Local pizza restaurant Pieous, which opened three years ago, has expanded with a new coffee and pastry takeout venture at its Hwy. 290 location.

On Feb. 5, owners Josh and Paige Kaner opened Pie-é-tea, a takeout shop located next to the Pieous parking lot. The shop serves locally roasted coffee, tea, smoothies and various pastries, including croissants, morning buns, pain au chocolat and cinnamon pecan rolls, freshly made with sourdough each morning. Pie-é-tea also offers hot chocolate, fruit drinks and smoothies, Paige said.

Josh said he and Paige love to bake, but the breakfast pastries they enjoy making do not fit in with the lunch-and-dinner Pieous concept known for pizza and pastrami. Pie-é-tea is giving the Kaners a creative and retail outlet, he added.

“There’s a lot of competition in the coffee realm, and for us this is our competitive advantage,” Josh said. “We have, I would guess, some of the best pastries in all of Austin.”

Josh, a self-described perfectionist, said he spent years working on his sourdough pastries, which are easier for gluten-sensitive diners to digest.

The Pie-é-tea name is a play on the word piety, or the act of being pious, Paige said. Another influence is the Italian word pieta, which means mercy, she added.

Although service is primarily takeout, the adjacent outdoor patio has some bistro table seating, Josh said. The patio may also serve beer, wine and takeout Pieous orders in the evenings and on weekends, Josh said.

The existing desserts and pastries served inside Pieous will still remain, Josh said.

“[Pie-é-tea] is quality by Pieous,” Josh said. “It’s a new opportunity for us to showcase what we love to do, and that’s serve people.”