Dangerously Delicious Pies to close in Hampden

Hampden’s Avenue is losing its honky-tonk pie shop.

Dangerously Delicious Pies is closing its store at 810 W. 36th St. this month as the company pivots to online ordering and farmers markets, said owner Rodney Henry.

“I’m basically doing this so I can free myself up to do other stuff besides pies,” Henry said, adding that he’s grown weary of dealing with customers who come in to the store. “Having the shop is just a drag. I want to go to the people, I don’t want to wait for them to come to me.”

The recent death of his father, he said, also made him reevaluate his life decisions.

He plans to expand Dangerously Delicious’ online ordering and delivery business, or “pie valet,” which he started during the pandemic and with which he has seen much success. “Somebody in Pasadena doesn’t want to come to Hampden to buy a pie,” he said. “They’d rather have UPS deliver it.”

Henry will be making all the pies in a commercial kitchen in Baltimore County. Customers can expect to see the pastries available at Butcher and Bay in Kingsville as well as farmers markets. “The markets are killer and the markets are quick. We’re there for four or five hours and we’re out,” he said.

Henry started the pie business using recipes from his grandmother, whose picture is featured on the bar in Hampden. Pastry was a means to an end, supporting his career as a singer and songwriter. But Henry ended up cultivating a new image as a rock star baker, appearing on various TV shows, including “Food Network Star.”

He opened his first pie shop in Patterson Park in April 2003, closing it a few years later to open in Federal Hill before relocating to Canton. That location is still a pie shop but is no longer Dangerously Delicious; the owners later renamed it B-More Pies and Sweets. Henry said he has cut ties with the owners of that location.

Hampden arrived in 2013, Henry said, and eventually became the sole retail branch for Dangerously Delicious. He doesn’t own the building, though, and said that “it’s been a pain in my ass since the day I walked into this place.” The business has been like an “anvil” on him, he said. “We do way better outside the shop. The kitchen here’s terrible, the building’s falling apart.”

Henry, who runs the business with his son, Waylon, recently began sourcing most of his ingredients from a farm he owns in Sparks. “Everything’s kicking and popping at this moment,” he said. The current menu includes two varieties of blueberry pie as well as the shop’s trademarked Baltimore Bomb, made with Berger Cookies.

The shop is also a destination for live music, which it hosts throughout the year on a stage behind the building. The Dangerously Delicious liquor license doesn’t allow live music, but Henry said neighbors have only complained once. The reason? “The band was terrible.”