First Look: East Colfax Avenue Welcomes the Humble Pie Store

It has been more than a year since Humble Pie closed its tiny Baker neighborhood shop (now occupied by Waffle Up); since then, the bakery's "frequent pie-ers" have had to content themselves with special orders. But now the wait is finally over for a new retail outlet: The Humble Pie Store officially opened this morning at 3550 East Colfax Avenue, after a sold-out soft opening on Sunday.

Humble Pie joins Cerebral Brewing in a new retail center that was once the Galaxie Auto Body Shop; co-founder Jessica Dolgan remembers taking her first car there and has incorporated automotive elements into the decor, including swing-out bar stools made from used brake rotors.

The pie shop will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, with a range of sweet and savory pies and other pastry-wrapped goods. General manager Tia Tashiro says the menu is about 60 percent savory, with quiches, pot pies, rolls, galettes and "meatheads" — fist-sized meatballs wrapped in pie dough. The opening menu features three meatheads: turkey-green chile with green chile sauce, chicken with pesto, and triple Italian (beef, pork and veal) served with marinara. Pot pies come in mini or medium sizes and include Bubbie's chicken pot pie, based on Dolgan's grandmother's recipe and made entirely from scratch — including the chicken stock.

On the sweet side, the shop serves up slices of salted-caramel apple, banana cream, chocolate chess, pear-blackberry and toasted coconut cream. Even the graham crackers in the graham-cracker crust are made in-house. The pie shop also carries ice cream from nearby Liks, so you can order by the scoop or cone — or for a super-indulgent treat, choose a pie shake made with a slice of pie blended with ice cream.
A full espresso bar fueled by beans from Sweet Bloom Coffee, an East Colfax roaster, tempts early risers, but there's also a full bar with house cocktails and a spirits list heavy on mezcal, tequila, bourbon and Scotch. While there are a few wine and beer choices, Tashiro says that with Cerebral right next door, they're happy to keep the focus on mixed drinks — many made with Colorado spirits and local bitters and other ingredients.

Store hours have yet to be permanently set, but for now the doors will be open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., with later hours possible on the weekends once the shop has time to settle into the neighborhood. Keep reading for more photos.