http://www.brycecanyonmotel.com/restaurant.php

We were driving along in empty country, heading toward Bryce Canyon National Park in southern Utah, when we spotted the best sign we could ever see: “Homemade Soup and Pie.” We entered Ethel Rich’s red-roofed hotel restaurant and came out an hour later thrilled with both – the soup and the pie, we mean.
     As we swayed gently to the country music being played and admired the tractor-seat counter stools and sparkling, polished-wood floors at the Bryce Canyon Pines, which has been here since the 1930s, we got a warm, wonderful feeling. Ethel bakes the pies, and they were featured a couple of years back in a book as being among the best pies in America. We’re not here to argue.
     Besides the soup, which Jennifer had pronounced delicious, the menu also includes steaks, mashed potatoes and gravy and other hearty Western fare. John enjoyed a chicken sandwich with potato chips, and then we sampled some fantastic lemon cream and strawberry-banana cream pie (see third photo). Yes, fantastic.
     The lemon cream had a basement layer of cream cheese, and its sister pie had the banana flavoring mixed into the cream layer above the strawberries. Man, they were good, but they combined with a bad night’s sleep the night before to make us head to our room in the park for a much-needed nap. 
     Southern Utah provides some opportunities for some unusual experiences. We watched the ninth inning of the deciding game of the 2010 World Series at a knife counter in a general store with some colorful locals, for example. The pie was just a bonus.