Thanksgiving Homemade Pies Offer a Taste of Home in Omaha & to Deployed U.S. Troops from a Texas Café

Grandma Estelle's four homemade pumpkin pies from Thanksgiving 2010 

Thanksgiving in America just isn’t Thanksgiving dinner without pie. Depending on the region, pie tastes vary. Here in the Midwest pumpkin pie still reigns supreme. For 22 plus years I've gotten to enjoy homemade pumpkin pie courtesy of my husband's Grandma Estelle. She will celebrate her 89th birthday this December and her homemade pumpkin pies are still center stage at all our Thanksgiving gatherings.

However, down south in Texas pecan pie is the choice. A small town café in Round Top, Texas, is making sure U.S. troops are getting that little piece of Americana shipped to them wherever they may be stationed in the world this holiday season. The owner is Bud “The Pieman” Royer.

With a middle name like "The Pieman" it probably doesn't come to population-we™ readers surprise that Bud's Royers Round Top Café's nickname to most is called the "Pie Palace." This all began in 1987 when Bud started using Grandma Long's pie crust recipe and sold a couple of pies a week. More than 25 years later, Bud The Pieman, has gone into the mail-order pie business. To date, the town's population is 50 and Royers' sells about 10,000 pies a year. Among those loyal customers are U.S. troops.

"I've got chocolate chip like a big thick chocolate chip cookie," he said. "I've got butterscotch chip. I've got cherry. I have peach. I've got blueberry with granola topping, and I have apple, strawberry rhubarb. I have buttermilk, which is chess pie. Buttermilk with chocolate chips and coconut in it, I got a coconut chess, and I have the pumpkin."

The Café ships thousands of pies across the nation during the holidays. Though pecan pie is the region's favorite, because pecans are grown native in Texas, the chocolate chip pie is Royers' best seller. It is also the anchor in "Operation Desert Pie" -- Royers Round Top Café's very own military recognition/appreciation pie program.

Here's words from Royers' website where the Café offers a call-to-action to customers for Operation Desert Pie:

Royers' slice of chocolate chip pie

"Many of yawl want to be a part of this OPERATION but do not have any names of soldiers to send a pie too…we are compiling a list of soldiers who’d love to have some Royers’ pie …. ‘tis “THE ULTIMATE SLICE OF HOME!” from back home!!!"

Royers' goal is to ship 5,000 pies to military personnel deployed throughout the world this holiday. Orders for Thanksgiving ended Nov. 7; however, Christmas order's for "Operation Desert Pie" continue until Dec. 5. To order, visit this link.

"OUR OBJECTIVE: To ship 5,000 Royers’ pies, 'THE ULTIMATE SLICE OF HOME' to our fighting troops for T'Day & Christmas!"

With order of two pies through the Operation Desert Pie program, Royers makes a $5 donation to the Fisher House Foundation. The foundation offers free or low cost lodging to veterans and military families receiving treatment at military medical centers. Watch Royers Round Top Café  3-minute video of U.S. troops getting pies here.

The Bohan and Brown households will give thanks again this year for being able to enjoy the delights of Grandma Estelle's homemade pumpkin pies. Thanks to the generosity of others thousands of troops will get the taste of home this Turkey Day, too.  So, give thanks for our freedom this holiday and consider sending a pie to U.S. troops.
- population-we™ blog post by Becky Bohan Brown
© 2011 population-we, LLC 
If you enjoyed this post, then make sure to leave a comment or 'Like' it.