The heartwarming story behind Scarborough’s sort-of-secret pie stand

The sort-of secret: Rouge Park Pie Stand, an honour-system bakery in Scarborough
You may have heard of it if: You live in the neighbourhood or like going for drives in the country But you probably haven’t tried it because: It’s at the end of a driveway on a quiet street lined with farm fields

Up a driveway on the tree-lined country road that divides Scarborough and Pickering sits a row of white-washed vintage wooden cabinets. Most mornings, their shelves are lined with freshly baked pies and tarts. Next to them is a hand-written menu and a jar for cash payments. The honour-system pie stand has become a sweet staple in the area.

The humble operation didn’t begin as a hobby—it was born out of necessity. In 2006, Glenn Barkey moved back into his childhood home to care for his mother, Mary, who was suffering from dementia. During a routine visit, Barkey walked into a house filled with smoke: his mother had tried to heat up a meal by placing the plastic container it was in directly on a hot stove burner. He moved in with her almost immediately.

At the time, pies were hardly top of mind for Barkey, now 73, who had spent the past two decades as a field service engineer. He grew up working alongside his four brothers on his parents’ dairy farm north of the city. Food always played a big part in the home thanks to his mother, an exceptional cook and baker who had to keep her four hungry boys fed.

Related: What super foodie Suresh Doss loves about Scarborough

As her illness progressed, Barkey began asking his mom about her pie recipes as a way to keep her brain active. She taught him how to make the dough and various fillings. Soon, leaving the house to go to work was no longer an option: it wasn’t safe for Barkey to leave his mother alone for long periods of time. “That’s when I realized that I was going to have to bring the work to me,” he says. Shortly afterward, the Rouge Park Pie Stand was born.

Barkey bakes everything himself, usually working four to five hours a day, six days a week during the peak season. In the summer, he turns out more than 100 pies a week. Last Thanksgiving weekend, he sold nearly 300. “That’s a lot of pies, eh?" he says, laughing.

His bestsellers include caramel-apple, blueberry, strawberry-rhubarb and blueberry-peach. His personal favourite, though, is sour cherry—but still made with plenty of sugar. Jumbleberry, another fan favourite, is made with blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and strawberries.

Barkey likes to mix things up with occasional deviations from his mother’s recipes—she stuck to the classics, like apple or blueberry. He also swapped his mom’s traditional top crust for a crumble that his regulars quickly fell in love with. And where she used lard, Barkey switched to vegetable shortening to cater to his customers’ dietary needs—though he insists on using real butter for his butter tarts.

Related: “Dough is in my DNA”—How the grandson of Toronto baker Dave Silverstein found his true calling

Barkey’s system is simple but strategic. He whips up the pie shells first, then moves on to the fillings. After the shells are filled, Barkey brings them to a room off his garage that houses a commercial Blodgett oven, an essential piece of equipment he scored second-hand from a culinary school, which can bake 12 pies in 20 minutes. Once the pies are cooling, he starts the process all over again. During major holidays or busy weekends, he gets some help from a friend.

The eight- and nine-inch pies are $15 each, while butter tarts run $12 for half a dozen. The honour system mostly works, though there’s the occasional theft, which Barkey shrugs off. “When we were kids, we used to do the same thing,” he says. He recently set up an e-transfer payment system for any customers who don’t happen to have cash on them.

Rouge Park Pie Stand is open all year but slows down considerably during the winter months, so it’s best to call ahead. Customers can also pre-order pies for next-day pickup.

In 2019, at the age of 101, Mary passed away, but Barkey is keeping her legacy alive by sharing her pies. As for retirement, he’s not even entertaining the idea. “The worst thing you can do is retire,” he says—the satisfaction of baking, the compliments he gets from his customers and the daily routine are what keep him going. “I’ll probably die doing this.”

Rouge Park Pie Stand, 10 Scarborough Pickering Townline, Scarborough, 416-281-4939