Pi Day pies, Milwaukee's top restaurants and more

There are times when the calendar decides it wants to be your friend — like your birthday falling on a Saturday or St. Patrick’s Day coinciding with the first day of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament (that one really only applies to bar owners and Notre Dame fans).

Today, the calendar has smiled on your humble This Bites hosts, because our regularly scheduled episode release day just so happens to be Pi Day. And we get a layup of a lead item.

While acknowledging that math is important, we can all agree that the superior homonym for this particular date is Pie Day. Ah, pie. It’s a versatile concoction that covers pretty much every phase of the dining experience, from appetizer to dessert. Obviously, the latter is its idealized form, and we start the podcast by giving you a few of our favorite places in Milwaukee to pick one up.

We don’t want to steal Ann’s thunder since she put some real sweat equity into her full list at Milwaukee Magazine, so let’s just do the top three here:

1. Honeypie — Home of some of the more inventive varieties you’ll find in the area, past examples of which include whiskey walnut pecan and bourbon fudge.
2. The Bake Sale — A pie gathering place, if you will, featuring baked goods made in-house and others from local vendors.
3. Elegant Farmer — You’ll have to haul yourself to Mukwonago for this one, but their apple pie baked in a paper bag is reportedly worth the drive.

That should get you started, but feel free to bounce over to Milwaukee Magazine for the other half of the list and lots of helpful info from Ann. The magazine is also where we start our weekly roundup, although it’s a print-only situation, so make sure you track down a copy of the March 2025 issue:

• And this is one you’ll want to get your hands on, because it runs you through the very top restaurants in the area.
• On the magazine website, Ann collected her latest dining tidbits, from gluten-free goodies to a quietly great Thai spot.
• The former Al Bazzar on the South Side is now Al Wadi Coffee House.
• With its third anniversary coming up this June, Saffron refreshed its tastes of India on a brand-new menu.