Best pie in Auburn … and the USA: Ikeda's tops voting in USA Today contest

It's official: Ikeda's of Auburn is the No. 1 pie shop in the United States. The family received an email at 9 a.m. Wednesday announcing they were voted Best Pie Shop in the USA Today 10 Best contest. Ikeda's was the runner-up in 2025. "When that happened, the whole family was just elated," Brendyn Ikeda told the Auburn Journal on Friday morning among a bustling crowd of shoppers at the store on Lincoln, just east of the Foresthill Road exit along Interstate 80. "It's 50 some-odd years of my grandparents' hard work, my father's hard work and now my brother as well as my cousins' hard work; all combined in this one moment, we can thank all the customers who brought us together and were able to get this amazing achievement. When my grandma saw it, we were all together, and she was in tears. We are so proud." Ikeda's was notified in late May it was in the top 10 for a Reader's Choice Award. Voting ended June 8. Sam and Sally Ikeda started the business roughly 50 years ago, growing peaches, apples and plums on a fruit farm. Today, Ikeda's bakes on average 300 pies per day and from 350-500 per day on weekends, according to Brendyn Ikeda. He said Thanksgiving is the busiest time of year for pies. "To see our bakers, all of their hard work – a lot of those bakers started with my grandma when she was a baker here," he said. "They started when they were 18 years old and they've been baking ever since. The thanks go to them. They're our workhorse. They keep everything nice and tidy. They know when to use the perfect fruit."