"He also has all my recipes." Cindy Sischo said that to the Petoskey News-Review in April 2023 about the baker she had just sold House of Pies to. That sentence explains why 4577 Oden Road is still turning out pies three and a half years later, in a week when most of Oden's seasonal places have closed.
The Oden State Fish Hatchery Visitor Center shut its doors on October 25. Camp Petosega's campground lost its water in mid-October. The building that started as a back-room pie sale still has a full weekly schedule posted, and it bakes for two towns.
Rhubarb Pies Out of an Antique Store
The Petoskey News-Review traced the shop back about 30 years, to an antique store that sold rhubarb pies out of its back room. Delores Dombrowski and her daughter, Cindy Sischo, built that sideline into a bakery people around Pickerel Lake knew by name. Sischo ran House of Pies for six years after taking it over from her mother, and in 2023 she sold the business to Oreste Cardillo.
Cardillo and his husband, Deon Benito, heard about the sale through a friend in Petoskey. They were running a small pie and empanada shop in Chicago at the time. The paper reported that the shop, Empanada Mama and the Pie Man, opened in August 2020 at 2933 N. Broadway in East Lakeview, in just 450 square feet. "We were voted one of the top 10 pie shops in Chicago within the first year," Cardillo told the News-Review.
A May 2026 profile in Northern Express describes Deon Benito-Cardillo as a Cape Town native who spent years in corporate human resources, including a decade in England. Oreste Cardillo was born in Brooklyn and trained as a metalsmith in fine jewelry. In that profile, Oreste said design and pie-making both "ask for technical skill, consistency, visual balance, and an understanding of how small choices affect the finished product."
The House of Pies name stayed for a while. The bakery is now the Sweet & Savory Pie Company, and it hasn't moved from Oden Road.
One Kitchen Feeding Two Counters
Northern Express reports that the Oden Road site in Alanson doubles as the bakery's production kitchen and that a second shop opened in Petoskey in 2025. That second counter is in the D&W Plaza at 1147 US-31 N. The pies in the Petoskey case start out a short drive up US-31, in the building near Pickerel Lake.
The kitchen runs at a pace that surprises people who only stop in for one slice. Summer "often requires the production of hundreds of pies daily," according to the same profile, which also notes the bakery can't ship. Every pie leaves through one of the two front doors.
On October 1, 2026, the shop added online ordering. Its announcement lists coconut cream, cherry crumb, apple caramel, chocolate silk and a spinach and feta quiche among the whole pies you can now order ahead and pick up. The same post says, "Petoskey is staying open through the end of 2026." Either way, the Oden Road kitchen is still the starting point for every pie.
What Stays Open on the Oden Stretch After October 25
Late October is when the public side of Oden shrinks. The table below lists what the operators of the places near Pickerel Lake have posted for the off-season.
| Place | Off-season status |
|---|---|
| Oden State Fish Hatchery Visitor Center, 3377 U.S. 31 | Closed October 25 through April 30; outreach available by email |
| Hatchery trails and viewing ponds | Open year-round |
| Camp Petosega campground | Water typically shut off mid-October; campground closes for winter |
| Camp Petosega day use | Free, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.; playground, beach and trails open all year |
| Camp Petosega Cabins D and F | Available year-round, with electricity and no plumbing |
| Sweet & Savory Pie Company, 4577 Oden Road | Posted hours Mon–Fri 9 a.m.–6 p.m., Sat 9 a.m.–4 p.m., Sun 10 a.m.–2 p.m. |
Most of what's still open after October 25 is outdoors. You can walk the hatchery grounds and Camp Petosega's 300 acres on Pickerel Lake, but nothing indoors is staffed. On this stretch of road, the pie counter is the one place still keeping indoor hours all week. The hours above are what the company's website showed in October 2026. Call ahead before a trip made just for pie, especially once snow arrives.
