Brooklyn foodies visiting the North Fork this summer will find a piece of home in Orient.
Gowanus’ Four & Twenty Blackbirds pie shop, where dessert lovers line up 50 people deep for the coveted treat on holidays, has opened a Village Lane outpost.
Co-owner and baker Emily Elsen makes the salted caramel apple, lemon chess and strawberry balsamic pies (to name a few) at her commercial kitchen in Brooklyn and her friend Toby Bannister delivers the rich treats back to the East End twice a week.
“We make old-fashioned pies, but we put a new twist on them,” Elsen said, adding that she uses only in-season fresh fruit found in the northeast. “We’ll do something sweet with something savory.”
Pies by the slice, whole pies, homemade ice cream sandwiches and Stumptown brand coffee are available at the Orient spot, which was most recently home to The Idle Hour ice cream shop.
Bannister said many people were initially confused to find her serving up pies instead of scooping ice cream tubs at the store, which opened July 4 weekend.
“When we first opened people assumed we were still the ice cream shop,” said Bannister, a Vancouver native who recently relocated to Orient. “But people have been super supportive and really positive.”
The pair, both 33, are calling the new business venture “a pop-up shop” and plan to stay open through December. The women met through a mutual friend while living in Brooklyn before Bannister moved to Orient with her East End native husband Aubrey Mayer.
Elsen, who co-wrote a cookbook “The Four & Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book, Uncommon Recipes From the Celebrated Brooklyn Pie Shop” with her sister and co-owner Melissa, bakes her homemade pies in her single commercial oven kitchen in Brooklyn. She plans to expand her operation to a 3,000-square-foot facility with six ovens come fall.
Elsen, who also operates a cafe at the Brooklyn Public Library, noted the North Fork reminds her of her native Hecla, South Dakota, a farming community where her mother ran a restaurant. Their grandmother baked pies for sale at the eatery, known as the Calico Kitchen, and taught her granddaughters how to bake.
The pair plan to stay open in Orient through December and will be taking orders for the holiday season.
“People like desserts,” Bannister said. “Traditionally this has been a place for socializing. Whether it’s pie or ice cream, people are happy to have a place to come and hang out.”
Four and Twenty Blackbirds is located at 1010 Village Lane in Orient and is open Wednesdays and Thursdays 9-3 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays 9-3 p.m. and 5-10 p.m., and Sundays 9-5 p.m.
