Tucked away in the corner of a shopping center on Highway 49 in Richland is a place where your taste buds will get a pleasant surprise. If you’ve never had a fried hand pie, then the folks at Tom’s Fried Pies are waiting to introduce you to this Southern staple.
Tom’s Fried Pies has been serving up both savory and sweet pies, perfect for lunch, dinner, or a serious snack to Richland residents since 2011, but with the major improvements on Highway 49, travelers have also discovered the pies. They are the ideal road food – no fork or knife needed – and they transport and re-heat well.
Of course, every good Southern eatery has a backstory, and Tom’s Fried Pies has a good one. Curtis Ray Cook and his wife, Lillie, lived in Kentucky. The couple had twelve children. Curtis Ray worked in the coal mines to keep all those mouths fed, and each day, Lillie filled his lunch pail with the meat and fruit pies she got up early each morning to fry. Both delicious and filling, it wasn’t long before the pies came up missing from his pail. It seems his co-workers liked Lillie’s pies. The only way Curtis Ray was going to have his lunch was for Lillie to send enough pies for the other miners. He began taking orders, and Lillie fried pies to sell at the coal mine…