspberry frosting or peanut butter. Yep, nothing says I’m sorry for being an insensitive omnivore like a cake from Sweet Pea.

Whiffies Fried Pies has built up quite a fanbase since hanging up their shingle at the SE Hawthorne & SE 12th Avenue late-night food cart cluster. Maybe its the masked and red cape-wearing little pieman-on-a-plate mascot, maybe its the highly competitive fried pie eating contests, maybe it’s the linguistic joy of wrapping your lips around the word Whiffies, maybe it’s just that there might not be a better food than a piping hot, moon-shaped sweet or savory hand pie that’s been fried, wrapped in foil, and placed into your eager possession 10 seconds later. Savory fried pies like BBQ Beef and Salmon with Chipotle Mayonnaise and Chicken Pot Pie,  BBQ Tofu pies, vegan-friendly fried pies, and the hot gooey fruit fried pies that will rock your late night world–Apple, Lemon, Cherry, Blueberry, Coconut Cream, Peach, Chocolate. And now that summer is here and you’re looking for an excuse to take a late evening stroll, you can incorporate Whiffies into your nightly exercise routine, and not feel a bit guilty about your new fried pie habit.