On the Hunt for Hubig's Hand Pies in New Orleans
"This Must Be Where Pies Go When They Die."
On the Hunt for Hubig's Hand Pies in New Orleans
Last week I returned to New Orleans for the first time since 2014. Time, time time.. See what’s become of me. It was 2012 when I made my first trip to Tales of the Cocktail when my book Bitters was a finalist for a Spirited Award, which also happened to coincide with the devastating five-alarm fire that destroyed the Hubig’s Pie Factory in the Marginy during the early morning hours of Friday, July 27, 2012.
Within hours you couldn’t find a Hubig’s Hand Pie in all of New Orleans and those shelves remained empty for more than a decade until November 2022 when third-generation family owners Andrew and Kathleen Ramsey, relocated the business, first opened in 1921, to Jefferson Parish near the Huey P. Long Bridge, installing many pieces of refurbished original equipment salvaged from the fire.
Sold around New Orleans at grocery stores, hardware stores, and convenience stores, Hubig’s Pies are among the city’s many notable culinary contributions to the region’s storied foodways. These four-ounce fried hand pies are made fresh five days a week featuring a rotating selection of sweet fillings encased in a thick and flaky hot-water dough flecked with beef tallow and painted with a coating of sugary glaze.
The core lineup of year-round flavors include Apple, Pineapple, Peach, Lemon, Coconut, and Chocolate with limited-edition seasonal drops adding Banana, Cherry, Raspberry, Blueberry, Strawberry, and Sweet Potato to the mix. Among the seasonal flavors I’ve only had Blueberry (just last week) but would love to sample the rest of the lineup. Raspberry is always a favorite pie filling for me and I bet the Banana is banging. I’ve been told that many locals hold a place in their heart for Sweet Potato.
My friend the writer Brett Martin lived next door to the original Hubig’s and had to temporarily evacuate his home the night of the fire. Until that traumatic morning, living next to a pie factory had its olfactory benefits. “We always knew when it was coconut day,” he told me of his favorite flavor, adding “Ten seconds in the microwave was transformative.”
Martin also counted Hubig’s as a key part of the seasonal rhythms of the city. “One of those things about moving to New Orleans for me was the clear transition of seasons. The cycle of crawfish into crabs into oysters into shrimp. Or Mardi Gras into Lent into Jazz Fest into summer. Hubig’s fit into that feeling of being in a place that operated in cycles with their seasonal pies and a product that responded to the seasons in that way.”
I’ve always had a thing for hand pies, from the Hostess Apple Pies of my youth to the occasional Tastykake Glazed Apple Pie I pick up whenever I’m at a Wawa. I used to wait on a very long line in the hot summer sun waiting my turn to secure fried-to-order hand pies from Texas’ The Original Fried Hand Pie Shop at the Big Apple BBQ in Madison Square Park. I would get carried away, as I do, and order more than I needed but quickly discovered that these were best enjoyed soon after they were in your hand and not meant to keep around in your kitchen.
While delivered fresh five days a week around New Orleans (and available for nationwide shipping via Goldbelly), Hubig’s Pies can stand a few days hanging around at room temperature and even feature a stamped “best by” date usually no further out than a week from your purchase.
On the flight from JFK to New Orleans I was already plotting how quickly I could check into my hotel, drop off my bag, and hit the hot and steamy streets to seek out and stock up on enough Hubig’s Pies to fortify my three nights in New Orleans. A New Orleans-based food-and restaurant publicist I emailed from up in the air assured me that Hubig’s Pies were much more readily available these days but upon landing I would end up logging more than seven miles on foot in the “feels like” 105-degree heat trying to secure as many of the currently available flavors I could get my hands on. Talk about priorities, right?
The Walgreen’s next to the Hotel Monteleone gave me a firm “no” when I asked if they had any Hubig’s as did the other nearby Walgreen’s and CVS’s I visited. One woman sent me to a Brothers Fried Chicken a few blocks away and they, too, waved me away. I recalled that the helpful local publicist suggested I check out the Rouses Market on Royal, around six blocks from my hotel. I was momentarily elated when I saw the metal rack display of Hubig’s by the register, but of the many fanned out, paper-wrapped hand pies they only had Apple and Lemon. Dejected yet inspired, I loaded up on two of each, mopped my brow with my kerchief, and continued my journey.
Another tip and a long walk brought me to Central Grocery, “Home of the Original Muffuletta!” While I had a lovely talk with the kind woman behind the counter regarding ferrying a Muffuletta back to Brooklyn, she had no Hubig’s. She recommended the shop next door which turned out to be a somewhat shady looking operation and the bald man behind the counter with the pointed beard down to his chest with nearly every square inch of his face covered with tattoos gave me a firm “no!” and left matters at that. But a woman buying a bag a of chips overhead my query and kindly suggested Matassa's Market.
Four blocks later I was thrilled to see a stack of the now familiar Hubig’s flat cardboard boxes on display with rows of white-and-gold wrapped hand pies standing at attention. The old man behind the register seemed slightly amused as I flipped through the dozens of pies to make sure I had at least two of each flavor with the focus I used to employ while seeking out Star Wars action figures at the local K-Mart in the day.
While I still hadn’t uncovered a seasonal flavor I put my Hubig’s safari on hold to actually focus on why I was in New Orleans in the first place, but the next morning after breakfast at Willa Jean I noticed a block-long Wegman’s-sized Rouses Market just across the intersection. To paraphrase FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper: “This must be where pies go when they die.”
By now I knew to look for Hubig’s up front by the register and that’s where I hit pay dirt, with all the core flavors represented (including my first sighting of Peach), and a summer seasonal offering of Blueberry. I should be embarrassed to admit that I returned to Rouses Market the next morning after my second breakfast at Willa Jean (what can I say, I’m a creature of habit), to restock on Hubig’s.
But this time it was to share the wealth of my bounty and spread the good word of Hubig’s. I walked up to the Ritz-Carlton, ground zero of Tales of the Cocktail, to attend my last educational seminar and also hand off two bags of filled with a variety of Hubig’s Hand Pies: one for my guy, bartender and bar owner Joe Stinchcomb from Oxford, Mississippi, and for two of Chicago’s finest, Amy Cavanaugh and Kenny Marlatt, founders of the excellent culinary-minded regional travel guide Substack newsletter, American Weekender (I heartily encourage you to subscribe).
Even with all this hand pie excitement packed into four days in New Orleans was when the Hubig’s Instagram account followed me.
And in case you’re wondering… Yes, I’ve already added the Hubig’s Plush Catnip Toy to my shopping cart for Enzo. Uh oh, they also have a Hubig’s Cat Collar…
It seems fitting to give the last word on the wonder of Hubig’s to the late Pableaux Johnson, the talented photographer, writer, and noted home cook who served as the cultural connective hub for so many people to the city of New Orleans and beyond, who shared this with for LAST CALL.
“There was something about their perfect imperfection—the rippled layer of hard glaze was always a marvel. Plump and substantial, yet pocket-sized and everywhere. “It was amazing to find them at just about any place that had a cash register: supermarkets and little groceries, gas stations, and neighborhood hardware stores. I loved having to go run errands and get some touch-up paint, a couple of keys, and a lemon pie all at the same time.”
Hubig's Pies: After the Fire
Today’s dispatch is an encore presentation originally published on June 25, 2022. It’s the fourth story featured on LAST CALL among the hundreds published since then that paid subscribers can access in the archives.