Nicole Rucker, who dominated the 2012 KCRW “Good Food” Pie Contest and won the “Perfect Pie” award at the 2013 APC Crisco National Pie Championships, now serves Rucker’s Pies every Sunday at Smorgasburg LA, the multi-stall Arts District food market. On a regular basis, you’ll find two of her pies at Bludso’s Bar & Que in Hollywood. Her chess pie is a terrific take on a Southern classic that features dark chocolate custard crafted with Compartes 73% cocoa and a delectable crust. Treat yourself to a warm slice and a scoop of sweet potato burnt sugar ice cream from Scoops wizard Tai Kim. You’ll also find Mexican lime pie, if you prefer a tangier flavor profile.

Eastside hospitality magnate Dana Hollister revamped this Echo Park diner, which dates to 1949. An aqua walled patio now features plant life, orange chairs, and a cartoon character that encourages guests to "Keep Smiling.” Inside, you’ll find shiny red booths, a wood counter, Mid-Century Modern molecular model chandeliers and a jam-packed display case. Pastry chef Darby Aldaco, who's no longer with Brite Spot, developed recipes for whiskey buttermilk, bourbon pecan and chocolate peanut butter cream pies, and chefs Veronica Henning and Yvonne Engelking now bake all pies. If you can only order one slice, make it the Salted Honey. A sturdy crust holds up to a browned custard core that bleeds honey on to the plate. The topper is a dusting of savory sea salt that makes the pie pop.

Even though pastry chef Elizabeth Belkind and business partner Lisa J. Olin have a neon sign in their Mid-City bakery that reads, “enjoy life eat cake,” rest assured that Cake Monkey Bakery puts plenty of effort into alternatives like pie. Belkind bakes delectable blueberry frangipane pies, which contained concentrated Michigan blueberry jam, a layer of tangy, gritty lemon frangipane, and piecrust studded with Demerara sugar granules, which caramelize during baking. Depending on the time of year, you might also find cherry almond pie, brown butter pecan pie, butterscotch pudding pie, “creamy dreamy” chocolate pie, or cider-roasted apple pie in an indulgent double cheddar crust.

The working class community at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains is the setting for David Davis’ small but soulful bakery, which is best known for honey muffins, but also yields some excellent pies. Sweet potato pies feature buttery crusts and silky orange fillings. Davis and his family also bakes pumpkin pies and darker, earthier bean pies. Bonus: they also produce plastic-wrapped mini pies, which are great for a quick hit.

Manhattan Beach is a long way from the Florida Keys, but chef David LeFevre has managed to create a memorable Key lime pie at his small seafood-centric restaurant that’s only two blocks from the pier and Pacific Ocean. Creamy, sweet tart filling tops a Graham cracker crust. Flames of torched Kaffir meringue shoot out of the top. The tantalizing pie is plated on decorate lime slices and finished with tangy lime zest.

At this California-influenced Southern restaurant in West Hollywood’s Palihotel, chef Kris Tominaga and his team serves towering slabs of lemon icebox pie, a Southern classic that requires crafting a tangy, airy filling and solidifying it in the fridge overnight. A thick layer of torched meringue caps crisp-crusted siding and base. Be on the lookout for peach hand pies in summer, just like in Georgia.

Pastry chef Karla Subero provides a sweet finish at the progressive Koreatown restaurant from chef Jonathan Whitener and front of house partner Lien Ta. She received an extra case of peaches in the summer and decided to turn it into pie. Demand grew, people would ask for it, and Here’s Looking At You started offering slices at the bar. She dialed up butter and dialed down flour in classic 3:2:1 flour:fat:water ratio, leading to flaky crust that supports plentiful fillings. Now Subero’s blue ribbon for Best Crust from the 2016 KCRW “Good Food” Pie Contest hangs above the bar, and “We’ve Got Pie” appears on the window. The filling changes seasonally. In summer, Subero featured stone fruit. Winter slices have included blueberry, apple, coconut cream, and banana cream. For New Year’s Eve, they even busted out tart gooseberry pie. Each slice is available with either creme fraiche whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

On an Eagle Rock side street, you’ll find the humble home to three-time 2015 KCRW “Good Food” pie contest winner Tracy Ann DeVore, who now displays three medals, for blackberry cabernet, maple pecan, and her crust. She started with a tent outside Tommy’s and now presides over a counter and fridge beneath exposed wood rafters. Pies start at $6 and go up as sizes increase. Flaky, buttery crusts host a range of fillings, some seasonal, others simply crafted for comfort. We’d high recommend salted caramel mango with a streusel top and judicious sweetness, firecracker apple rhubarb with a lid studded with sugar crystals, and sweet-tart Washington cherry with a centrally located heart crust.

