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A bartender at Royal Street Inn & Bar in NOLA was wearing this shirt: a cute cartoon caricature of a fat man carrying a pie, with the word “Hubig’s” written across in cursive. It piqued my interest– what was this all about, I wondered.

I asked Pat and Marshall, who I was staying with, what this “Hubig’s” was all about. They delved into the history of the pie company– it’s been around since 1922, and back then, the company was scattered all over the South. Today, it is distinctly a local New Orleans institution. The original factory is still there, and although it was devastated by the storm (just like everything else), it’s back up and running again.

Pat took me to Walgreen’s to buy some pies. I instantly recognized the cute yellow man, and bought up as many pies as there were flavors– lemon, apple and coconut.

Remember when you were little and you would get these sort of pies at the drug store, four for a dollar? Wrapped in shiny wax paper and all sugary and nasty? Not these. They make them fresh daily and even have an expiration date marked on each pie.

The crust was thinly coated with a sugar frosting. While it was sweet, it was unexpectedly crisp. Translation: they’re deep fried! Hooray! The inside was not overly gooey or sweet and had a fair amount of fruit, at least in the apple pie. Wiki says that locals put them in the microwave for 30 seconds.

Who dat say dey gonna gonna beat dem Saints?

Check out pictures of the factory here. So neat! Wiki says they make 30,000 pies a day, to be delivered the next day. And so, the tradition continues.