The Key Lime Pie Reviews: The Perfect 5* Pie

Oh boy, I sure got through a lot of Key lime pie in my four weeks in Key West! But it had to be done. After all, I was on a sacred quest for the perfect specimen. And I tracked it down (oh yes!) in a popular beach-side restaurant called Saluté.

And here it is:

Just take a moment to marvel at those perfect proportions…

And again, from another angle, coz it’s so pretty…

Now, to some of you who’ve drooled through all my Key lime pie reviews with a careful eye, this specimen may look suspiciously familiar. And you’d be right, we’ve had this one before.

Saluté sources its pies from Blue Heaven, where my friend (see pic below) bought me one of those heavenly creations in its entirety. If you remember, it was sold to us on the cheap for having some minor imperfections. One of its flaws was an uneven crust that was just slightly too thick in places.

As you can see, the slice above was not afflicted by this shortcoming. Or any shortcomings, for that matter. It was absolutely perfect, in appearance as well as in taste and texture.

The purists may feel compelled to sneer that a “proper” Key lime pie ought to have a piped cream topping and not a meringue edifice, but I personally prefer the latter 🙂

My rating: 5 out of 5 🙂

What a winner 🙂

Our view from the table…

A big thanks to all of you for cheering me on my torturous mission. I might even do it again someday 😉

Missed the other reviews? Here they are:

• Six Toed Cat
• Blue Heaven
• Southernmost Beach Café
• The Key West Key Lime Shoppe
• Key West Cakes
• Key Lime Pie Factory
• Better Than Sex

And if you want to know how my cake obsession started, click here. [Warning – contains hideous photographs of 70’s and 80’s fashion].

The Key Lime Pie Reviews: Better Than Sex!

Now there’s an offer one can’t possibly refuse…! But did this Key West restaurant live up to the hype? Let’s find out.

As evident from above pic, Better Than Sex is strictly an evening affair, rather than a place where you might meet with a pal for an afternoon cuppa with a side of cakey indulgence.

The interior of the place does come up to scratch. It’s all dark and sensual inside; think velvet tones, glinting chandeliers and candles whose lazy flicker barely penetrates the obscurity. (The wait staff must have been selected for their superior night vision.) In short, the whole ambiance puts you in the mood for… dessert.

For any restaurant situated in Key West, a Key lime pie inspired dessert is a mandatory part of the repertoire. Here it is on the menu:

The place is too dingy for customers to read a standard menu card, so the menu is provided on a tablet

…and here’s the description

This is how it looked on my plate

The verdict?

Well… believe it or not, this was one of the scarce occasions when I didn’t manage to finish off a dessert! I mean, this sexed-up incarnation of a Key lime pie was pure fluffed-up cream. In fact, the texture was quite similar to clotted cream – a reference, I realise, that will probably only mean something to UK readers.

Flavour and level of tartness hit the spot, but after four mouthfuls I. Could. Not. Go. On.

As for the crust, I’m afraid to say, it was like cardboard – a total let down 😦

My score: 2.5 out of 5. (That half point there is for originality.)

Here are a few more pics of our Better Than Sex evening:

Drinks are served with sugar or caramel sliding down the rim of the glass

Chocolate lava cake, ready to erupt… (It was the eve of Vicky’s birthday, if you’re wondering about the tag.)

What you see there in the centre is the cheesecake dip for those delectable chocolate balls. Though they were slightly too sweet, I totally fell for the almond-cinnamon flavour combo and airy-but-firm texture.

There’s one more post coming up in this series, in which I shall reveal the *perfect 5* Key lime pie 🙂

Missed the other reviews? Here they are:

• Six Toed Cat
• Blue Heaven
• Southernmost Beach Café
• The Key West Key Lime Shoppe
• Key West Cakes
• Key Lime Pie Factory

And if you want to know how my cake obsession started, click here. [Warning – contains hideous photographs of 70’s and 80’s fashion].

The Key Lime Pie Reviews: Key Lime Pie Factory

The Key Lime Pie Factory is the very place, according to the plaque next to the entrance, where the iconic dessert was first conceived in 1856. By American standards, this is positively prehistoric. If questioned, the proprietors would probably insist that it had been made with dinosaur milk by pilgrims donning starched aprons and white bonnets, outcast from the Olde Worlde for their…erm… pieous beliefs.

The verdict?

As you can see, this is one fine-looking Key lime pie. Akin to a catwalk model of the 90’s everything’s in perfect proportion – crust, filling, cream topping. Consistency and texture are just how they ought to be. Couldn’t fault it, try as I might. Hmmm…. if pushed at gun point, I’d whisper through clenched teeth that, perhaps, it was a teensy weensy itsy bitsy too tart for me…

My rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Missed the other reviews? Here they are:

• Six Toed Cat
• Blue Heaven
• Southernmost Beach Café
• The Key West Key Lime Shoppe
• Key West Cakes

And if you want to know how my cake obsession started, click here. [Warning – contains hideous photographs of 70’s and 80’s fashion].

The Key Lime Pie Reviews: Key West Cakes

This charming little cake shop on White Street is all about cupcakes and shabby chic.

And of course they do Key lime pie:

The verdict: A perfectly respectable specimen. Crumb thin and without a trace of sogginess, the filling was light with a satisfying mouth feel, albeit just a tad too tart for me to reach cakegasm. Loved the fluorescent faux lime slice perched on top, gobbled that up with gusto 🙂

My rating: 4 out of 5.

Vicky had this little guava cream tart. Very pretty, but waaaaay to sickly sweet.