The DNR's visitor center page points out that the visitor center sits on the original hatchery site, which began operating in 1921. A new hatchery building went up a quarter mile northeast in 2002. The posted closure covers the visitor center only. The DNR notes that hatchery building hours may differ and that the hatchery buildings are open to the public only on guided tours.
The Thanksgiving Calendar on Oden Road
November is when the counter's posted schedule matters most to people who live nearby. The company has put its Thanksgiving 2026 pie menu online with firm dates.
- Now through Saturday, November 21 at 4 p.m.: presale is open for eight holiday pies.
- Monday, November 23 through Wednesday, November 25: pickup at either counter.
- Thursday, November 26, Thanksgiving Day: both shops open 9 a.m. to noon for final pickups.
The holiday menu includes a Spiced Pumpkin Pie and a Michigan Blend Pie made with cherries, apples and blueberries, both listed at $39.95. A Classic Pecan Pie is also $39.95, and a New York Cheesecake is $58.50. The shop notes that its online store always shows the current price. For every pie sold, $3 goes to Habitat for Humanity.
Ordering online changes how the week works. The Northern Express profile describes a bakery that used to take holiday orders several days to a week ahead. This year, the deadline is printed, ordering happens online, and pickup runs across four days instead of crowding into one morning.
Savory Pies for the Weeks After the Holiday
The holiday menu leans sweet. Once Thanksgiving is over, the savory pies are the reason to keep the Oden Road shop on your weekly route through winter.
Northern Express calls the South African Curried Beef Pie a favorite. It's based on bobotie, a dish from Deon Benito-Cardillo's home country. The Steak and Guinness pie slow-cooks beef in a dark Guinness gravy with onions and root vegetables. The rest of the savory lineup includes Classic Chicken, BBQ Pork Mac & Cheese, Vegetable Curry, Butter Chicken Curry and a three-cheese Lobster Mac & Cheese.
It all starts with the crust. "We use a special butter that's richer in milkfat and has a creamier consistency," Benito-Cardillo told Northern Express. He added that the crust has to be "flaky, tender, and sturdy enough to support the filling without becoming heavy." The paper says the fruit pies get at least three pounds of fresh organic filling each, and some flavors are sold by the slice.
A Late-Fall Loop That Finishes at the Counter
Oden's closed season still leaves plenty of open ground, and several of the best stretches are within a few minutes of the pie shop.
Oden hatchery grounds. The DNR lists about two miles of nature trails, three spring-fed ponds and a stream viewing chamber here. The trails and ponds stay open after the visitor center closes. The hatchery raises brown and rainbow trout.
North Western State Trail. The Top of Michigan Trails Council describes the route passing the Fisheries Visitor Center and the hatchery and then running through Oden. The Petoskey to Alanson section runs 7.5 miles. About 7 of those miles, from M-119 to Powers Road, were paved with asphalt in 2013.
Ray Johnston Nature Preserve. This Little Traverse Conservancy preserve covers 94 acres, with 82 feet of frontage on Pickerel Lake. It has hardwood uplands, forested wetlands, a post-glacial bluff and more than a mile of trails.
Oden Island Nature Preserve. On the Crooked Lake side, the conservancy's 50-acre Oden Island preserve has old-growth trees, fragile wetlands and roughly a mile of trails. It's open sunrise to sunset, and directions start from Pickerel Lake Road.
If you bike or walk along US-31, this stretch is also under study. Networks Northwest is running a safety and connectivity study from June through December 2026 on about two miles of US-31 between the Oden hatchery and Ponshewaing. It held a drop-in session on September 22, and the materials from that session are on the project page.
On a weekday, the counter at 4577 Oden Road stays open until 6 p.m., so there's still time to pick up a pie after a cold afternoon on the Ray Johnston trails or the hatchery loop.
Around Pickerel Lake, the places you count on all winter are part of what makes a property here worth owning, and they matter when it's time to price one. If you're wondering what your Pickerel Lake or Oden-area home is worth this winter, Coldwell Banker Fairbairn Realty knows this stretch of road well. Get a free home valuation, and we'll tell you how the market sees your place.
