New Pie Shop / Luncheonette Coming To Hamden

HAMDEN, CT — Greater New Haven’s “made-to-order pie lady” is opening her own luncheonette/pie shop in Hamden. Owner Valerie McKee is taking her popular home kitchen pie business to a larger audience and opening The Town Tart Luncheonette and Pie Shop on Whitney Avenue.

McKee plans to open the new business at the former Galasso’s Clock and Watch Shop space at 1660 Whitney Ave. at the end of the summer, according to the New Haven Register. McKee, a professor of creative writing at Southern Connecticut State University, told the Register that she had been filling orders for family and friends for years and the demand for her pies led her to deciding to open her own shop.

The location for the eatery was “extremely important” to McKee, according to a crowdfunding campaign that was set up to help her with the transformation of the former clock shop to a restaurant.

“Val could have rented a space already equipped with a kitchen, but location was extremely important to her,” reads the post on Indiegogo.com. “She wanted to open The Town Tart in a walkable, family friendly neighborhood; a place where people can come on their lunch breaks, children can come after school, and families can come on the weekends.”

McKee lives in the Spring Glen neighborhood and knew it “needed a spot like The Town Tart, as it's lacking a cozy lunch spot and place for community to gather. She knew she could provide a place for neighborhood residents and beyond to come and cozy up with the greatest comfort food of all: PIE!,” according to the post.

“We want all guests of The Town Tart to arrive feeling welcome and comfortable and leave with full, satisfied bellies. We want families to build food memories while sitting at our counter. We want customers to find joy in the modern take on traditional Southern fare, from pimento cheese sandwiches to Val's favorite lemon meringue pie on a gingersnap crust.”

McKee, the mother of three sons, is a native Tennessean who set roots in Connecticut in 2004 and credits her sweet tooth to her grandfather.

“Her greatest hope is for someone to take a bite of apple pie, 20 years from now, and say something like: ‘This reminds me of that pie we had at The Town Tart...remember? When the kids were little and we stopped for lunch after spending the morning at the park,’” according to the Indiegogo page. “She wants to help people build the same lovely food memories she made with her grandfather.”

The Town Tart will serve lunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and pie, coffee, and ice cream floats from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

For more information, visit The Town Tart on Facebook here and the Indiegogo.com page here.

Read the full story at the New Haven Register here.