The Pie Hole as it is seen in "The Fun in Funeral".
The Pie Hole is Ned's pie shop. The pies are baked on the premises and served by Ned and his employees, Charlotte "Chuck" Charles and Olive Snook, all of whom live in apartments above the restaurant.
History[]
Ned was inspired to open the Pie Hole by what the Narrator terms an "obsession" with pies that he inherited from his pie-baking mother. Although the restaurant normally boasts good numbers of customers, the Pie Hole faced financial difficulties shortly after opening, and was in danger of closing before private investigator Emerson Cod started a business partnership with Ned, in which the two use his gift to question dead victims, solve their murders and collect the reward money. The arrangement provided Ned with the much-needed income to continue to operate his restaurant. Emerson also became a regular customer at the Pie Hole. [1]
Appearance[]
The exterior of the building is circular, with a snazzy neon sign (that was once tampered with by rival Dilly Balsam to read "The Pie Ho") mounted on a large crust-like addition that runs all the way around the restaurant. The exterior of the first floor has green walls with several man-sized circular windows, with spiral decorative trees between each one. The golden door also has a similar circular window. The exterior of the second floor, the apartments of Ned and Olive Snook, above the crust, resembles a more typical residence, with drab white and gray walls and normal windows with a torch reminiscent of that belonging to the Statue of Liberty with yellow neon letters that spell "Liberty".
The interior maintains the color scheme of the outside, with red circular lights mounted from the walls and ceilings, green and white patterned tablecloths, green walls and green and white tiled floors. The seating includes booths against the walls, tables and chairs in the middle and a counter with stools in a semi-circle around the door-less kitchen, where customers can clearly see employees baking the pies. The kitchen includes a table with fruits and pie ingredients, and a sky-patterned pyramid-like structure for storing and displaying the pies.
Service[]
While Ned does help serve pies during busy hours, Olive Snook was primarily responsible for the service. Olive's charming demeanor, chipper optimism and adorably squeaky voice served as strong assets as a waitress. Olive put great care and love into her work. Every day she concentrated all of her love into a single pie because she felt the customers would experience those same feelings, and she claimed she sold more of that type of pie by the end of each day. [1]
Menu[]
Pies at The Pie Hole are marked at $5.95 a slice, or $5.95 for an individual cup-pie.[2]
Among the pies that have been served at The Pie Hole are: Rhubarb, Three Plum, Triple Berry, Lemon Meringue, Sweet Potato, and Dutch Apple. Later, Ned added Chuck's Cup-pies, pies in the shape of a cupcake with a honey-baked crust.
Pie Flavors:
- Apple - Tart sliced apples, sweetened and lightly-spiced with cinnamon
- Berry - A variety of only the finest plump, ripe berries, baked in this double crust pie.
- Blueberry - Blueberries enhanced with flavorful apples.
- Cherry - With juicy, tart, red cherries.
- Chocolate Satin - Rich chocolate fills a chocolate cookie crust.
- Cream Cheese - If you're a lover of cheesecake, this pie is for you. A melt-in-your-mouth cream cheese filling in a graham cracker crust with a pure sour cream topping.
- Kahlua Cream Cheese - Try the special taste of Kahlua mocha throughout our velvety cream cheese pie in a chocolate cookie crust.
- Pecan - Lots of buttery, caramelized pecans baked in a luscious filling.
- Key Lime - The tart flavors of Key Limes, blended creamy and smooth in a graham cracker crust.
- Lemon Cream Cheese - Our melt-in-your-mouth cream cheese pie with a tangy lemon topping.
- Chocolate Cream - Chocolate blended with our creamy vanilla custard.
- Banana Cream - One of your favorites. Fresh ripe bananas, rich vanilla cream, fresh whipped cream, or a fluffy meringue.
In addition to the above menu regulars, other flavors have been seen:
- Kiwi[1]
- Four Berry[3]
- Triple Berry[4]
- Spring Passionfruit[5]
- Three Plum[5]
- Rhubarb Custard[6]
- Rhubarb[1]
- Golden Cherry Crimson Pear
Cup-Pie Flavors:
- Pecan - Lots of buttery, caramelized pecans baked in a luscious filling.
- Key Lime - The tart flavors of Key Limes, blended creamy and smooth in a graham cracker crust.
- Lemon Cream Cheese - Our melt-in-your-mouth cream cheese pie with a tangy lemon topping.
- Brownie Sundae - Brownie, White Chocolate Mousse, and Chocolate, Covered with Hot Fudge and Almonds.
- Lemon Raspberry - Raspberry Vanilla, Creamy Lemon, Raspberry Lady Fingers, and Lemon Mousse
- Coconut Chocolate Cream - Coconut folded into our rich vanilla cream, topped with Chocolate fudge
- Vanilla Bean - Layers of Creamy Vanilla Bean, Vanilla Mousse and Whipped Cream.
- Pumpkin Pecan - World famous Pumpkin Pie, topped off with fresh roasted pecans.
- Cocoa Coffee - Layers of Rich Brownie, Creamy Chocolate Mousse, and Chocolate Ganache.
- Chocolate Cream - Chocolate blended with our creamy vanilla custard.
- Banana Cream - One of your favorites. Fresh ripe bananas, rich vanilla cream, fresh whipped cream, or a fluffy meringue.
Employees[]
- Ned - The owner and head pie maker
- Charlotte "Chuck" Charles - Assistant pie maker and current waitress
- Olive Snook - Waitress and a part-time delivery girl.
- Manuel - The janitor/cleaner
- Delivery Boy - Delivers pies locally, but Coeur d'Coeurs is outside the Pie Hole's delivery zone.
- Brandy\Candy - Waitress hired to help when Olive is at the nunnery. Never seen but made reference to by Emerson Cod, "somebody named after booze or food".
Behind the scenes[]
The Pie Hole as it appears in the original screener version of the "Pie-lette", without the second-floor residential apartments.
The exterior of the Pie Hole in the original screener version of the first episode is different than the episode that aired, with the residential apartments originally in a separate building next to the restaurant instead of above the crust. [7]
Production designer Michael Wylie says that the pies at the Pie Hole "are all real. There's a chef that comes in and [makes] new pies every time we shoot there." [8]