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A pie from Honeypie, another one of Valeri Lucks' restaurants
Valeri Lucks knows a thing or two about pie. She’s been crafting the delectable treats for years as proprietor and chief executive pie maker at Honeypie, Palomino and PieGram, an offshoot of Honeypie that bakes small-batch mini-pies to be shipped as gifts. Lucks has now fulfilled a long-time vision for a new establishment—SmallPie (2504 E. Oklahoma Ave.)—a counter-service bakery and café, featuring small hand pies, along with breakfast, lunch and dinner fare.
“I had the idea for SmallPie at the back of my brain for a long time,” she said. “I always wanted to grow my business, but I didn’t want to duplicate Honeypie or Palomino all over the place.”
For 14 years, Lucks was in business with her brother, Adam. The siblings were original co-founders of Comet Café, along with Leslie Montemurro and Scott Johnson. This past year, Adam decided to go in a different direction and focus on woodworking. Lucks brought in her long-time baker, Meagan Lewinski, to help develop SmallPie. “Meagan’s been there since we developed Comet, and she came up through the ranks. We’ve had great chefs and bakers that grew with us, and we have a great team,” Lucks said.
The menu has a nice selection of sweet-and-savory, scratch-made hand pies, quiches, bagels, sandwiches, salads, sweet breads, cookies and brownies. Most items listed on the menu are less than $10. You can even get a scoop of Amazing Ice Cream Company’s ice cream (available in four flavors) for $3 per scoop.
Also unique is the pasty: A folded pastry with fillings that originated in Cornwall, U.K. Lucks said the pasties were always on the menu at Honeypie and had been well received, so she added those to SmallPie’s offerings. Lewinski has also been developing breads and making focaccias for a daily melt. “It’s kind of a mash-up of what Meagan and I have been passionate about and have been making over the years,” Lucks said.
The drinks menu is Wisconsin-friendly, featuring Anodyne and Pilcrow coffee, Rishi tea and Sprecher and Wisco Pop sodas. Customers can also choose from a selection of craft beers, wine and a small but eclectic list of specialty cocktails. Lucks said the beverage menu was compiled for easy drinking on an afternoon or evening. For the upcoming autumn and winter seasons, Lucks will add soups and pot pies. She will also fine-tune the menu as they learn more about what the neighborhood wants.
SmallPie is located in a vintage building that was once Al’s Triangle gas station and, later, Tri-Mart and Bud E.’s Filling Station. The building sat shuttered for many years, and when Lucks heard that developer Scott Genke bought the building, she called him and asked if she could have it. The building was remodeled with a new garage door that opens onto a spacious patio. Adam did the build out, using his woodworking skills for the cabinetry, tables and finish work.
“That pocket of Bay View was mostly residential but empty of food businesses,” Lucks remarked. “It’s been fun, and everyone is so excited about that building because a lot of neighborhood residents remember its history. I was so glad we were able to take the building and make it useful again.”
For more information, visit smallpiemke.com.
