Where can I get a great key lime pie?

Hello all,

My wife's birthday is coming up and she has a new craving - instead of a birthday cake, she wants a key lime pie. It's not something I often have in Chicago, so I'm not sure where to get a good one. Anybody have a tip on which bakery, or failing that, restaurant, in Chicago proper offers the best key lime pie?

ikeaboy wrote:My wife's birthday is coming up and she has a new craving - instead of a birthday cake, she wants a key lime pie. It's not something I often have in Chicago, so I'm not sure where to get a good one. Anybody have a tip on which bakery, or failing that, restaurant, in Chicago proper offers the best key lime pie?

Welcome to LTHForum!

These search results will give you a pretty good list.

Also, I'd offer up the fact that it's a pretty easy thing to make and I've seen bag's of key limes for sale this week at Tony's Finer Foods on Elston and Hamlin.

Best,
Michael

my house.

seriously, key lime pie is very easy to make. you can even find real fresh key limes pretty easily these days - I've seen them at trader joes.

It's basically: eggs or egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk, fresh key lime juice and zest (you can use regular limes if you must), (possibly added sugar is required, I'm not sure) put in a homemade graham cracker crust, bake to still-jiggly firmness and top with homemade whipped cream. Do a google search, or there may be a recipe on the condensed milk can. I make this for my husband's birthday every year. As good as the best key lime pie you could ever purchase.

Thanks for the tips! Do you have a labor-saving trick for squeezing those little bitty key limes?

ikeaboy wrote:Thanks for the tips! Do you have a labor-saving trick for squeezing those little bitty key limes?

Cut in half and use a juicer?

ikeaboy wrote:Thanks for the tips! Do you have a labor-saving trick for squeezing those little bitty key limes?

I cut them in half, then jam my fingers inside and wring the little bastards' necks. This also gives you some pulp, which I find to be a nice little treat in a pie, not to mention it gets every last drop of juice. You can strain it, if you don't dig pulp. Sarcon speaks the truth, it's easy to make and not very time-consuming.

But the key lime pie at Wildfire is the best ever, and I know pie (hence the name ). It comes in rather large, "individually sized" portions, so your wife can get her very own pie as opposed to a slice (about 3-4 inches in diameter). And it's got the graham cracker crust, which, in my opinion, is essential to key lime pie. It's also nicely decorated with a puff of whipped cream and lime shavings, or at least it was the last time I had one.

Good luck!

The mexican-style squisher juicers work on a variety of sizes of fruits, though I usually cut an X into the cut half of each lime to help it out. I heartily third the recommendation to make it yourself; the only way I ever messed one of these up was by using a zester and chopping the zest curls rather than using a grater or microplane. However, IIRC, JR Dessert Bakery does a fabulous key lime cheesecake. I don't see it on their website right now, maybe you could request one.

One of the things that astounds me: easy as these are to make, it's amazing how often they get screwed up by restaurants. I assume that it's because they're using the Sysco all-our-product-is-made-from-product version, but why? I've actually dumped the ingredients in a blender and made a successful key lime pie!

MHays,

You don't even need a blender, it comes together very nicely whipped in a mixing bowl.

Regards,

You could order a nice pie from Key West over the internet. I would recommend ordering from http://www.keywestkeylimepieco.com/, I have ordered from them a few times for my mother and she has had raive reviews each time.

$65.00 for pie? Does it come loaded with drugs or something?

$65.00 for pie? Does it come loaded with drugs or something?

To be accurate, that price does include all the packaging, dry ice, etc. and overnight shipping...the actual pie costs $12, the rest is shipping related charges. Although I personally couldn't spend that kinda of money knowing it was costing me $53 to ship a $12 pie.

I passed by a Baker's Square today that was advertising Key Lime Pie. I am sure it would be a hell of a lot less than 65.00.

thick wrote:I passed by a Baker's Square today that was advertising Key Lime Pie. I am sure it would be a hell of a lot less than 65.00.

Yes, but a minimum of one of the three words in that moniker will be hyperbole (that is, unless it contains a key so you can slip it in with the prison food in a spaghetti western. I'm certain Baker's Square could turn one of those out - then we only have trouble with "lime" and "pie.")

Forgive me. Not a fan of Baker's Square in general - I'd spend $65 to avoid their pie.

Lime curd really is very easy. This is a favorite recipe of mine for lime curd tarts here - I make these in a regular tartlet pan & serve them with a blob of whipped cream, but you could probably use the filling under meringue too.

From the same blog is a beautiful looking key lime cheesecake with mangoes, with a source for bottled juice here, but those minis are just a bit too precious for me to tackle (though the entire blog has some wonderful food pR0n & pie recipes).

Can you get a good pie using bottled key lime juice???

