Old school pie creator Avis Scharlau is a local pastry treasure
At an age when most people have retired from working life and are slowing down, 88-year-old Avis Scharlau continues to churn out amazing pastries from the kitchen of the Big Y Cafe in Dryden. Although Avis has told owner Eric Decker that she’ll probably retire when she turns 90, she’s not making any guarantees.
True to her Midwest upbringing, Avis is an artist who puts her whole being into the pastries she makes. The love and energy she invests in making pastries has made her a local treasure among pie aficionados in the Wenatchee Valley. In her spare time, she churns out quilts to be donated in the community and elsewhere.
Scharlau recently celebrated her 88th birthday and daughter Vicky Scharlau posted the occasion on social media, to the thrill of community members who have eaten her pies and appreciate the care and love she puts into making them.
The people who work with her have a deep affection for her and at the same time are wise enough not to get in her way. She knows exactly what she wants.
Her approach to work and life was baked in at an early age. Growing up on a family farm in a rural Minnesota town without running water, indoor plumbing or electricity helped Avis Scharlau learn invaluable life lessons in working diligently, being thrifty and putting her best effort into everything she does.
For the past 18 years or so, she’s been making pies at the Big Y Cafe in Dryden for the customers there and more recently, at another restaurant owned by the Decker family, Huck at Pybus. Scharlau told me there were weeks last summer where she baked more than 100 pies, from raspberry, to coconut cream, chocolate, apple and marionberry — all from scratch, even the crusts.
Avis and her late husband Don moved to the valley from their farm in Wisconsin more than 20 years ago to be close to their daughter, Vicky and family. Soon after arriving in the valley, Avis was introduced to Jeri Kilgore of The Windmill Restaurant and started baking pies there. She later baked pies at the Cottage Inn and then took a job at the Big Y Cafe. Avis took a side job making lunches at Van Doren Sales.
Avis bakes all of her pies at that Dryden location and has perfected her technique to produce great flavor and consistency. I stopped by the restaurant recently to watch Avis in action. Avis kept up a lively banter with coworkers Cisco Suarez and Joaquin Trujillo while I was in the kitchen watching the process. There is obvious admiration and respect between the three of them — the kind of working arrangement that happens with people who are dedicated to doing great work and having a good time doing it.
When I arrived on scene, two cream pies were cooling in the refrigerator, a marionberry pie was being baked in the oven and Avis was preparing a raspberry pie while also kneading the dough for a batch of cinnamon rolls.
Avis doesn’t need or use timers, measuring cups or recipes. Everything is in her head and she’s able to produce pies with no wasted steps. When that day’s pies were completed, Avis was going to load up her car and deliver the fresh pastries to Huck at Pybus.
Growing up on the farm in Lanesboro, Mn as the oldest of five siblings, Avis had no choice but to become a hard worker. “You were taught that you don’t have time to sit down — you need to work,” she told me. Her apprenticeship at her mom’s side started at age 6.
After high school, she spent a few years at Winona State College and at that time was happy to be done with farm life. That respite was not to last, however. She met her future husband Don and they moved to a farm in Wisconsin where they raised Vicky and heryounger two brothers.
She loves the independence that the owners of the Big Y Cafe give her. She sets her own schedule and they know she gets the job done to a high standard.
Avis’s personality is to keep improving, trying new things and adapting. There were some leftover scraps from making pies, so she and Decker decided to get some small pie tins and use that extra filling to make tiny pies. Avis figures she has made nearly 600 of them that can be purchased at the restaurants.
Her pies are highly prized in the valley. Cashmere resident and PUD Commissioner Randy Smith talked her into donating a pie for a Rotary auction recently, it generated more than $3,000, according to Avis. She also makes pies for the annual Pybus fundraiser.
The love, elbow grease and passion she puts into her pies and cinnamon rolls are her gift to the community.
