New Orleans is famous for its unique culinary traditions brimming with exceptional flavors and ingredients. This extends beyond savory dishes, like gumbo and red beans and rice, to sweet treats as well. Whether it’s doberge cake, the multi-layered cake with custard, or beignets, the puffy fried dough that’s hollow inside and doused in powdered sugar — a must-try regional food — New Orleanians love their confections. One of these, Hubig’s Pies, has been a New Orleans go-to for more than 100 years. We’ve scarfed them down for breakfast, as a dessert, and as an afternoon pick-me-up. Who are we kidding? We get them any chance we can.
There are a few things that separate these 4-ounce fried hand pies from others. They’re made fresh five days a week in New Orleans and have a thick but flaky sugar-glazed crust that’s made from a hot-water dough that contains beef tallow. Then there’s the variety of flavors, from the standard like apple, peach, and lemon, to more unique fillings like pineapple, chocolate, and coconut. That doesn’t even include Hubig’s seasonal flavors which are only available for short periods throughout the year. It’s always worth the wait for the sweet potato (made with local produce), strawberry, blueberry, and cherry. Sadly, a devastating 2012 fire at the company’s plant in the Marigny, a neighborhood near the French Quarter, nearly killed off the brand. But it has slowly returned to its former glory.
Hubig’s Pies rises from the ashes
In the early morning of July 27, 2012, a five-alarm fire at the Hubig’s Pies factory in the Marigny completely destroyed the building. Only a few years earlier, in 2005, the small family-owned company survived the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and handed out thousands of its pies to first responders and residents, only to face this new challenge. But like its founder, Simon Hubig — an illustration of whom graces all its package as “Savory Simon” — Hubig’s Pies was resilient. Under his leadership, the company survived the Great Depression. After his death, World War II shortages, and other problems, it became a New Orleans institution.
In the wake of the 2012 fire, various issues kept Hubig’s Pies from reopening for a decade, leading many of its fans to fear they’d never enjoy another delicious fried pie from there again. But by 2022, the company had relocated to a different part of the city and, using much of the original equipment that had been pulled from the wreckage and refurbished, was back in business. Over the last three years, Hubig’s has slowly rolled out all its flavors. And has even begun making king cake, the traditional oval-shaped pastry associated with Mardi Gras, a bold move in a city where residents can be fiercely loyal to a particular bakery. Beyond that, these days, you don’t have to live in New Orleans or even Louisiana to get your hands on Hubig’s Pies. The legendary company now ships across the United States.
