The Pie Commission

The Pie Commission was started back in 2013 by two local friends and business partners who spent years living in England and Australia. Patrick Blessing and Mike Dahm, who grew up in Etobicoke, discovered they loved the meat pies abroad and decided to recreate such a product right here in the GTA. After much testing (especially the pastry) and eating of pies, The Pie Commission became a reality in the basement, beneath a hairdresser, of a back lane retail outlet, off The Queensway.

From these beginnings, which included a lot of late nights and menu adjustments along the way, The Pie Commission forged out a reputation for high-quality pies with wholesome ingredients and a delicious all-butter pastry crust. Following a few newspaper articles with rave reviews, the city literally lined up at the door to get a hot pie (to eat immediately) or a frozen four-pack of pies to take home and cook whenever they wanted.

In 2019, these same business partners moved The Pie Commission a half-block east to a new building at 927 The Queensway to help keep up with the demand of their savoury pie business. That's also when they hired me, the Chef, Marty Shmanka to expand and professionalise the operation. Staying true to the founders' values, our production team has refined the recipes for our fillings and standardized our pastry production so that every pie not only tastes excellent - but also bakes beautifully in our all-butter pastry.

Pie crust pastry is one of those food items with a simple ingredient list but is also associated with hundreds of different variations and techniques, depending on who you ask. Our production team at The Pie Commission takes our pastry seriously. Even though our volumes have increased exponentially since the early days, we still take an artisan approach to measuring, mixing, folding and portioning our pastry. With that extra care, we can create a superior product using high-quality ingredients to achieve the most buttery, flaky pastry for each of our pies and our customers. Our customers frequently comment on the quality and flavour of the savoury meat pies, but it's our crust that gets the most "LIKES."

Our fillings are handcrafted by our kitchen team, and whenever possible, we prefer the low and slow method for roasting or braising meat, as the product retains more moisture and tenderness. We even roast our chicken first and then hand-cut it before mixing it into our pies. Again, the result is more tender, juicy and has a better texture.

Our highly regarded and locally established supplier Woodward Meats, recently inquired about carrying our savoury meat pies for their home delivery service. The Pie Commission team immediately recognized that as a great partnership and complement to both companies. Our pies come frozen and can be baked from frozen or thawed. We make our pies all individually sized, and this will offer your family flexibility in that everyone can choose their favourite flavour. The pie fillings are fully-cooked, cooled, put into our pastry, then frozen, making our pies very food safe and date stamped. Our baking instructions are straightforward and cook perfectly in conventional home ovens or air fryers.

We hope you try adding the city's best meat pies to your next order at Woodward Meats. My team and I look forward to your feedback.