Kansas City, MOPie Shops

A Leawood restaurant where pastry chef Megan Garrelts and her pastry team bake the pies. The lineup runs to banana cream, chocolate cream, Dutch apple, pumpkin and the MoKan, pecans and walnuts baked on top of a sweet, sticky filling made from real butter and sugar, a pecan pie taken to a more complex level. Order the MoKan pie or the banana cream.

A downtown Overland Park storefront where sisters Jan Knobel and Elaine Van Buskirk make their pies by hand, from favorites such as pumpkin, apple and pecan to Southern specialties like the brown sugar buttermilk pie, simple and rich. The daily menu also carries a raspberry sour cream pie and a chocolate chess. Order the brown sugar buttermilk, then the raspberry sour cream.

Denise Ward's neighborhood soul food restaurant on Troost keeps its signature sweet potato pie on the menu all year, so a slice never has to wait for the holidays. It closes out a plate of the kitchen's comfort classics: fried chicken, channel catfish, meatloaf, beef oxtail or pork neck bones with greens, macaroni and cheese, black-eyed peas and green beans. Order the fried chicken or the catfish, then the sweet potato pie.

Ashleigh Luna's pie shop bakes in small batches and works out of Pryde's in Westport, where its pies are picked up. The menu carries a long list of fruit pies, among them the Berry Patch of blueberries, blackberries and raspberries with a hint of orange, and the cream pies deserve equal attention, especially the butterscotch topped with real whipped cream. Order the Berry Patch or the butterscotch cream pie.