Excellent | Worth a Detour

Marion’s Pie Shop

Review by: Maggie Rosenberg & Trevor Hagstrom

Marion’s is a bustling Cape Cod pie shop that caters primarily to take-and-bake locals but also offers much for those just passing through on the road. While there’s no full breakfast and coffee is made with a pod machine, its baked goods can be a great morning snack.

Our favorite treat is the buttery, cinnamon-dusted Chatham breakfast muffin, which has a snickerdoodle flavor. We also like the raspberry turnover — a tart made with short crust and a thick layer of raspberry jam. The cinnamon nut roll is a tidy pastry with just a few chunks of walnut and restrained spice rub and glaze.

The spinach and cheese croissant may lack the crisp shell and buttery layers of great French pastry, but the filling is delicious. Its stuffing has the cheesy power and garlic bite of barroom spinach dip.

Of the dozens of pies available, we chose we chose blueberry peach. (It was summer when we visited. Other options included blueberry, bumbleberry, baileyberry, and several other berries, both natural and imagined.

The old-fashioned pies with their clean, flaky crust taste as much of baking spices as fruit. Made using 1940s recipes from the original owner, Marion herself, the pies have become a local legend because of their artistic combination of fruits, which are a smooth balance of sugar and acidity. In a blueberry peach pie, the peaches and blueberries virtually become one.

If you have access to an oven, the pie shop also sells a selection of such savory pies as chicken, clam, and hamburger (sort of take on tourtière), as well as lasagna and chicken Parmesan.

For those just passing through, there are lobster rolls ready to eat.

As a memento of New England, we took a few Parker house rolls on the road. They are tall, bakery-scented yeast rolls with a marshmallow texture. Our favorite take-away were cookies. Both oatmeal and chocolate chip are moist, homey and perfectly baked.

During peak summer season, it is best to arrive early. We came only an hour after opening and Marion’s already had run out of some pie flavors!