Tim McConvey’s a pie kinda guy.

“I knew that people wanted comfort food, but doughnuts and cupcakes had already been done,” says the former corporate type when asked how he came up with the concept for the Pie Shack, his less than month-old all-pie café in the Beach. “Nobody does pie.”

Though that may come as a surprise to Wanda Beaver of Wanda’s Pie in the Sky, McConvey’s unusually stylish Shack – all distressed floors, whitewashed trestle tables and wonky chandeliers – is the biggest thing to hit the boardwalk since platform flip-flops.

“We’re selling 40 pies a day,” says McConvey. “I was expecting maybe five or six.”

It’s easy to see why his most retro of desserts have struck such a chord. Like all of the fruit pies ($25/$4.50 slice), the Shack’s unconventional take on apple uses an exceptionally buttery French puff pastry crust instead of the traditional pâte brisée, and the result is more like a croissant than something Mom might whip up from scratch. Add a slice of old cheddar for a buck.

McConvey developed the recipes with Cordon Bleu-trained patissiers Erez and Karen Hadad, who bake everything at their nearby Café Florentin (2010 Queen East, at Wheeler, 647-341-2936) and, though they make a commendable croissant, do not serve pie. 

Perhaps their European schooling explains the mile-high meringue on the lemon pie and the unexpected crunch of slivered almonds in the blueberry and cherry.

Savouries are also represented. Individual quiches – lorraine with diced Black Forest ham, spanakopita-like spinach ’n’ goat cheese – make admirable use of that super-flaky croissant crust, as will a soon-come chicken pot pie. Only an ill-conceived tortiere (all $5) misses the mark: instead of Quebec-style ground pork and veal aromatically scented with nutmeg and clove, we get Italian-style beef with tomato and oregano. What gives?

“You had our very first one,” says the quick-thinking McConvey. “We now call it triple-A Angus steak pie.”

stevend@nowtoronto.com