A la Mode Pies is preparing to return to Phinney Ridge at 5819 Phinney Ave. N., Suite 1, across from Woodland Park Zoo, after closing its original cafe at the same corner in 2023.
Owner Chris Porter told What Now Seattle that he is aiming for a November reopening, although permitting and construction could push the date into December.
Thanksgiving orders, however, will return to Phinney Ridge regardless of the construction schedule. Customers will be able to place orders through A la Mode’s website. The Thanksgiving menu and pre-ordering start October 1.
For Porter, returning to that corner means revisiting the place where A la Mode grew from an idea into a neighborhood business.
He started the company in 2009 as an online bakery. For its first two years, customers placed orders online, Porter prepared each pie, and then drove it to their homes.
In 2011, Porter invested his savings in the first A la Mode cafe at 59th Street and Phinney Avenue. He had never worked in a bakery or owned one, but baking was a passion he wanted to turn into a career.
“When Phinney opened in 2011, it was magic to me. It was the first time I saw my big dream solidify,” Porter said.
Porter had been A la Mode’s only employee. When the cafe opened, the team grew to about eight people, though he remained the primary baker. He frequently arrived at 6 a.m. and stayed until 8 p.m., watching over the kitchen and the small details of the business.
The zoo sat across the street, and the mountains were visible through the cafe’s front window. Porter soon began recognizing regulars who returned to catch up or celebrate birthdays over pie.
“I was just in love with this space. The energy inside fed off that excitement because it became this neighborhood gathering spot.”
The cafe served 10 to 12 varieties each day, many of them seasonal. Pies were made by hand and baked the same day customers came in. Guests could buy them whole or by the slice, have a slice warmed and served with ice cream, or take it home.
Porter wanted the experience to come “as close to grandma’s as it could possibly be.”
The Phinney cafe closed in 2023 after the building’s owner donated the aging property to an affordable housing organization. The structure needed to be demolished and redeveloped, but the organization approached Porter early with a proposal to return once the new building was complete.
“They basically said, ‘You’re kind of an institution on this corner, and the community has embraced you,’” Porter recalled. “The only way we see this being redeveloped is if you are involved and agree to come back.”
For a small-business owner who had heard stories about businesses disappearing after losing their leases, the invitation changed what the closure meant.
“To have that much support in the neighborhood was incredibly flattering. I was so sad to see it close. It’s where my business grew. It’s the flagship. It’s what put us on the map.”
Porter remained involved while the new building took shape. Meanwhile, Phinney Ridge customers continued asking about the cafe at A la Mode’s other locations.
The company opened its West Seattle cafe in 2016. That larger bakery now handles most of its production. Porter added the Ballard location in 2021, in part to give Phinney customers another nearby place to buy A la Mode pies.
“Almost every single day for the last three years, someone has walked into one of my other locations and brought up Phinney,” he said.
The memories tied to the cafe are endless. Some customers told him they had become engaged there. Others remembered visiting every year on their birthdays. One of Porter’s favorite memories, however, stretches back to the cafe’s earliest days.
Because he wanted every pie to be fresh, Porter refused to sell leftover slices the following day. Before the bakery established a food bank donation process, he stood outside after closing and gave the remaining slices to people passing by.
Years later, customers still told him about the night they walked past the zoo and received a free slice from “some guy.”
“And the guy was me,” Porter said.
The new cafe will occupy the same space as the original. Porter saved many of its materials during the closure and plans to give them new uses.
The original end-grain walnut counter will return, but instead of serving as the main service counter, it will run along the window as a place for customers to sit with their pies. Some of the former light fixtures will also come back.
“Everyone walking in will understand that although it looks new, shiny and polished, it really is a reimagining of the original,” Porter said.
Years of operating the West Seattle and Ballard cafes have also given him a clearer understanding of how the kitchen and customer areas should function. The layout will change, but Porter wants the room to retain the qualities customers remember.
“It will have all the character, the love, the smell of pie, and everything else that made Phinney successful,” he added.
Porter also plans to display photographs from the first cafe, including images of longtime customers. The menu will keep the bakery’s signature flavors, with a few updates.
Phinney will receive a larger selection of savory pies than the original cafe could accommodate. Porter is also adding soft-serve ice cream after years of watching families and strollers pass the storefront on their way to and from the park.
Pie-making classes will also return to Phinney Ridge. Porter began teaching them when he first opened, bringing small groups into the kitchen for sessions in which they prepared three varieties of petite pies.
The classes taught baking skills, but they also gave customers time with the person behind the bakery.
Porter sees the new cafe as a way to return that connection to a neighborhood that continued supporting A la Mode during its absence. He is counting on Thanksgiving orders to help carry the business through the buildout and into its next chapter.
“I need the community’s help one more time to give me a little bump so I can then deliver on everyone’s dream here.”
After 17 years of building A la Mode and three years away from the corner where its first cafe took shape, Porter is ready to begin again in Phinney Ridge.
“This opening really energizes me. I’m excited to show Phinney what I’ve still got.”
Follow A la Mode Pies on Instagram for updates on the reopening.
A la Mode Pies owner Chris Porter enjoys a slice of pie (Image Credit: A la Mode Pies)
A slice of pie from A la Mode Pies (Image Credit: A la Mode Pies)
A cheesecake from A la Mode Pies (Image Credit: A la Mode Pies)
