Ellington

Jennifer Rintelman can’t tell you which pie is her favorite.

As co-owner and recipe developer of Fork and Pie Bar, Chattanooga’s newest theme restaurant, located at 811 Market St., she said it’s impossible to pick a favorite of the more than 50 recipes she’s helped develop.

“It’s always a good sign when every time you make a pie it’s someone’s new favorite,” she said. “They’re all good.”

The new eatery is a full-service lunch and dinner restaurant featuring savory pies and more traditional sweet varieties.

“Since a lot of people think of pie as a treat, they may not realize that we can also put quality local and healthy ingredients inside a pie,” said Rintelman. “It’s basically an entire meal inside a miniature pie.”

Fork and Pie Bar’s signature 4-inch savory personal pies come in a variety of flavors and are each served with a side item. Savory varieties range from familiar staples like chicken pot pie and shepherd’s pie to more unique combinations like the Tuscan chicken pie, a combination of grilled chicken, sautéed sun-dried tomatoes, portobello mushrooms, artichokes, fresh basil, garlic, provolone and pepper-cream sauce baked in a pie crust.

According to co-owner Michael Richardson, the menu features standard pies that will always be available in addition to a rotating weekly specialty menu. Beer is currently available at the restaurant and more options including wine and liquor will be available soon.

“We’ve been watching food trends and looking to see what was going on in real foodie cities across the country and saw several of these pie bars,” said Richardson. “Some were more bar and some were more bakery, so with Jenn’s [Rintelman] baking expertise and my restaurant experience, we decided to do a full-service restaurant.”

From concept to completion he said it took approximately 60 days to launch the restaurant, which was formerly a Quizno’s Subs location and a men’s clothing store during the 1950s and 1970s.

“Most of the stuff upstairs in the store location was untouched so we were able to pull tables and cabinets out and refurbish them into benches, tables and bar cabinets for the restaurant,” said Richardson.

With exposed brick, dark paint colors and rustic furniture, he said the idea was to create a great dining experience that was comfortable but classy at the same time.

“We were going for a homey look without being too kitschy,” said Rintelman. “We’re not going for a diner look, but we still wanted people to feel like they came to our house to eat.”

For more information call the restaurant at 485-3257 or visit www.forkandpiebar.com.