Honestly, I don't know since I've never tried bottled juice. I do OTH trust that blog writer's recipes in general, so I'd probably be willing to give the brands she recs a shot if there was nothing else available and it absolutely had to be key lime for the pie (I've usually just done something else, lemon or blood orange curd instead).

Check out Joe's Stone Crab on Rush and Grand for the best key lime pie in the city IMO. Too bad stone crab season's over for the year.

gp60004 wrote:Can you get a good pie using bottled key lime juice???

I think you could probably get a fair one, G - but you need the zest as well, it's where a lot of the flavor comes from. I dunno how you'd deal with that.

Gus,

You always get a better product from the fresh key limes. Make lemonade from fresh lemons or bottled, the bottled has an after taste not present with fresh. Fortunately you are in an area where fresh key limes are simple to obtain.

Regards,

Just last night I read a Cook's Illustrated article/recipe for Key lime bars. In no uncertain terms the article said to avoid the bottled Key lime juice due to the "bracingly bitter" and sometimes "just plain rancid" flavor. The article suggested using regular limes if Key limes were unavailable. The article also mentioned that it took only 3 regular limes as opposed to 20 key limes to get 1/2 cup juice.

I had a great piece of Key Lime Pie with Chocolate crust at First Slice a few weeks ago.
Super fresh and tart!

First Slice
4401 N. Ravenswood
Chicago, Illinois 60640
773-506-7380

I love the key lime pie at Whole Foods when you can find it. It is a nice balance of tart and sweet.
I am sure your wife will be very grateful!

hi
at sweet baby rays wood dale and elk grove
we make our key lime pie with a crust recipe we borrowed from
papaduoux which has a great key lime pie in my opinion

crust brown sugar
pecans
butter
graham crackers

i would not say it is the best i will say at its best it is properly preparded by professional people and it is very good

thanks and good luck

sbrbbq.com

I had an amazing slice of key lime pie from a stand at the Daley Plaza farmer's market a few years ago. I am sure they were selling whole pies as well. This was the summer when I was clerking at a law firm - we went out to a lot of lunches, and I made it a point to order key lime pie whenever it appeared on the menu. The best was still that slice from the farmer's market, but Smith and Wollensky and Joe's Stone Crab serve very good versions too.

What I look for in a key lime pie: not too thick or overwhelmingly sweet crust, and a tangy, lime-y zingy filling that is neither too firm nor too runny. A lot of key lime pies are too bland or too sweet. I've made my own, so I know how easy it is in theory, but in practice many places fall flat.

As has been said, Key lime pie is ridiculously easy to make. At Christmas I made a Key Lime pie with Nellie and Joe's bottled juice (widely available) and it was fabulous. I followed the recipe on the website. Make sure to make the graham crust from scratch, not one of those store bought things. I do use the packaged graham crumbs though. I top it with a layer of real whipped cream (like applying a thin coating of frosting). It was fabulous.

http://www.keylimejuice.com/

If you can mix it up a little, we have a great Key Lime Pie Truffle!

Not quite the same thing, but pretty darn close, the Key Lime Cheesecake at Chinn's was pretty awesome. (At least I'm remembering it being at Chinn's -- it's been a while).

My ideal KLP should have minimal sweetness to the filling, getting all of its sugar from the graham crust and possibly whipped cream. This is where Baker's Square falls flat -- filling too sweet, lousy crust.

baby ray wrote:hi
at sweet baby rays wood dale and elk grove
we make our key lime pie with a crust recipe we borrowed from
papaduoux which has a great key lime pie in my opinion

crust brown sugar
pecans
butter
graham crackers

i would not say it is the best i will say at its best it is properly preparded by professional people and it is very good

thanks and good luck

sbrbbq.com

Too bad you were out of it when I stopped in recently. Since the fridge case seemed very well-stocked with all the other desserts, I'm guessing this one is quite a mover for you. Oh well, it happens.

=R=

Sweet Mandy B's on Webster has a very good key lime pie

has anyone already asked this . . . does your wife like Key Lime Pie with a real pie crust or the newer version with a graham cracker crust? They are both delicious when done properly but they are two different animals. In the lower Keys, most true old school Key Lime Pies are topped with meringue and come with a traditional pie crust. The newer places introduced the "cheesecake" style crust of graham crackers. (This is the no-brainer hyper easy version to make.) I don't usually quibble when down in the Keys doing my own personal um, "focus group" thing on every eating establishment's KLP but it is shocking how many of them this last trip had no pucker, no Lime-ey lime Action. If you're going to have pie and it's all about the lime, it better Zing with Lime. Anyhow, good luck. I have heard good things about Sweet Mandy B's too but it is only offered seasonally . . .