Thirty-two Dallas-Fort Worth chefs have contributed 33 one-of-a-kind pies, and bidding opens Monday, November 9. The 2026 Piehole Project auction features 33 pies total, ranging from a ribeye cap steak and ale pot pie to a foie gras Snickers pie, all donated for a Thanksgiving-season charity fundraiser.
The annual event, now in its sixth year, holds a November charity auction featuring creative pies donated by Dallas-Fort Worth chefs, according to CultureMap Dallas. A press release cited by the outlet says the pies are each one-of-a-kind creations unavailable for purchase anywhere else, and that every dollar raised supports the next generation of culinary professionals through events and programs designed to recognize talent and create opportunities.
Online bidding opens at 9 a.m. Monday, November 9, 2026. CultureMap's reporting states bidding closes at 8 p.m. Thursday, November 19, though a separate report from White Rock Lake Weekly gives the auction window as running through November 22 — the two accounts differ on when bidding actually ends. Whichever date applies, winners will need to collect their pies: pickup is set for Monday, November 23, from 1 to 5 p.m. at either Dallas College or Café Modern inside the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, per CultureMap's reporting, while delivery of winning pies is also listed as available that same day from 1 to 7 p.m.
A Lineup That Leans Into the Unexpected
This year's entries read like a tour through DFW's restaurant scene filtered through a dessert case. Jett Mora of Café Modern contributed a ribeye cap steak and ale pot pie, while Mike Matis of Fearing's Restaurant went savory with a Frito pie. Hao Tran of Duong Deville offered a crab rangoon pie, and Cara Vasquez of The Flour Shop Bakery kept things classic with a chicken pot pie.
Other chefs pushed further into novelty. Phillip Halff II of Culney made a smoked duck à l'orange pithivier, and Michael Thomson of Michael's Cuisine Restaurant & Bar entered a whiskey chocolate pecan pie. Tasha Monticure of Bodega South Main brought a pomegranate cardamom apple pie, and Jacob Williamson of The Devonshire Club and Alamo Club contributed two separate pies — a foie gras Snickers pie and a beef bourguignon pie. Sharon Van Meter of Nosa Restaurant & Inn entered a Dubai chocolate pie, and Nikky Phinyawatana of Asian Mint rounded out the list with a matcha pie.
Beyond the Bakeoff: Mentorship and Training
The Piehole Project says its mission extends well past the auction table. According to the organization's own site, pieholeproject.org, the group's work supports fellow chefs and helps develop the next generation of culinary leaders, and its recurring annual programming includes The Cheffies chef's-choice awards, the Rising Stagiaire mentoring program, and family-meal hangs for chefs. The nonprofit describes its Rising Stagiaire program as funding paid training placements, or stages, for emerging culinary talent, and it calls its chef gatherings casual, recurring social get-togethers exclusively for chefs.
White Rock Lake Weekly reports that the project funded and coordinated a stage opportunity for Rising Stagiaire Marley Dablo with a nationally recognized chef, and the outlet describes the organization's work as extending beyond the auction into personal mentorship and funding professional development through paid stage opportunities. A Piehole Project press release cited by CultureMap describes the event's evolution this way: what began as a grassroots, chef-driven pie auction has grown into year-round initiatives strengthening connections across the DFW culinary community.
Five Years of Pies, Growing Each Season
The project's own site states that over five years, the auctions have raised more than $60,000 and sold 243 pies. The event's scale has shifted from year to year — in 2020, 25 Dallas-Fort Worth chefs created pies for the auction, per Lake Highlands, which noted standout entries that year included Misti Norris's spaghetti and meatball pie and Doug Pickering's strawberry and burnt ends pie. By 2022, that number had grown to 40 North Texas chefs participating, according to D Magazine.
The fourth-year auction, reported by Dallas Innovates, featured 27 Dallas chefs working around a Superheroes theme. A 2023 auction had 23 Dallas chefs participating, with bidding running from October 19 to 9 p.m. on October 29, according to the Dallas Observer, which also described the auction's pies as genuinely one-of-a-kind, noting that literally only one is made for the highest bidder. The outlet's coverage of the event's fifth year in 2024 reported that 39 chefs participated — 24 from Dallas and 15 from Fort Worth — and said the auction featured Michelin-recognized chefs and restaurants for the first time.
Past auctions have produced some memorably over-the-top creations, including pies topped with full-sized fried chicken legs, a lobster tail, and brisket burnt ends. Some chef couples have even combined their two pies into a single decorated half-moon cookie. With 33 pies from 32 local chefs on the block this year, the 2026 edition keeps that tradition of culinary one-upmanship alive while funneling the proceeds back toward training the city's next wave of cooks.
