Loula's pies to be featured on TV show

Huckleberry-peach is probably the favorite. But key lime and coconut cream are right there at the top of the list.

“Pie makes people happy — it’s comfort food,” Mary Lou Covey says. “Not many people make them any more.”

Everyone in Whitefish knows that Loula’s has great pies, and soon the country will too when the cafe is featured in a PBS documentary. Loula’s is part of the TV documentary “A Few Good Pie Places.” The show is set to air on Tuesday, Aug. 25 at 7 p.m.

Covey, the baker and owner of Loula’s Cafe, says she was honored to be chosen for the program that features a dozen pie places from around the country. Loula’s was the only place in Montana to be a part of the show.

“I felt really honored,” she said. “There’s a lot of places in Montana that make really good pie.”

Covey opened Loula’s in its current location on Second Street in 2002. She previously owned the Spruce Park Cafe in Coram, which is where her homemade pie first got its reputation for being the best.

The Spruce Park was the meeting place of the Over-the-Hill Gang, a group of retirees that hike the trails of Glacier National Park weekly. George Ostrom, a member of the group and radio personality, began talking about the Spruce Park’s pies on the radio.

Then came the author of the book, “American Pie,” which visited the Spruce Park and proclaimed its huckleberry-peach as the best in the country.

“That was instrumental in starting our reputation for the best pie,” she said.

The PBS show is produced by Rick Sebak out of Pittsburgh. The crew traveled the country visiting the best pie places and bakeries for the documentary “A Few Great Bakeries” that follows the airing of the pie show. Ten bakeries made the cut including Bernice’s Bakery in Missoula.

The film crew visited Loula’s on Super Bowl Sunday, watching Covey and her assistant, turn out pies for seven hours. The bakers were told just to do their regular thing. Covey said she’s not sure how interesting they were because it was a busy day, but what was exciting was the reactions from customers.

The film crew interviewed a few folks eating in the dinning room.

One boy, who was tired of sitting at his family’s table in the dinning room, was unhappy and impatient. Then a piece of chocolate cream pie was placed before him and his smile lit up.

After closing at 3 p.m., the restaurant and film crews were heading out the door when a couple came up and asked if they could please get some pie.

“They were on their honeymoon and had eaten the pie,” Covey said. “They wanted to take some home with them.”

Covey said sure, she’d get them some pie. The film crew unpacked their gear and interviewed the couple.

During the summer, they are baking between 30 to 60 pies every day. Sometimes that number is higher if they’re baking for a special event like a wedding. In winter, the pies baked drop to about 10 per day.

They start baking at 5:30 a.m., aided by an oven that can hold 32 pies.

Covey said she doesn’t eat pie much any more, but her favorite is sour cream lemon.

They’ll take special requests, because like their website says, “if there is something grandma used to make, we’ll give it a try.” They get requests for sour cream pies and once a rhubarb/Flathead cherry pie.

A woman once asked for a French meat pie — a savory pie that was a mixture of beef, pork and veal.

“I made an extra one and it was delicious,” Covey said. “Most often we get requests for sweet pies.”

Covey said the crust is huge when it comes to a good pie.

“All the ingredients need to be cold and then the dough has to rest for at least an hour before it’s rolled,” she said.

The bakery at Loula’s also features coffee cake and bread for the French toast, but when it comes to desserts mostly they stick with churning out pies.

“People always say they came here for the pie,” Covey said.