Bang Bang Pie + Movie Houses in Chicago

Back to my Chicago posts! One of the places we visited was a little place called Bang Bang Pie. I had several people recommend this spot, which has two locations in Chicago.

BANG BANG PIE

Bang Bang Pie’s Menu

I got a kick out of the exterior, which label pretty much everything. Remember we visited back in May, so it was perfect sitting-outdoors weather. 

Jake, T, and I shared a few items for breakfast at Bang Bang Pie. One was this Biscuit + Sawmill Gravy [$6.50]. The biscuits here were outstanding – flaky, crunchy exterior, buttery, and all around awesome. The sawmill gravy was a bit on the spicy side for me – a little too spicy, actually! The heat overwhelmed my senses enough that I gave up eating the gravy and moved onto other dishes. Too bad I couldn’t handle the spice though, the gravy was a wonderful consistency and very flavorful. 

Another biscuit sandwich, this one was the Sausage Biscuit [$6] with a ginger sage sausage patty, a piece of grilled cheddar cheese, with a side of homemade jam (which is hiding on the back on the plate for dipping). The house made ginger sage sausage patty was incredibly flavorful. I loved the ginger-sage combination which infused the sausage with a taste that paired so well with that griddled cheddar cheese. YUM. 

I also enjoyed this Ham Biscuit [$6.50] sandwich that came with slices of fresh maple glazed ham and dijon chive butter.  

It might have been breakfast time but there was no way I was leaving Bang Bang Pie without trying some PIE. Jake opted for the Key Lime Pie [$5]. It was quite tart – just the way he likes it – with a wonderful graham cracker crust. Perfect silky smoothness with a killer bite of tart and sweet flavors.  

The winner and highlight of this visit to me though was the Horchata Pie [$5]. I looked at their recent menu and it’s sadly no longer there… but hopefully if it’s back and you’re visiting you’ll try this pie and consider bringing me back a slice. I LOVED THIS PIE. Like, insanely loved it. It was made with a horchata pastry cream – think cinnamon and spice and everything nice – with a little touch of dulce de leche dripping over the top and pieces of crunchy puffy rice on top. The flavors on this pie were KILLER and worked so well together. Perfect balance of cinnamon and caramel, smooth and crunchy, with fresh whipped cream on top. I wish I had another slice right now! 

Bang Bang Pie
2051 N California Ave
Chicago, IL 60647

The rest of this post will involve the “kooky things I looked at in Chicago”. Feel free to skip it and come back for more food posts later. 

LEANING TOWER OF NAPLES

I read about this quirky little landmark and knew I had to visit it. I took a photo of it looking tall and normal, but this tower is a replica of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, located in Naples, IL. 

Plaque on the bottom level of the Leaning Tower. 

Jake, T, and I took some silly photos of us with the Leaning Tower. T took these photos but all of the ones of him I took on his camera! Oh well. 

JOLIET AND THE BLUES BROTHERS

We visited nearby Joliet, IL so I could look at a bunch of silly Blues Brothers stuff and to check out a Joliet Slammers baseball game. One place was this ice cream stand that had the Blues Brothers dancing on top of it. 

There’s Elwood and Jake! 

Since we were here and it was hot, I got a cherry dipped ice cream cone.

And the boys got milkshakes. Jake got a huckleberry shake and T got a caramel shake. 

At a gas station in Joliet, there was the Blues Brothers car up on a pole. I zoomed in on the sign so you could see the movie quote about the car from the movie. 

Another stop for us was the Old Joliet Prison. 

The Old Joliet Prison is fenced off, with barbed wire on top. There was a hole in the fence and we COULD have walked in… but I didn’t feel safe doing that. I was fine with just looking at the outside and noticing all of the broken windows at the old prison. 

The old prison has been used and featured in quite a few films besides the Blues Brothers, as you can see from this sign which was located just outside of the prison. 

It took us a while to find/see the “entrance” to the prison since it was overgrown with plants and blended into the background. This is the door that opens up when Jake gets released from prison. Elwood is across the street, waiting for his brother in the Bluesmobile. 

Here’s the scene from Blues Brothers:

While we were driving to the baseball stadium, I noticed this mural on the side of an auto body shop. I had Jake turn around and drive back to I could take some photos of it. 

Pretty cool mural! 

SIXTEEN CANDLES, HOME ALONE, AND FERRIS BUELLER HOUSES

Another thing we did in Chicago was visit a few movie houses! One of the first houses we went to was Samantha Baker’s house. 

This one pretty much looks like how it does in the movie!

We brought a few Funko Pops from Sixteen Candles with us for a little photo shoot. 

Me and Sam.

And of course… we reenacted Long Duck Dong’s scene right outside of the house. Once with the Funko Pop.

Annnnnd…. once with T. Hahaha. 

Next we drove over to the Home Alone house… but it was having construction done and had a big fence around it and lots of no trespassing signs. 

And a little drive later, we found Jake Ryan’s house. We had to go down a little driveway to get to his house though and I freaked out that we would be disturbing the neighbors, so no shots with the Jake Ryan Funko Pop for this one. Just a quite snap of the house and we zoomed away.

Cameron Frye’s house (or at least what’s visible of it, which is the garage that the car backs out of) was another stop on our list. It was only a few minutes away from Jake Ryan’s house, surrounded by a ton of trees. I had to get out and quickly take a few photos since there wasn’t really any place to stop. Jake stopped the car on a bridge behind the house, I jumped out and took a few photos, and jumped back into the car. 

Ferris Bueller’s house isn’t here – that house is actually in Long Beach, CA. We’ll have to make a visit up to Long Beach to visit that one soon!