'That Pie Place' Appears to Have the Right Ingredients

Ron Wolf has found a perfect location for his new Perimeter area restaurant, That Pie Place; and perhaps an ideal concept in pie pockets that appeals to both health-conscious and hearty eaters.

“The real challenge we have is people think it’s a pizza place or a dessert place,” Wolf said.

That Pie Place opens for business, Friday, at 6355 Peachtree Dunwoody Road, in Sandy Springs. Located across the street from Costco, the restaurant is easily seen sitting catty-corner at the bottom of Park Place Apartments.  

The restaurant features a variety of pies for breakfast, lunch and dinner. There’s Salmon Coulibiac pie, with black pepper salmon, rice pilaf, white garlic cheese sauce, sautéed mushrooms, feta cheese and spinach. There’s Chiplote Black Bean Burger pie and Chicken Cordon Bleu pie. You can also build your own pie.

To prepare for Friday’s opening, Wolf said the restaurant has already served 1,000 people. “[Children] love having mac and cheese or spaghetti and meat balls in a pie,” he said.

Wolf co-founded the Georgia Restaurant Association and served as its CEO. His 40 years in the restaurant and hospitality industry made him diligent in his pie research. “I traced it back to ancient Egypt. I got curious and started really digging, and in every major civilization forward, some kind of pie existed in their food culture,” said Wolf, who plans to start franchising the restaurant early next year. 

In addition to pies, a playful mural attracts attention in the warm-colored restaurant. Illustrations by partner Gregg Adams feature the evolution of a caveman starting with a pie on his back, Abe Lincoln holding his hat with a pie oozing out, Albert Einstein and the theory of pie, and King Kong scaling the Empire State Building to reach his pie at the top.

Wolf said he stumbled on the restaurant's location but welcomes its perks. He’s calculated there are 105,000 office workers, 12 hotels, a MARTA station, the three hospitals, three schools and 30,000 families nearby, including 240 residents that live above the restaurant. 

“I love that we’re not in a cluster of other restaurants. We’re not hard to see,” he said. 

Along with Adams, who is president of Century Concepts, which designed That Pie Place, Wolf has partnered with Daryl Dollinger, whose company owns Moe’s Southwest Grill.

Wolf praises Dollinger, Adams and head chef Todd Kazenske for carrying out the restaurant’s concept. Kazenske is a teaching chef at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Tucker.

That Pie Place is open 7 a.m.-9 p.m., Mondays-Thursdays; 7 a.m.-10 p.m., Fridays; 8 a.m.-10 p.m., Saturdays; 8 a.m.-9 p.m., Sundays.