Filmmaker Quote
“Since I was a small kid, I’ve known how important a bakery can be,” said Sebak. “There was a bakery across the street from my elementary school, and it was a frequent stop on my way home. And I know many bakeries here in Pittsburgh where I live now, and I’m fascinated by how they become such a valued part of a neighborhood. Nowadays you often see lists of Ten Best Bakeries or even 50 Best Bakeries, but I don’t understand how anyone can make that claim. These bakeries we feature are all really great, but I wouldn’t pretend to know if they’re the best. So I decided we should just call this program 'A Few Great Bakeries' and we’ll hope to convince people to look for more.”
Share Your Favorite Bakery
Rich Sebak traveled the country to find special bakeries, but now we want to know what are your favorite bakeries? Submit your local gems, and PBS Food will compile the results into state-by-state lists of the best bakeries in America!
Who doesn’t love the delicious first bite of apple pie or the smell of fresh baked bread? What are even better are the places where these sweet treats came from, and we celebrate these special spots in two new PBS documentaries titled “A Few Good Pie Places” and “A Few Great Bakeries.”
Bakeries are popular places. They smell great. They are full of wonderful things to eat, from crusty breads to gooey and sweet treats. And they often become neighborhood meeting places, where bakers work hard and where people often leave with good feelings as well as fresh baked goods. In this documentary, we celebrate "A Few Great Bakeries" across America, never claiming that this is a list of "Best Bakeries" but rather just a few warm ones worth checking out.
All of these places seem connected by early mornings, long hours of hard work, delicious products and customers who love them. We happily celebrate these few bakeries and hope that everyone will be inspired to look for more great ones all across America.
WQED’s popular producer Rick Sebak and his three-person crew started shooting in Pittsburgh, where they visited local favorites Minerva Bakery in McKeesport and Grant Bar & Restaurant in Millvale. They then traveled to the Midwest, New England, the West Coast, and many places in between to check out other outstanding and unusual pie shops and bakeries.
These documentaries will air back-to-back on Tuesday, August 25, 2015, with “A Few Good Pie Places” at 8 p.m. and “A Few Great Bakeries” following at 9 p.m.
“A Few Good Pie Places” is on Facebook, and "A Few Great Bakeries" is on Facebook. Rick Sebak is on Facebook, and you can follow @rickaroundhere on Twitter.
Featured pie places include:
Portage Pie in Westfield, New York
Ikeda’s Market in Auburn, California
Two Fat Cats Bakery in Portland, Maine
Grant Bar & Restaurant in Millvale, Pennsylvania
Poorhouse Pies in Underhill, Vermont
A La Mode Pies in Seattle, Washington
Nick’s Kitchen in Huntington, Indiana
Rolling Pin Bakehouse near Roanoke, Indiana
Pie Lady On 5 in South Whitley, Indiana
Loula’s Café in Whitefish, Montana
Braham Pie Day in Braham, Minnesota
Woodruff’s Pie Shop in Monroe, Virginia
Featured bakeries include:
Columbus Baking Company in Syracuse, New York
Orange Peel Bakery in Aquinnah, Massachusetts
Chez Moi Bakery in Durham, North Carolina
Mama Ines Mexican Bakery in Lafayette, Indiana
Minerva Bakery in McKeesport, Pennsylvania
Standard Baking Company in Portland, Maine
Mahoroba Japanese Bakery in Sacramento, California
Sluys’ Bakery in Poulsbo, Washington
Silverbow Bakery in Juneau, Alaska
Bernice’s Bakery in Missoula, Montana
