A road trip to the Perth Pie Company for Pi Day pie!

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Three bloggers. One mission: Check out the new digs of the Perth Pie Company and bring home some pies to enjoy on Pi Day.

What the heck is Pi Day?

In case you’ve forgotten your high school geometry, “pi” is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to that circle’s diameter. (My dad was a math teacher and he would be very proud of me for that sentence.)

Because it is an irrational number, when it’s expressed in decimals, the numbers march off into infinity. It’s often rounded off as 3.14. Hence, March 14 is known as Pi Day. And it’s not just me who says so; the U.S. House of Representatives officially bestowed that name on March 14 in 2009.

Those of a mathematical bent celebrate the day by doing geometry proofs, I assume. Those of a non-mathematical bent like me (sorry, Dad!) celebrate it by eating wedges of pastry stuffed with fruit or savoury fillings.

Off to the Perth Pie Company

When Vanessa Chiasson of Turnipseed Travel found out that the Perth Pie Company had just moved to a new location, the idea for a road trip was born. Hannah Logan of Eat Sleep Breathe Travel and I joined in. And yesterday—just ahead of all that wet snow, thank goodness—we set out for a fun trip to the pretty Lanark County town, an hour southwest of downtown Ottawa along Highway 7.

And, soon after we got to Perth, we saw a sign.

So we wandered into the big, bright new digs at 12 Gore Street East, which the Perth Pie Company shares with another local business, Artizen Kombucha (more on that shortly). As soon as we opened the door, we were enveloped in a warm, sweet, floury aroma that instantly chased away the winter cold.

Co-owner Kassy Boulay kindly spared a few minutes to answer our many questions, in the midst of making the 300 pies she and her employees bake each day in a staggering variety of flavours (roughly 30 to 40 on any given day was Boulay’s guess).

Boulay originally hails from Ottawa and moved to Perth in 2013, when she and her husband Josh bought the pie company. “I love Perth. Perth feels more like home to me than Ottawa does,” she says. She loves the supportive, small-town vibe, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the town responds in kind. After all, the bakery participates in all sorts of fundraisers and community events. It also has a “suspended menu,” which allows customers to buy a treat in advance for someone short on cash who might come in the door in search of a pick-me-up. All that later customer has to do is ask for something from the suspended menu to receive a coffee, cookie, slice of pie or something else at no cost.

A cozy Perth bakery on a chilly day

The bakery is a sunny, welcoming space. One wall is decorated with pages from vintage cookbooks.

A big counter is heaped with cookies, butter tarts and other baked goods, as well as pies.

Overstuffed couches and chairs in the window were roped off when we came in, as the new location had opened just two days earlier and the customer restrooms weren’t quite finished yet. No restrooms, no sit-down dining, according to the law. Boulay says the renovations should be finished very soon, and then customers can eat in as well as take out.

The bakery sells Fluid Solar Roasted Coffee from nearby Clayton. As mentioned, you can also buy the bubbly fermented tea drink made by Artizen Kombucha in all sorts of flavours. Several flavours are on tap on any given day, and I sampled the tasty wild blueberry grape.

But our main ambition was to check out the pie, and the hardest part was deciding which one(s) to take home. I eventually settled on a frozen chicken curry pie and a ready-to-eat wild blueberry peach pie.

Also: Perth Chocolate Works!

Another tasty stop on our visit yesterday was Perth Chocolate Works. Hannah and Vanessa are organized types and shopped ahead for Easter. I settled for a Belgian chocolate maple cookie, and it was delicious. If you do swing by here in the future, take a peek into the chocolate-making kitchen across the hall. It was quiet yesterday, but you can often spot owner Heather McKeen in there whipping up truffles and other treats.

The proof of the Perth pie is in the eating

So this morning, after spending three hours transcribing a tape for another article I’m writing, I decided I deserved my piece of the pie. The nice thing about working at home is that it’s always time for a snack break. Down to the kitchen I went and cut myself a slice of the wild blueberry peach.

Was it worth the drive?

Oh, yeah. In a confession unworthy of Pi Day, pie isn’t actually my dessert of choice. I’m more of a cake, brownie and cookie girl. I often find pies tooth-achingly sweet, but this one wasn’t. That’s why I loved it. The sweetness came solely from the lashings of fruit—not much syrupy goo here, thank goodness. And, somehow in the depths of a snowy, slushy, grey March morning, it tasted like sunshine and fresh breezes and summer.

That was worth the drive to Perth. Happy Pi Day, everyone!

If you go

You’ll find the Perth Pie Company at 12 Gore Street East in Perth.

The Perth Chocolate Works is in the historic Code’s Mill at 17 Wilson Street East.

But wait! There’s more!

Want to find out more about our day in Perth? Here’s Vanessa’s fun post!

Would you like to try a Perth Pie Company pie without driving to Perth? You can! The company wholesales its pies throughout Eastern Ontario and in the Outaouais. In Ottawa, you can pick one up at the Around the Block Butcher Shop, not far from Ikea, and at Jacobsons in New Edinburgh. The pies are also available at spots in Carleton Place, Smiths Falls, Rideau Ferry and Wakefield; see the Perth Pie Company’s website for details.

And would you like to check out some other destinations for food lovers? Read my post about great places to go for cheese and shops that sell international groceries.

Would you like more inspiration for road trips from Ottawa? Subscribe to my free weekly e-newsletter! It’s packed with tips and news.

As the owner of Ottawa Road Trips, I acknowledge that I live on, work in and travel through the unceded, unsurrendered territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg Nation. I am grateful to have the opportunity to be present on this land. Ottawa Road Trips supports Water First, a non-profit organization that helps address water challenges in Indigenous communities in Canada through education, training and meaningful collaboration.