Vi's for Pies

Vi's for Pies

13408 Stony Plain Road

Edmonton, AB T5N 2C4

(780) 454-4300

Tucked into a small Glenora strip mall, Vi's for Pies has an unassuming exterior that is easy to drive past without noticing. Well, it was time for me to pull over and check it out. A few steps from the entrance is a display case containing their specialty: homemade desserts (including fruit pies, mousse pies, and cheesecakes). Though I hadn't eaten dinner when I arrived, I was contemplating jumping straight to dessert I lingered at the case before being seated. When I eventually tore myself away and made it to a table, our waitress carried a menu, handwritten on large chalkboard over to our seats. Though constrained to the dimensions of the board, the menu was quite varied with soups & salads, bunwiches, barbecued meats, and hearty entrees.

Chicken pot pie

Since we were at a pie shop, the chicken pot pie was an easy dinner choice for me. It arrived fairly quickly, with a buttery pastry sitting atop a mixture of white meat chicken chunks, peas, potatoes, and carrots coated with a savoury chicken gravy. The dish was simple, comforting, and very easy to enjoy. Certainly worth coming back for on a cold fall night.

Cajun cornbread stuffed pork chop

A pork chop was on special that evening. But it wasn't just any pork chop. This chop was stuffed with corn bread and spicy andouille sausage, accompanied by cheesy grits, and drenched in pan sauce. The dish was packed a moderate punch of heat, and tons of flavour, while still firmly sitting in the comfort food category. It's unfortunate it's not on the regular menu, as these are my favourite kinds of dishes!

Chocolate almond coconut mousse pie

The dinner portions were quite generous, and we wound packing up about half of each dish to take home, and it's a good thing we did. Dessert at Vi's is not to be missed. My guest opted for the chocolate almond coconut mousse pie. Chocolate flavour dominated the pie, with just a hint of coconut mixed throughout. When I asked my guest about his thoughts on the pie he looked up at me, mouth half full, and said "amazing," before going right back to eating. Good sign.

Peanut butter mousse pie

Vi's peanut butter mousse pie was an incredible experience. If the smooth, creamy, rich peanut butter mousse filling weren't delicious enough, the chocolate rice crisp crust will send you on a brief trip to heaven.

If you're looking for out-of-this-world desserts, you will certainly find them at Vi's for Pies. But that doesn't mean you should overlook the rest of the menu. I found all the dishes I sampled during our visit to be fresh, well-prepared, and tasty. If you're on the lookout for a homemade, comforting, and delicious meal from start to finish, give Vi's for Pies a shot.

Fife n' Dekel

Fife n' Dekel

9114 51 Avenue NW

Edmonton, AB

T6E 5L8

(780) 436-9235 

The founders of Fife n' Dekel started baking pies in the 1980s to supplement the ice cream at their business, which was then an ice cream parlor. A few decades and three locations later, the pies have become the main attraction at Fife n' Dekel with soups, salads, and made-to-order sandwiches available to go along with your desserts.

Arriving at their South Edmonton location shortly before noon on a Saturday, I found the restaurant moderately busy with a short line-up at its cafeteria-style food service. The initial stop is the sandwich station, which is the bottle-neck of the process. Skip it and sneak around to the pie if you're only in for dessert.

Montreal smoked meat & havarti on sunflower bread

We followed the line around and started with the sandwiches (priced at about $7). I chose their homemade bread option, sunflower, which turned out be extremely fresh, slightly dense, and loaded with sunflower seeds & their nut-like flavor. Any of their cold cut options would be excellent between a couple slices of it, and the Montreal smoked meat with havarti did not disappoint.

Soups: Wicked Thai (left) and chicken noodle (right)

We tried the wicked Thai and chicken noodle soups as we continued around to the soup and salad section. Though I was told neither were homemade, the wicked thai still was a flavorful explosion of mushrooms, peppers, and chicken with the richness of coconut and moderate heat of curry. The chicken noodle was disappointingly thin and generic.

Strawberry rhubarb sour cream pie

Before reaching the cashier, I pondered our many, many options at the pie case before selecting the strawberry rhubarb sour cream pie. The strawberries and rhubarb were in the right balance with the sugar to create the perfect harmony of sweet and tart. The creaminess lent by the sour cream added an additional richness and thick texture which worked especially well with the crumbly crust. Besides banoffee (which they don't have), strawberry rhubarb is easily my favorite pie, and Fife n' Dekel does it very well. I will need to return to try their traditional, sour cream-less variety. 

