Restaurant Review: Personal Pies at Crust Club 

• Alex Springer
• A personal tin of baked goodness from Crust Club

Considering the fact that cream of chicken soup, rotisserie chicken and pie crust occupy a prominent space on Utah's culinary coat of arms, it's surprising that we don't have more local pot pies on the market. We have a few scattered around, each one offering their own riff on a classic pot pie, but I feel like it's high time that pot pies became more prevalent within our fast-casual scene. It's a vision that is shared by Crust Club, as they've begun opening storefronts from St. George to Logan. The restaurant has more central locations in Pleasant Grove and South Jordan, and it's building the kind of momentum that could make it the next big thing.

Crust Club started off as the brainchild of Tyler and Valerie Kukahiko, who kicked off the menu with a chicken pot pie that made waves in the food blogosphere back in 2016. As the brand started taking off, they secured a warehouse for nationwide deliveries the following year. After opening their first storefront in 2021, Crust Club was acquired by Crumbl Cookies in 2024. With the fuel of an international franchise behind it, Crust Club is poised to have a major moment in the coming few years.

The concept behind Crust Club is pretty simple. The menu includes baby pies and hand pies, both sweet and savory, along with a few other baked entrees and soups. Crust Club has larger family-sized entrees as well, but these are designed to be purchased from the shop and then baked up at home. I went with the chicken pot pie and the BBQ Mac pot pie in a meal deal ($22.99) that came with a sweet pie; I went with key lime, since that's always polarizing. I like that Crust Club offers combos like this, as you'll want to try something sweet and savory when you're visiting a location.

Between the two savory pies, I was surprised to find that I found the BBQ Mac to be the superior of the two. It's got plenty of barbecued pork that ran on the sweeter side of the sauce spectrum. The pie is also filled with a good amount of elbow macaroni, which presented a nice textural contrast to the buttery pie crust. From a texture perspective, it's a crust that understands the assignment. It's flaky throughout with a nice, golden-brown crispness on the top and on the edges. The only thing that I thought was missing was a bit of salt to make the crust adequately pop. The combination of barbecued pork, macaroni and pie crust totally works as a midday carb bomb.

While I didn't actively dislike the chicken pot pie, I was surprised at the lack of seasoning. The crust on this pie was also in need of salt, but the innards were uncharacteristically one-note. The chicken, potato and other veggies were all a bit on the dry, starchy side of things, making me think the filling just needed a bit of salt and pepper—which are thankfully provided at each table. Again, I still liked the chicken pot pie, but it would have been a bit more successful if the filling was a bit more gravy-centric.

On the dessert side of the menu, the key lime pie was a total win. Outside of a crust that was a little crumby, the lime filling was great. I always think key lime pie is a good litmus test for a pie establishment, as I've had plenty of variations that try and sneak some lime extract in and hope we don't notice. This lime filling is the real deal, however—fresh and citrusy, with a nice silky texture. I wouldn't have minded the lime's tartness to have more of a bite, but it's a pie that does nicely with the key lime formula.

While the baby pies might be a little tricky to eat on the go, Crust Club also offers both sweet and savory pie pockets ($5.49) that can be easily devoured while on the road. June's seasonal offering is a strawberries & cream number that was an excellent sugar rush. The crust on the pie pockets remains structurally sound enough to hold all the fillings in place, but it also has the same buttery flavor that is characteristic of its baby pie cousins. While I was expecting a few bits of whole strawberries here and there, the filling is one hundred percent strawberry vanilla pastry cream. It's not a bad thing at all—I found that it takes the pocket pie into filled doughnut territory—but the fruit pie purist in me missed that special pop of freshness.

I am all for a fast-casual pie spot like Crust Club starting up around the state; I believe that most problems can be solved when the people have easy access to pie. I am looking forward to seeing how far the combo of Crumbl and Crust Club will end up going.