It’s always pie o’clock at Pie ‘N Burger, which has lived down the street from Caltech since 1963. So says the neon clock on the wall near the entrance. Current owner Michael Osborn started working there in 1972, and the same pie maker has been filling shelves with fruit and cream pies since 1971. They bake more than a dozen types of pie every day. In July and August, that means peach pie with big chunks of fruit and little more. Coconut cream pie is available daily, complete with shreds of toasted coconut, a fluffy meringue cap and thin crust. You may find apple, cherry, or minced meat as well.

Chef Matthew Hefner and business partner Sean Brennan launched the first Pie Hole in the Downtown L.A. Arts District and now has outposts in Glendale, Hollywood and Pasadena’s Indiana Colony food court. The duo sells sweet and savory pies from a tempting display case, with varieties listed on butcher paper. Their deep roster includes sweet-tart blubarb (blueberries + rhubarb) and silky maple custard. Their hand pie game is also strong thanks to flaky crusts and fun fillings like Philly cheesesteak of guava cream cheese.

Mozza has become a juggernaut at the corner of Melrose and Highland, with three compelling restaurants that sit side by side, plus a grab-and-go outlet. Dessert has always been a key strength, thanks to pastry chef Dahlia Narvaez and her mentor, Mozza co-owner Nancy Silverton. For summer at Pizzeria Mozza, the most casual restaurant of the bunch, Narvaez created a towering strawberry gelato pie. Each oversized slab sports a Graham cracker crust, cascading whipped cream, strawberries, sheets of toasted spiced almonds, primarily for texture’s sake, and a complementary drizzle of tangy saba.

Jon Stocking has built a NoHo Arts District destination hangout, thanks to a unique vibe and a variety of sweet and savory pies. The café features exposed wood rafters, reclaimed wood walls, and a Stumptown Coffee program that includes cold brew on tap. Pie fillings include cherry, peach, and pumpkin, depending on the season. Some pies are available year-round, including a memorable Chocolate Espresso Almond Cream, which features a marzipan base, a gritty blend of espresso and chocolate, espresso pastry cream, espresso whipped cream and whipped cream. The base is a fairly basic crust of flour, butter, eggs, and water. The Republic plates this pie with a decorative squiggle of chocolate sauce.

Pastry chef Josh Graves graduated from Ray’s & Stark Bar and Faith & Flower and has settled in nicely to a restaurant without an ampersand. At Rose Café, the high-volume restaurant from Chef Jason Neroni in Venice, Graves currently has two pies on the dessert menu. Tart lemon meringue touts dramatic meringue spires, but it’s chocolate banana cream that we crave. A flaky, butter-based crust hosts firm dark chocolate ganache, vanilla pastry cream, and fresh-cut banana slices. More whipped cream, dark chocolate shavings, and cocoa nibs complete the sweet picture.

Chef Chris Phelps and chef/partner Zak Walters gracefully transitioned from their original West Hollywood home to a larger space in Hollywood. Now they’re surrounded by production and post-production offices and preside over a full bar. Thankfully, one of their classic desserts survived the transition: grapefruit pie. They originally conceptualized the pie as a California play on a steakhouse classic: key lime pie. Firm, orange-hued custard is sweet and pleasantly tart, constructed with a soft Graham cracker crust, whipped cream, and candied grapefruit peel.

Mickey Petralia’s outdoor café near Griffith Park trailheads offers visitors painted picnic tables, trees strung with colorful lights, a circle of hay bale seating, and musical accompaniment in the form of chirping birds. The hefty slab of apple pie has a butter-based crust and slices of sweet tart fruits sprinked with cinnamon. The Trails also typically makes a vegan pie, either strawberry rhubarb or mixed berry.

Valerie Gordon and Stan Weightman built on the success of their grab-and-go chocolate and confection house near Silver Lake by opening this breakfast, lunch and bakery counter inside downtown’s Grand Central Market. Gordon crafts dough with a cream cheese base for savory hand pies, which might include bacon & potato. Sweet pie dough is flaky, buttery, and lightly sweetened, and cradles highly seasonal ingredients. During our visit, they sold sweet tart peach blackberry mini pies, plus fruited hand pies.