Change is afoot in the Bearden area of Knoxville! And if you’ve wondered what’s up with that little white building next door to Anthropologie on Kingston Pike, wonder no more! It’s Buttermilk Sky Pie Shop — and oh, how sweet it is!

We first took note of Buttermilk Sky this past week.  Their newly launched Facebook page already had requests for additional help to prepare for their opening this Thursday, November 14th.  Then we drove past, noting that the parking lot was full, and lines were forming outside the shop!  (And they’re not even officially open.)  Top that with ads that say, We open at 11:00 on Saturday and will sell ’til the pies are gone! That’s when we knew: There’s a hit in the making in the Bearden area.

At 11:00 Saturday, we were on their doorstep talking to the owners, Scott and Meredith Layton.  Scott’s a farmboy from Missouri married to Meredith, a Memphis girl whose grandmother made homemade ice cream for family get-togethers on Sunday. They’ve combined their love of fresh ingredients, natural flavors, and Southern cooking to bring made-from-scratch pies and ice cream to Knoxville.

You’re not even open, I said to Scott, and you’re selling out already. 

He wiped his hands on his apron and replied, We thought last Saturday would be just a slow test run, so we made 200 pies.  By the end of the day, we had sold 800!  We just kept cooking and cooking all day long!

The store has a clean, yet comfortable vibe with white walls, black signage, kraft paper boxes tied with twine, and the store’s blue ribbon logo affixed to take-out orders.

Looking is part of the fun — and that’s OK since you may be in line for a while, depending on when you arrive.  We noted boxes of seasonal favorite pumpkin pies ready for take-out, but, hopefully, their other best-sellers will be there, too:  Nanny’s Pecan, Southern Buttermilk, and Chocolate Meringue.

Notable are the little four-inch pies that sell for $4.25 or four for $16.00 that you can purchase as a four-pack sampler.  (Which we did!) By the way, Bert loves the buttermilk pies; I prefer chocolate meringue.

Also for sale is good coffee . . .

and that homemade ice cream Meredith grew up loving.

In the not-overly-big-but-hardworking kitchen, Jenna was rolling out the dough for thumbprints which Meredith said would be ready in about an hour.

Most every customer on Saturday took their orders home, but you can eat at the picnic table outside or on a stool inside.  Maybe.  If there’s room.  But if the lines are any indication of what’s gonna happen this Thursday, there just might not be any room to breathe!

If you click here to their website, you’ll see the names of the mainstay pies:  Granny’s Apple, Southern Buttermilk, Chocolate Meringue, and Nanny’s Pecan.  But there are seasonal offerings in the works.  This fall will bring on Spiced Pumpkin and Caramel followed by the winter delights of Kentucky Derby and Coconut Cream.

Their phrase (and mine, too):  Pie oh my!

You can even vote for next month’s Pie of the Month.

Something we couldn’t see yet are the Scratch Made Buttermilk Biscuits, Whipped Butters, and Biscuit Toppings like Warm Chocolate Gravy and Sweetwater Valley Farm Buttermilk Cheddar Cheese.  But what we did see made us realize that this place will be busy from Grand Opening Day ’til Christmas, for sure.

So, if homemade pie is on your list of favorite desserts, or you crave cookies, biscuits and such, you just may want to head to Buttermilk Sky Pie Shop.  It really is a Sweet Spot!

Buttermilk Sky Pie Shop

5402 Kingston Pike

Knoxville, TN 37919

865.330.3694

www.buttermilk-sky.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Buttermilk-Sky-Pie-Shop/210533802332348

Twitter: @buttermilkskypi

Grand Opening:  November 14, 2013

Click here for Knoxville News-Sentinel article “Bearden to get a new pie shop.”

This post is #10 for National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo) 2013.