5 to Try: Pies

4401 N Ravenswood Ave, Chicago, IL 60640 (map)

Feel good when you dive into a decadent slice of chocolate-peanut butter pie at this pint-sized eatery on the first floor of the Lill Street Art Center. An offshoot of not-for-profit, community-supported kitchen First Slice, its proceeds benefit the organization's meal program, which provides the less fortunate with lush, chef-prepped eats.

1618 1/2 Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60622 (map)

As American as its buttery, two-crust apple pie, this sweetie is the brainchild of Paula Haney, a vet of Trio and one sixtyblue, whose treats are turned out from a co-op kitchen and delivered to restaurants (and you, by bike messengers, via its website). Lemon chess pie revives an old Southern classic, but a flourless Venezuelan chocolate ganache-topped number may well take the cake.

1043 N California Ave, Chicago, IL 60622 (map)

Call ahead, clear your schedule and grab one of Naomi Levine's made-to-order, crumb-crusted Banoffi pies, which you?re all-but-guaranteed to tuck into solo. A sight to behold, it?s heaven in the form of caramel-y banana custard beneath a toffee-scribbled heap of whipped cream.

4729 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60625 (map)

Forget custom: Start your meal with a triangle of this spice-scented pumpkin pie from this quaint Lincoln Square cafe. Follow it up with a sliver of pucker-inducing, cinnamon streusel-crowned sour cherry or a slab of gooey pecan. Then finish?pant, pant--with serving of mile-high apple-cranberry pie that puts grandma's classic concoction to shame.

615 N State St, Chicago, IL 60610 (map)

Grab a whole pie--or just a slice--in the unlikeliest of places: the back of a furniture store. Sure, you'll find standards like toasted coconut cream and maple pecan, but it?s seasonal selections like the aromatic, creamy sweet potato pie atop a crisp pecan-ginger snap crust you won?t soon forget.