Pie-O-Neer Guest Book and Photo Gallery

2/6/06   "We were off the beaten path and looking for a place for a cup of coffee. What a wonderful surprise. The food and atmosphere was superb. So much brought back growing up memories. Keep making those GREAT pies!" — Jake & Netta Freeland, Port Washington, WI

2/5/06   "Just enjoyed the best banana cream pie EVER. On my way back to the beach in CA. I’ll be back for sure." — John, Huntington Beach, CA

2/5/06   "It’s my birthday and I wanted pie for my special day. . . thanks for being open!" — Beth Hex, Albuquerque, NM

Press Coverage of the Pie-O-Neer

New Mexico Magazine
June, 2010 "Best Eats" Edition — Best Dessert
Downhome: Chocolate Cream Pie
Restaurant: Pie-O-Neer Café, Pie Town
Author: Lesley S. King
Photographer: Kelly D. Gatlin

Who would think that the nation's favorite dessert would be thriving at the top of the Continental Divide, some 80 miles down U.S. 60 from the nearest city (Socorro)? Indeed, pies at the Pie-O-Neer Café are so delicious they’ve received acclaim from such publications as Travel + Leisure and Sunset. When making her renowned chocolate cream pie, chef-owner Kathy Knapp focuses on quality basics. For the crust, she combines equal portions of butter and lard. "The butter adds flavor, while the lard makes it flaky," she says. Knapp uses her grandmother's old-fashioned recipe for egg custard for the filling, then adds chocolate—including half a bar of gourmet dark cacao—until she "likes the way it looks." To finish, she adds a "chunk of butter to make it glisten." You'll feast on this delicacy in an old trading post that borders "PieWay 60," its authentic barn-wood walls covered in historic relics.

A Route 60 Tour of New Mexico and Arizona
Travel + Leisure Magazine, April, 2008.
"Pie Town's official population is 60. It is located on the Continental Divide at an altitude of almost 8,000 feet. On the drive from Magdalena I hardly saw a soul. And yet the curious thing about Pie Town is that while you are at the Pie-O-Neer you feel like you are in the middle of everything."

Rolling in Dough
Sunset Magazine.
"In a place called Pie Town, you'd expect to find great pie. But when Kathy Knapp drove the 150 miles from Albuquerque to Pie Town, population 75, there were no pies. . . So in 1994, Knapp, with the help of family and community, put the pie back in Pie Town, serving up her grandmother's recipes. . ."

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