Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Available On Air Stations
Watch Live

Arts & Culture

A Few Good Pie Places & A Few Great Bakeries

Stacy Begin of Two Fat Cats in Portland, Maine, displays one of their Black & Blue pies.
Courtesy of Rick Sebak, WQED Multimedia
Stacy Begin of Two Fat Cats in Portland, Maine, displays one of their Black & Blue pies.

Stream now or tune in Fridays, Aug. 21 & Aug. 28, 2020 at 7 p.m. on KPBS 2

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: “A Few Good Pie Places” and “A Few Great Bakeries.”

The programs aired back-to-back in 2015. KPBS will rebroadcast both episodes.

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.

Advertisement

Featured pie places include:

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.”

Featured bakeries include:

Columbus Baking Company in Syracuse, New York

Orange Peel Bakery in Aquinnah, Massachusetts

Chez Moi Bakery in Durham, North Carolina

Advertisement

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

Join The Conversation:

“A Few Good Pie Places” is on Facebook, and "A Few Great Bakeries" is on Facebook. Rick Sebak is on Facebook. Follow @rickaroundhere on Twitter.