Cape Girardeau County: Pie Bird Cafe offers tight-knit community, consistency in personal service and homemade flavor

"What's a pie bird?"

That was the response of Darla Macke when her sister told her the name of a restaurant she planned to open in 2005.

Thanks to a gift Diana Abernathy received from a friend, Fruitland residents have become experts on the pie bird.

"She showed me what they were and we learned how to use them here," Macke says.

Macke now has a collection of them, as does her sister, on the walls of Pie Bird Cafe, and she's quick to give a lesson in both utility and hospitality.

The Pie Bird Cafe staff tidy up the kitchen after serving lunch on March 19, 2017 in Fruitland. (Ben Matthews)

She grabs one of the porcelain figures, which has an opening on top.

"A pie bird goes into the center of a two-crust pie, and you seal it up tight around up to its neck," Macke says. "Steam comes out of here and keeps the pie from splitting open and blowing over. They do serve a purpose and have been around for centuries."

The old-school, homemade touch has also made Pie Bird Cafe, 5512 Highway 61, a fixture. With a loyal following, the restaurant recently steamed past its 12-year anniversary.

With at least nine varieties offered on a daily basis, some customers come for the pie. Others come for the cooked-to-order breakfast offered seven days a week, while others opt for the weekday lunch specials.

"We have a lot of regulars that come every day, sometimes twice a day, and we pull in a lot of people from the surrounding area that hear about us," Macke says.

The Pie Bird Cafe staff tidy up the kitchen after serving lunch on March 19, 2017 in Fruitland. (Ben Matthews)

That's not surprising. Fresh, homemade food at a reasonable price has a wide fan base.

In addition to managing duties, Macke takes care of the majority of cooking in a tight-knit operation that abides by the homemade theme -- offspring is among the crew.

"We still peel our own potatoes here," Macke says. "Most of what we do, we do from scratch. Our crusts are made from scratch; as many as we need, we make them.

"If I make chicken and dumplings, I make those dumplings from scratch. That's our big thing. You don't find a lot of that any more, and we take the time to do it."

Unlike other items, chicken and dumplings are an unpredictable occurrence on the lunch menu, which always features two dinner choices. Regulars can count on fixtures as one of the choices four days of the week: meatloaf on Mondays, fried chicken on Wednesday, country-fried steak on Thursday and fish on Friday. Tuesday allows for other favorites to rotate into the menu, like roast beef, roast pork loin, barbecue pork steaks and pork chops. The dinners also come with two sides, with at least four or five choices available.

Customers eat lunch at the Pie Bird Cafe in Fruitland on March 19, 2017. (Ben Matthews)

Customers not only know what dishes to expect, but how they'll taste.

"Consistency is huge," Macke says. "We do have our recipes, and we expect our cooks to follow them. That's really important to us."

Homemade soup, salad and sandwich is always a second lunch option. And items like hand-made quarter-pound burgers are available every day.

"It's fresh burger and never been frozen," Macke says. "Our burgers are pretty popular. That's our biggest thing, is doing it the way a lot of places don't anymore."

The doors open at 6 a.m. seven days a week, and Macke knows exactly where the regulars will sit, and much more.

Pies sit on display at the Pie Bird Cafe in Fruitland on March 19, 2017. (Ben Matthews)

"We have a lot of people that just like special things a certain way, and we do that," Macke says. "Like there's certain customers that we have that the girls simply write the person's name on the ticket because I know what that means. I know who it is and how they want their eggs done. I know what their order is, and we have a lot of that. There's a lot of people I can start their food when they walk through the door."

And then there are the pies, which are only available by the slice but can be purchased whole when ordered 24 hours in advance. Macke says coconut cream is the most popular, with apple crumb probably running second. The pie birds assist with such treats like cherry and blackberry pies, while German chocolate is another favorite. She also may make an apple caramel nut cheesecake on a whim.

"That's one of the benefits we have being small and family owned -- if I have a recipe, I can just go, 'Oh, I'm going to throw that in today.' We can do that any day," Macke says.

And don't be surprised by free cookies and cupcakes on special occasions, one of the personal touches extended at Pie Bird Cafe.

"They're family," Macke says about her loyal patrons. "They know when we're sick, and we know when they're sick. We know what's going on in their lives, and they know what's going on in ours. They know us really well, and they really are a family. We've been seeing these same people for years."

A pie bird sits in a freshly served pie at the Pie Bird Cafe in Fruitland on March 19, 2017. The pie birds are hollow figurines used to vent steam out of the pies. (Ben Matthews)

The country-style decor includes nine tables and four counter seats that face the grill.

Getting one of the 41 seats can be a tough get on some occasions, but a congested lot is even more common.

"We always tell people don't be fooled by the parking lot," Macke says. "Always check and see if we have seats available because a lot of times we will."