I received a tip that The Griddle Restaurant in Shelby had started to serve homemade pie. That was enough for me to schedule a trek up I-15 to check things out.
The 85 mile drive from Great Falls to Shelby was beautiful the day I chose for my pie visit. Even though I had pie on the mind I still found myself taking a couple of interstate exits just to get some photos. When I was almost to Conrad the sun was shining bright and the sky was filled with photogenic clouds.
But, eating pie was my mission so I decided I had better complete that and maybe take more photos on the way back.
A friend joined me at The Griddle and the big question was…do we just eat pie or have lunch first? Sanity won out and I had a salad and some wonderful homemade tomato soup before ordering pie.
There were three kinds of pie to pick from – peach, lemon meringue and coconut cream. My friend ordered a slice of peach without hesitation. I debated back and forth between coconut cream and lemon meringue.
I settled on lemon meringue for two reasons. Throughout all of my pie sampling (and there has been a lot) I haven’t had lemon meringue. The other reason is it would refresh a memory of my Dad’s love of lemon meringue pie. My Mom didn’t make meringue pies and it was his favorite. He always ordered it if a restaurant had it on the menu.
I wasn’t disappointed with my order. The lemon flavor hit the spot and I’m always impressed with meringue.
My friend’s peach pie was good too. Topped with a generous scoop of ice cream, it was a perfect seasonal treat.
The Griddle is located on Shelby’s Main Street in the middle of several locally owned stores. Iconic neon signs line the street giving the town a homey and fun vibe.
After I left The Griddle I drove around town a bit. Each time I see Shelby’s new Carousel there are more enhancements – paved parking lot, a fun horse vane on top and promotional signs along US Hwy 2 as it weaves through town.
And now, a fun pie stop on Central Montana’s Pie a la Road!