local dining

Friday, September 08, 2000

Home cooking, desserts are specialties at My Slice of the Pie

By Glenn Dromgoole
Special to the Reporter-News

When you eat lunch at a place with a name like My Slice of the Pie, the question isn’t whether you will have dessert, but rather what kind of dessert.

And at My Slice of the Pie, in Chimney Plaza on South 27th Street between Barrow and Willis, it takes a while to choose. The small storefront restaurant offers 18 different pie selections and four other desserts, including Italian cream cake. When it cools off a little, owners Jan and Bill Marsh will again be preparing their eight different varieties of cheesecake as well. Everything is homemade, of course.

Let’s come back to the dessert later. After all, this place boasts of homestyle meals like grandma used to make. If their grandma was anything like mine, you’d better eat your dinner before you set your sights on dessert.

My Slice of the Pie features a daily lunch special for $5.99, which includes a main course, salad, a wonderful homemade roll, drink and, of course, pie. The lunch special varies on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, but on Tuesdays you can always figure on cheeseburger pie and on Thursdays, poppyseed chicken. Those are the Marshes’ signature dishes.

I was there on a Thursday, so I ordered the poppyseed chicken, which is boneless chicken cooked in a creamy sauce and sprinkled with, yes, poppyseeds. It was outstanding. The dinner salad was crisp and fresh. And the chocolate icebox pie was perfect.

The restaurant also has sandwiches and salads and sometimes quiche for those who don’t want the lunch special. Sandwiches are $3.99 and salads are $4.50. A hefty slice of pie is $2.25, while a so-called sliver is $1.50. The sliver I had with my lunch was quite adequate.

Jan Marsh, whose family has been running My Slice of the Pie for the last three years, said the most popular pies are the coconut icebox (her grandmother’s recipe), pecan (his mother’s recipe), and key lime. Knowing that key lime would be popular at my house, I took one home. Whole pies are $10.

Besides those already mentioned, the pie selections include: apricot, blueberry, cherry, millionaire, lemonade, pumpkin, peach, buttermilk, chocolate pecan, two crust apple, chocolate lovers, lemon icebox, cookies and cream, and peanut butter chocolate chip.

During cheesecake season, you can choose from creamy vanilla, chocolate chip, strawberry swirl, chocolate, chocolate swirl, raspberry swirl, and cherry chip. Whole cheesecakes run $14-16.

Specialty desserts are $12 and include chocolate four-layer cake, Mississippi mud, Texas dirt, and Italian cream cake.

You can also get whole casseroles to go, including cheeseburger pie, poppyseed chicken, lasagna and quiche, in containers to serve 1-12 people. Prices range from $3.99 for a small serving to $19.99 for 12.

And if you have a special family recipe you would like prepared, stop by the restaurant or call Mrs. Marsh or her daughter, Chris, at 692-2620, and they will cook it for you. Allow 24-hour notice on special orders.

Glenn Dromgoole is an Abilene author. For previous restaurant reviews and a complete directory of Abilene restaurants, visit www.bigcountrydining.com.

IF YOU GO ...

My Slice of the Pie

3238 S. 27th Street

The restaurant is open from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. It is closed on Saturday and Sunday, but beginning Sept. 2 will be open from 10-4 on Saturdays.

Also with cooler weather, My Slice of the Pie will put homemade soup back on the menu. It’s been too hot this summer to cook it or eat it.

My Slice of the Pie also offers cinnamon rolls and pigs in a blanket for breakfast.

The restaurant accepts checks and most credit cards.