This Phenix City fried pie shop brings back memories through tried-and-true recipes
Whether you prefer blueberry, pecan or chocolate pie, Angie Volmer can cook something for you.
Volmer runs Nellie’s Southern Fried Pies, named after her grandmother, Nellie Gobbell of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. Her shop has a storefront and wholesale business, plus makes appearances at farmer’s markets from Auburn to Peachtree City.
She got her start at Market Days on Broadway years ago, and now she’s cooking her own take on the Southern food staple.
“Nellie was my dad’s mom, so if it wasn’t for her teaching me how to (cook the pies), I wouldn’t know how to do it,” Volmer told the Ledger-Enquirer. “That’s why I named it after her. And, Nellie just sounds like a good ol’ Southern woman name, and fried pies, to me, is a Southern delicacy.”
Volmer got her start as a vendor for Market Days on Broadway. Before long, she started appearing on WTVM’s “Business Break” segment.
Business grew fast, but then COVID hit.
“We pretty much closed for almost a year,” Volmer said. “And a lot of people still think I’m closed. So what I had to do is, I had to get creative.”
Volmer started setting up outside her storefront at 3738 Opelika Road. That helped customers know she was open.
Her hours changed, too. Instead of operating from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., her hours in the pre-pandemic days, her hours are now 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. And due to health department rules, she must take care of her wholesale items first before operating the retail side of things.
“My whole business model changed,” Volmer said. “It took a minute to realize what I could do. But that’s just how I was raised: You do whatever it takes.”
Bringing back memories
Volmer’s fried pies are different than the dishes typically served at county fairs or farmer’s markets because they’re not deep-fried.
Deep-frying the pies, she said, causes the crust to rise. So, Volmer pan fries her pies, just like her grandmother did “back in the day.”
“Most fried pies that you see in markets are deep-fried,” Volmer said. “A lot of people will say, ‘Your pies are smaller.’ Well, they are because they don’t puff up like a deep-fried pie. But I do exactly like my grandmother taught me. The only difference is, she used lard, and we cook ours in Crisco shortening.”
The dough is flaky but not greasy. She offers a variety of flavors, each in standard and smaller sizes. Her most popular are the pecan, apple and peach pies. Her favorite is the chocolate pie, served chilled.
Her pies can be found all over. Volmer makes regular trips to Auburn and participates every Thursday in The Market at Ag Heritage Park, on Auburn University’s campus. She participated in markets in Opelika, Peachtree City, LaGrange, Hogansville and more.
Her fried pies can be found in Phenix City at Piggly Wiggly grocery stores and Marathon gas stations. They also are served at Rosehill Seafood in Columbus.
Gobbell lived to see the business become a reality, Volmer told the Opelika-Auburn News. She died at age 94.
The No. 1 thing Volmer hears about her pies is how they remind customers of the ones they grew up eating. She recalls times when a customer would buy a pie at Market Days or at the Auburn farmer’s market, then would return the following week with tears in their eyes.
“I’d ask, ‘What’s wrong?’” Volmer said.
Among the responses she’s received: “I haven’t tasted that pie since my grandmother passed away.”
“That’s the most humbling thing for me,” she said. “ ... To me, it’s a memory thing. Every day, I get to do a memory thing.”
