By Rieva Lesonsky

Almost to the day two years ago the first Trendcast newsletter was distributed. And it was about pie. Then the buzz was around pie as a potential cupcake killer to ascend to the top of the dessert throne. While pie did not dethrone the cupcake, it did successfully infiltrate the sweet treat market, particularly in the form of pie-pops (pies on a stick). But now, pies, or more accurately pie crusts are turning up on all sorts of non-dessert items. And according to New York magazine “the notion of pie for lunch, dinner, or even breakfast is catching on.”

As the magazine points out meat-pies are not new–they’ve been popular in northern and central Europe for hundreds of years. But today’s savory pies come in all shapes and sizes. New York featured a breakfast bacon-egg-and-cheese pie shaped like a Pop-Tart, small “hand pies” that look like empanadas and one that resembles a muffin on steroids.

As evidence of pies’ new popularity Australian bakery and café franchise Pie Face opened its first American store in New York City last year. The chain now has two Pie Face locations in Manhattan, and plans to open about a dozen more in 2013.