Coconut cream pie (upper) and cow tart (lower)

Our opinion of the coconut cream pie, topped with a perfect creamy topping was similarly positive. The cow tart, a rustic miniature pie, was filled with their delicious apple pie filling, subtly sweet and warm with cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg.

Fife n' Dekel's tasty sandwiches and outstanding pies are the result of the quality and freshness that comes with being homemade. Though it's unfortunate that they don't pursue similar quality with their soups, the emphasis here is on the pies and the three we had were all truly delicious. Whole pies can be ordered and purchased, but I'm looking forward to returning to work my way through the varieties slice by slice.

Restaurant website

Dauphine Bakery & Bistro

Dauphine Bakery & Bistro

10129 – 104 Street 

Edmonton, AB 

T5J 0Z9

(780) 421-4410

Because of an unfortunate trademark infringement lawsuit, The Queen of Tarts, a burgeoning force on 104 Street, covered its old signage in January, and, quite quickly, was rebranded as Dauphine Bakery and Bistro. Fortunately business remained strong. By my mid-afternoon arrival, soups & sandwiches were sold-out, but a wide variety of baked good remained.

Carrot cake tulip

When it was still The Queen of Tarts, I'd eyed the carrot cake tulips through the glass, but always opted for tarts -- they were the specialty after all! No longer restrained by the name, I jumped at the chance to try the last remaining carrot cake tulip, delectably moist and topped with a perfect cream cheese icing.

White chocolate pistachio tart

The white chocolate pistachio was beautiful, with a perfectly crumbly crust. Its white chocolate innards contrasted beautifully with the pistachio.

Lemon curd tart

Lemon curd tart was a bit of a disappointment. Though I generally love the tartness of lemon, this tart tasted curdled, without the refreshing lemony balance.

Apricot square

The preserves in the apricot square were delicious. I found the crumble bits a touch dry for my tastes; however it may have been because I bought this later in the day.

What's in a name? Whether the Queen of Tarts or Dauphine, the treats here are just as sweet & tasty! It's evident that much care goes into the food produced at Dauphine, and there is plenty of selection. Indulge!

Tutti Frutti

Tutti Frutti

10420 82 Ave NW

Edmonton, AB T6E 2A2

(780) 988-8679

Tutti Frutti is a self-serve fro-yo retailer with locations around the globe which opened a location on Whyte Avenue in the summer of 2011. I never made it in the summer months, but a recent Groupon deal gave me the nudge I needed to call up a friend and check it out. An employee cheerfully greeted us as we entered, and explained the concept to us. In a nut shell: grab a bowl, fill it with any combination of the 10 fro-yo flavors available, throw on toppings, and bring your masterpiece to the cashier for weighing and paying ($0.49/oz.)

Taro & almond fro-yo with oreo crubs, graham crumbs, crushed cones, and sprinkles

The flavors of frozen yogurt available that day were vanilla, death by chocolate, peanut butter, plain, strawberry, raspberry, taro, grape, lychee and almond. We started off sampling a few and really enjoyed the creamy texture as well as the way the flavors worked with the naturally tart bite of yogurt. The taro and almond flavors were especially tasty and both of us went for a combination of the two. Our approach to toppings was different, however. My friend went simple with the above, though, the wide variety of sweets and chocolate toppings was tempting to him. Cinnamon toast crunch on frozen yogurt?! Mind blown.

Taro & almond fro-yo with strawberries, mango, pineapple, kiwi, cones, and sliced almonds

I explored the fruity toppings available, adding some sliced almonds and crushed waffle cone for crunch. The pineapple, mango, strawberries and kiwi were all fresh and ripe, unlike other places I'd been. The taro & almond frozen yogurt combination worked with them excellently (if I do say so myself).

I've visited other fro-yo places with the same create-weigh-pay concept, but Tutti Frutti really stands out because of the quality of their frozen yogurt. No matter what toppings you load up on, the backbone is still the fro-yo, and I think some other places forget that. The variety of fro-yo flavors, fruits, jellies, chocolates, candies, cereal, nuts, sprinkles, and syrups available offers customers a seemingly infinite variety of ways to get creative -- and lots of reasons to keep coming back.


Restaurant Facebook