A North Shore Pie Stop Worth Building a Drive Around

A slice of Great Lakes pie, with its crunchy topping and sweet-tart fruit filling, is a fine excuse to pull off the North Shore road for a while. At Betty’s Pies, pie is not an afterthought parked beside the register. It is the main event, offered in enough fruit, cream, chocolate and crumble-topped forms to make choosing one flavor feel a little unreasonable.

The restaurant has long been folded into drives along Lake Superior, circle tours and family trips through Two Harbors. Some travelers settle in for a full diner meal before dessert; others come in with one purpose, carrying slices or a whole pie back out to the car and down the road.

The fruit pies alone can send a group into a pleasant debate. Great Lakes pie is a standout for its bright sweet-tart balance and crunchy top, while raspberry rhubarb brings together two flavors that make sense on a northern road trip. Blackberry peach offers another fruit-forward option, and caramel apple comes with a flaky, buttery crust that gives the familiar filling a little extra appeal.

Then there are the double-crust and crumble-topped choices, along with the cream pies that invite a completely different decision. Banana cream combines fresh banana and a light creamy filling. Coconut cream and key lime keep things classic, while coconut turtle cream takes a more dressed-up route.

Chocolate fans have several lanes of traffic here. French silk and five-layer chocolate are the richer, more serious choices, and Reese’s peanut butter cream and Butterfinger pie make no attempt to be restrained. A second visit in the same week to try more flavors is not an unusual response to a menu like this.

A pie slice and coffee remains a sensible order, especially when the table has decided to sample more than one flavor. The coffee gives all that cream, fruit and chocolate a useful counterweight.

For a more exuberant dessert stop, a small portion of pie can be served on a shake. It is a combination that sounds like it belongs at an old-school roadside diner because it does: ice cream, pie and a little bit of cheerful overdoing it in one glass.

Cheesecake is also on hand for anyone who has somehow arrived at a pie destination in the mood for something else. Its smooth texture and measured sweetness provide a quieter finish than some of the bigger cream pies.

Betty’s Pies works as a full casual diner, not just a place to grab a fork and point at the dessert case. The menu runs through breakfast, lunch and dinner-style plates, including burgers, chicken dinners, hot beef sandwiches, fish and chips, soups, salads and fries.

Sandwich choices include egg salad and chicken pesto, while thick onion rings offer the sort of side dish that can easily become part of the order before anyone has even reached dessert. Some combinations have included an egg salad sandwich with special soup and a side of pie, which is a very efficient way to settle lunch and the day’s most important sweet decision at once.

Vegetarian dishes are clearly labeled, and a few gluten-free pie options have been available. The pie choices and individual slices can change as the day goes on, so those with a particular flavor in mind may find the selection is not identical from one stop to the next.

The dining room has the cozy, lively character of an old-fashioned diner, with a distinctly mid-century flavor rather than a polished destination-restaurant mood. It suits a stop made in hiking shoes, vacation clothes or the slightly rumpled state of somebody who has been in the car for several hours.

Inside, screens show current pie availability. That small practical touch helps when a favorite flavor is gone for the day, and it turns the choice into a live menu rather than a fixed list. Apple and other popular individual slices can sell out.

Not every North Shore day has room for a full sit-down meal. Betty’s has a walk-up takeout option that lets pie-focused visitors pick up slices without waiting for a dining-room table. Slices may be packed with forks and napkins, making them easy to manage as a car picnic or a dessert break at the next stop.

A free parking lot is available, though the ease of finding a space changes with the crowd. Dining-room waits can also develop at busy times, which makes the takeout line particularly handy for travelers who want to keep moving.

The stop fits naturally between larger outings. Pie and coffee can be a mid-drive pause, lunch can stretch into dessert, and a takeout box can ride along toward an evening at Gooseberry Falls or another stretch of the shoreline.

Families use Betty’s in several ways: a sit-down meal after sightseeing, a pie pickup during a camping trip, or a return stop when one flavor was not enough the first time. The wide range helps with mixed tastes. One person can order tart fruit pie, another can go straight for chocolate, and someone else can keep it uncomplicated with banana or coconut cream.

Whole pies are available for taking along, and they can also be shipped beyond the North Shore. The assortment has even been chosen for a destination wedding dessert spread, mixing local-fruit flavors with crowd-friendly cream pies and caramel apple. For most visitors, though, the immediate question is simpler: which slice makes the best passenger-seat companion for the next stretch of road?