A la Mode Pies

Why leave town when you can stay here and visit the A la Mode café on Phinney Ridge or have their pies delivered to your door every day? It just might be your best vacation ever!

Owner, and The Pie Guy, Chris Porter's vision of a neighborhood gathering spot has come true. On a recent morning, there were birthday pie pick-ups, a mom and kids in for a pie break, people swinging by for coffee or enjoying pie and coffee while reading and one person in for pie and coffee while waiting for a blind date. On early weekday mornings, Norman Newkirk mans the counter, dispensing "foam art" where he contrives a story for guests based on the foam atop their espresso. Chris's dad stops in about once a week, too. "I didn't think about it beforehand, but it's been a nice avenue for me and my family," says Chris.

Chris Porter, 2011

Although A la Mode Café opened on November 10, 2011, the company has been in the pie delivery business since 2009. Pies are imaginative, like the pie that started it all, the Blue Hawaiian with blueberries, crushed pineapple and coconut. Some are seasonal like the holiday pumpkin tart or strawberry rhubarb. And some are simply decadent like bourbon butterscotch or the Mexican chocolate mousse pie. The common denominator is that they are all delicious.

"We're proud to use real items. Ingredients are mostly organic and sourced from local farms. Our butterscotch is made with caramelized sugar, homemade pudding, a crust of vanilla wafer, toasted pecans, fresh whipping cream and more toasted pecans," explains Chris. "In fruit pies, like the apple-ginger-pear (pictured), there are big chunks of fruit. Spices and sugar are used, but we highlight the fruit."

In addition to full pies, they offer mini pies (for two), tarts, slices and LolliPies (pie on a stick!). Even for true pie lovers, sometimes you just need more. So A la Mode offers Bluebird ice cream and Caffe Umbria coffee and espresso. "I think Bluebird is the best ice cream in town," says Chris. "We deliver it with pie orders, too. Caffe Umbria had the right mentality for me. They're a local roaster, they get my brand and their product has a luxury connotation—like us."

A love of baking and cooking started in his childhood when his mom put him and his older sister in charge of dinner one night a week each. "My mom was a really good cook, very experimental. She encouraged us to make whatever we wanted. I looked forward to the time with her in the kitchen and that has stayed with me."

After graduating from PLU in Broadcasting in 1995, Chris moved to Montana to be a TV field reporter where he stayed three years before moving to Indiana, staying almost four years. "I loved it. I was in my 20s and it was very exciting. The down side is that it's not well paid, you're nomadic and living in small towns. My mom died when I was 23 and I began to feel that my future was at home. My sister was having a family and her kids didn't know me. So I came back to Seattle." He worked with a number of large public relations firms, with his last job being an account director representing Microsoft. He worked long hours and traveled frequently. Beginning to feel the grind of the job, he had late night talks with friends about what they'd do with their lives. Originally escapism, the pie shop concept became serious. "Financially, I had room to choose. My partner was very supportive. I took six months to create a business plan, take a business class, figure out where to source ingredients, etc."

He baked pies and took them to his friends' work places. "I'd pass out rating sheets to see what people liked. That's how the menu got flushed out." In October 2009 at a friend's birthday party at The Knee High Stocking Co., he told a woman about his pies and she said "make me one!" It turned out to be Michelle Valko who owns Knee High with her husband Jack. Chris took a pie in and she not only said she'd buy from him, she let him use their kitchen during the day for two years to get his business started. He did everything, PR, marketing, delivery. "It gave me face time with my customers and I learned that people loved the pies. It gave me confidence." His first Thanksgiving, November 2010, he produced 75 pies on one day. In December 2010, he had to pull five all-nighters to meet the demand. For Thanksgiving 2011, they produced 300 pies in two days. His pies are now carried at Zeitgeist Coffee and Geraldine's Counter as well as Knee High.

In 2011, he felt it was time to open a café. He wanted to be in a neighborhood where he had existing customers, a charming space, a pie counter facing the kitchen, and a window where people could see that artisan pies were being made by hand by pastry chefs in white jackets. "I wanted people to be in rapture before they even sat down, and understand that this is not just pie, it's pie!" His broker found the old Dolly's Dollhouse space, a spot that many people knew. "My architect, Weber Thompson, did such a nice job in turning my fantasy into reality. And I have my homage to Dolly's with the dollhouse on top of the refrigerated case." He also sells t-shirts that people love for the whimsy: "Piece Out" and "Piecurious." Boxed pies go with a ribbon on the box, another way to say "this pie is special." Special enough that A la Mode did 15 weddings in 2011. "I didn't anticipate doing weddings, but it's been popular and we do a nice presentation that mirrors what's in the pie, so people know it's natural."

Apple pie and 'Piece out' t-shirt

In the café or delivered, the goal is to provide the best possible customer service. "I want to be the Nordstrom of pie companies," he says. "We want people to have high expectations." Our suggestion? Be piecurious and check them out soon!

Connie Adams/January 2012