The Pie Shoppe closes in Hicksville
Apple pie at The Pie Shoppe in Hicksville had a shortbread crust. Credit: Newsday / Erica Marcus
Less than two years after it opened in Hicksville, The Pie Shoppe has closed its doors. A message on Facebook attributed the closure to “a lack of foot traffic” and that the bakery “will be moving to another location.”
The West Village Green storefront was spacious and elegant — owner Spiro Kitovas was a construction executive who seemed to have spared no expense — but the location, along West Village Green, was indeed out of the way.
To create the menu, Kitovas had hired Robert Ellinger, the much-decorated pastry chef whose bakery, Baked to Perfection, graced Port Washington from 1986 to 2015. And, always the confectionery innovator, Ellinger pushed the envelope with The Pie Shoppe’s eponymous treat.
He used shortbread cookie dough, rather than pastry dough, for the top crusts of the fruit pies. Then they were baked in individual paper bags to keep fillings moist; when the filling was fully cooked, a big hole was cut into the paper to allow the top crust to brown.
On the savory front, breakfast “hand pies” — made with eggs and various combinations of cheese, sausage and bacon — were coated, porcupine style, with crispy potato hash browns.
The lack of foot traffic, however, seemed to create a vicious cycle: without a steady stream of customers, pies sat, unbought. In response the kitchen limited production.
We’ll keep you posted if The Pie Shoppe reopens.