Missed the other reviews? Here they are:

• Six Toed Cat
• Blue Heaven
• Southernmost Beach Café
• The Key West Key Lime Shoppe
• Key Lime Pie Factory

And if you want to know how my cake obsession started, click here. [Warning – contains hideous photographs of 70’s and 80’s fashion].

The Key Lime Pie Reviews: Key West Key Lime Shoppe

We weren’t at all hopeful, my pal Vicky and I. Lots of hype, piles of merchandise, and, most likely, an underwhelming Key lime pie experience, that’s what we expected. But I couldn’t very well not review the ostentatiously named Key West Key Lime Shoppe, could I?

Key lime dog treats? Not even Her Supreme Greediness, Princess Pugsy, seems convinced

These look all a bit sterile and generic…

People seemed to be enjoying them, so we ordered ours.

The verdict?

Much to our astonishment, this run-of-the-mill-looking slice turned out to be a winner. The thin crust delivered on crunchy crumbliness. The filling was light, almost like a mousse, but, at the same time, it had that substantial mouth feel you’d expect from a pie. Flavour and the level of tanginess were just right. The only possible improvement one might suggest (and this is a personal preference) would be a meringue topping instead of the cream.

My rating: 4.9 out of 5.

Missed the other reviews? Here they are:

• Six Toed Cat
• Blue Heaven
• Southernmost Beach Café
• Key West Cakes
• Key Lime Pie Factory

And if you want to know how my cake obsession started, click here. [Warning – contains hideous photographs of 70’s and 80’s fashion].

The Key Lime Pie Reviews: Southernmost Beach Café

The Southernmost Beach Café is what it says on the tin: The southernmost eatery in the US. I’d been there once before and was served a delectable lunch. So, I thought, they must concoct their own special breed of Key lime pie, right?

And yes, indeed they do!

Looks stunningly delicious, doesn’t it?

The verdict?

Well, let me hand it to you straight: It was all wrong. All of it. An Oreo cookie crust?! Nice with a plain cheese cake, I’m sure, but positively offensive with a zesty Key lime filling. The cream topping – sickly sweet. The strawberry goop on top? It completes the flavour amalgamation from hell.

My rating: This unholy melange wasn’t the absolute worst dessert I’ve ever had in my life, so I will give it 0.5 out of 5. I’m being gracious here out of appreciation of  the fabulously friendly wait staff and all the other glorious food they serve up.

If you have the chance, do go there, the setting is beautiful. Just don’t order their flippin’ aberration of a Key lime pie!

Artist weaving palm fronds on Southernmost Beach, Key West

Missed the other reviews? Here they are:

• Six Toed Cat
• Blue Heaven
• The Key West Key Lime Shoppe
• Key West Cakes
• Key Lime Pie Factory

And if you’re curious about the early days of my cake obsession, click here [Warning: contains hideous pictures of 70’s/80’s hairdos and fashion].

The Key Lime Pie Reviews: Blue Heaven

On Monday, we went to the place where, according to my friend, they sold the best Key lime pie on the island: Blue Heaven, an open-air restaurant in Key West’s historic Bahama Village.

And here’s a prize specimen, winking at me from a shelf in the fridge:

Now, we didn’t actually stay and eat our piece of pie on the premises. Instead, we took advantage of the Blue Heaven practice of selling off pies, which didn’t quite hit all the beauty parameters, for a bargain price of US$20.

Aw, just look at it… a bit squat compared to its supermodel cousin in the fridge,  but who wouldn’t want to adopt one of those!?

They put it in a box for us and we took it home 🙂

What was the verdict?

In short, my friend was right. This KLP was top notch. I loved the meringue topping, it just works soooo much better than the sickly sweet oozings of cream, which seems to be the prevalent choice of KLP topping.

The filling was fresh, zesty and creamy, but not heavy like pottery clay, as it had been in the last one I sampled. Its only slight shortcoming was that the crust was a tad too thick in places. But considering the amazing experience in terms of taste and texture, I’m more than happy to overlook this 😉

My rating: 4.8 out of 5.

The question is: Will I find an even better one?! The mission continues…

Missed the other reviews? Here they are:

• Six Toed Cat
• Southernmost Beach Café
• The Key West Key Lime Shoppe
• Key West Cakes
• Key Lime Pie Factory

And if you want to know how my cake obsession started, click here. [Warning – contains hideous photographs of 70’s and 80’s fashion].

 

The Key Lime Pie Reviews: Six Toed Cat

I can’t possibly make an appearance in the Florida Keys without lavishing due attention onto the number one food item that the Keys are famous for: The legendary Key Lime Pie.

The tangy creation features not just on the menu of every restaurant and every coffee shop on the islands, but, I’d venture to stipulate, is a mandatory dessert offering in every eatery in the whole of Florida. There is even a rash of shops solely dedicated to Key lime pie.

My first official Key lime pie tasting took place at the Six Toed Cat on Whitehead Street in Key West, just a couple of houses down from Ernest Hemingway’s place*.

And here is the star of the show:

So, how was it for me…?

Well, this pie was tasty, creamy and bursting with zest, though I found the texture extremely dense and heavy. Now, I don’t often say this about a dessert… but I’d quite happily have shared this with someone. Also, it was cloyingly sweet. The food is generally very sweet in the US, much sweeter than European palates are accustomed to, even your standard supermarket loaf tastes more cake than bread.

Rating: I’ll give this one 2 out of 5.

[*Here’s my post on Hemingway’s six-toed cats!]

Missed the other reviews? Here they are:

• Blue Heaven
• Southernmost Beach Café
• The Key West Key Lime Shoppe
• Key West Cakes
• Key Lime Pie Factory

And if you want to know how my cake obsession started, click here. [Warning – contains hideous photographs of 70’s and 80’s fashion].