Thanksgiving is a busy holiday for both professional and amateur bakers; but for the pie makers at Turlock’s Latif’s Restaurant, it’s the pinnacle of their whole year.

Latif’s Restaurant, located at 111 N. Golden State Blvd., is a staple for pie lovers in the Turlock community and during their busiest time of the year, Thanksgiving, the restaurant becomes a virtual pie factory.

Founded in 1947 by Charles Latif, the Stevens family has owned and operated the restaurant since 1960 and pies have been a real selling point since. Latif’s makes 20 pies a day for in-house use and customers can order a slice with ice cream, or a la mode, if they desire. The restaurant also accepts pie orders and around late October to early November the number of orders vastly increases.

“Usually, I have to regrettable cut the pie orders off around the Sunday prior to Thanksgiving because we have to organize the baking of pie crusts and fillings,” said owner Robert Stevens.

Latif’s will prepare over 1,000 pies in the days preceding Thanksgiving and nearly the entire dining room will be covered in pies alphabetized by order. Latif’s employs one pie maker during the week and another on the weekend, but during the holiday rush all hands are on deck as Robert and his father pitch in as well.

“We’ll be baking round the clock from around Tuesday to noon on Thanksgiving,” said Stevens.

Latif’s other busy times of the year include Christmas, which is slightly less busy than Thanksgiving, and in July for the Stanislaus County Fair when Latif’s churns out 100 pies a day for 10 days.

 Latif’s offers several fruit pies including apple, peach, apricot, rhubarb and their signature  boysenberry, along with pumpkin pie around the holidays. The restaurant also makes pecan pie, three cream pies — chocolate, lemon and coconut — all of which have a fired meringue topping, as well as custard pie on the weekends.

Latif’s is open 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday. Those interested in placing a pie order for Thanksgiving should do so as soon as possible by calling 634-5351.