When did you last buy a pie on the corner of 59th and Phinney? For most people the answer is August 2023. That month A la Mode Pies served its last slice at the café it had opened there in 2011. Thanksgiving week 2026 changes that. The café's doors are still expected to stay shut until January 2027, but owner Chris Porter plans to sell his handmade pies on that corner during the holiday week.
The pie shop has been coming back to Phinney Ridge a piece at a time all year. It has popped up in a parking lot, at a brewery, and on behalf of two bears at the zoo. It now owns both ground-floor commercial spaces where the café will reopen, and the Thanksgiving orders are helping pay to finish it.
The corner changed hands, and A la Mode bought back in
The original café closed because the property was being rebuilt. Homestead Community Land Trust redeveloped the site into permanently affordable housing, so A la Mode had to leave. The PhinneyWood blog reports that Porter, who calls himself the Pie Guy, began planning the café's return two years before that final slice.
Planning for the move began even earlier. In 2021, A la Mode opened a Ballard café at 2034 NW 56th St in the former Parfait Ice Cream parlor. PhinneyWood described that opening as a step taken because the Phinney location was due to close in 2023. The company had already opened a West Seattle café in 2016, so Ballard became its third location while Phinney was still serving.
The new building is Woodland View, a five-story condominium at 5819 Phinney Ave N. It has 25 homes. Nineteen are permanently affordable and six are market-rate, all under one homeowners association. According to the project's website, A la Mode Pies purchased both of its ground-floor commercial spaces. So the café will open in the building that replaced its old home, in commercial space it owns. The same site credits Chakorn Phisuthikul and Marilyn Heinemann with donating the land that helped make the project possible.
The building's plans also shifted along the way. A 2021 PhinneyWood account described roughly 29 homes on the site, 16 of them affordable. The finished building has 25 homes, and a larger share of them are affordable. The Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce reported the condos complete on March 26, 2026. The residential floors are done. The café space downstairs is still under construction.
Why the target moved to January
The opening estimate moved within a month. On September 10, What Now Seattle reported a November target, with permitting and construction possibly pushing it into December. Fifteen days later, PhinneyWood reported that Seattle's lengthy permitting process, "combined with a few unexpected hiccups," had moved the expected opening to January 2027.
That later report is the most recent published update. No grand-opening date had been announced as of October 12. PhinneyWood says it will be first to announce the date and plans to tour the space with Porter before then, including a look at the café's design and updated menu. A la Mode's own location page still says "Reopens January 2026!" That date has passed, so treat January 2027 as the current target.
Thanksgiving orders help pay for the build-out
Porter is paying for the new café himself, PhinneyWood reports. That is why this year's holiday orders count for more than usual. He told the blog:
"This year, our holiday pie sales are doing double duty. Every pie ordered helps cover the real cost of bringing this space back to life. If you've ever loved a slice from A la Mode, now's the time to order your Thanksgiving pie and help us make this our biggest turnout yet."
Pre-orders from the Thanksgiving menu opened October 1 on A la Mode's website. The company's site lists the Thanksgiving order window as November 23 through 26, labeled Monday through Thursday, which matches Thanksgiving week on the 2026 calendar.
Exactly how the corner sales will work has not been published. Neither the Phinney announcement nor A la Mode's ordering page gives hours or pickup instructions for the corner. The pickup list on the ordering page names A la Mode West Seattle at 4225 SW Alaska St and A la Mode Ballard, plus Cupcake Royale in Capitol Hill at 1102 E Pike St and in South Park at 1605 S 93rd St. Phinney is not on the list yet. Check the pickup options carefully when you order. A la Mode's own Phinney pop-up notice asked customers to "always double check time and location when placing an order."
The dates on the calendar
The pop-ups so far, and what's still ahead:
| Date | Where | What |
|---|---|---|
| March 13, 2026 | Phinney Center lower parking lot | Pi Day whole-pie pop-up, 4–6 p.m. |
| September 2026 | A la Mode's Wild BEARy pie | 10% of each Wild BEARy slice went to Woodland Park Zoo's brown bears |
| September 19, 2026 | Flying Bike Cooperative Brewery | Whole-pie pop-up, 5–7 p.m. |
| October 17, 2026 | Flying Bike, Aviator Alcove | Two Thanksgiving pie-and-beer tastings |
| November 23–26, 2026 | Corner of 59th and Phinney | Thanksgiving-week pie sales, details to come |
| January 2027 | 5819 Phinney Ave N | Target café opening, not yet confirmed |
The next event is five days away. On October 17, A la Mode and Flying Bike Cooperative Brewery at 8570 Greenwood Ave N are hosting two tastings in the brewery's Aviator Alcove. Each pairs four new pies from this year's Thanksgiving menu with Flying Bike beers. PhinneyWood listed 16 seats per session at $50 a ticket.
The three published listings give different times. PhinneyWood lists sessions from 5 to 6:30 p.m. and 7 to 8:30 p.m. A la Mode's event page shows seatings at 5 and 7 p.m. Flying Bike's calendar blocks out 5 to 9 p.m. When we checked, A la Mode's event page said "Tickets are not on sale." Confirm availability on A la Mode's event listing before you go.
A pie that helped two bears up the hill
One of the pop-ups shows how local this comeback is. Throughout September, A la Mode's Wild BEARy pie sent 10% of every slice sold to Woodland Park Zoo for its brown bears, Fern and Juniper. PhinneyWood reported that the money supports the bears' long-term care and nourishment. The shop also made a short video to promote the partnership.
The zoo's own page says Juniper is an Alaskan coastal brown bear rescued as a cub near Anchorage, and Fern is a Montana grizzly. Both are the same species. They live a few blocks from the corner where A la Mode will reopen. The September fundraiser has ended, but Wild BEARy is still on the whole-pie menu linked from the Thanksgiving order page.
The corner before the café opens
Each pop-up has brought the pies a step closer to the corner. In March they were sold in the Phinney Center's lower parking lot. In September they went to a brewery on Greenwood Avenue. For Thanksgiving week, the plan is to sell them at 59th and Phinney, in front of a café A la Mode owns but cannot open yet. A Thanksgiving pre-order this year buys a pie and also helps pay to finish the café that will sell the next one.
Here is the order of events. The tasting is October 17. Thanksgiving orders are open now for the November 23–26 window. Corner sale details and a grand-opening date have not been announced, and PhinneyWood says it will publish the opening date first.
The new café will be an anchor business on the ground floor of a new mixed-income building at 59th and Phinney. If you own nearby and want to know how changes on that block are showing up in local values, Brad Hinckley can walk you through it. Request an instant home valuation or schedule a market strategy consultation. We'll look at how the blocks around the corner are moving, using the same careful, data-first approach Brad brings to every sale.
