Kermit’s Key West Key Lime Pie Shoppe

Kermit’s is a full service, 3-meal-a-day restaurant. Sandwiches, soups, salads, BBQ, fish, and breakfast all sound inviting in their menu descriptions. It’s also a market with every imaginable Key-lime product for sale, from bottles of Key lime juice to lip balm to shower gel.

I’ve never sampled any of the above. That’s because I come to this cheerful lime-green place at Key West’s historic seaport for two and only two things: Key lime pie and Key lime pie on a stick.

The pie is a Platonic ideal: Graham cracker crust supporting a satin-smooth filling that is a taste-buds thrilling harmony of tart buzz and sweet cream. There are doots of whipped cream on top, but they are pretty much irrelevant.

A simple slice of Key lime pie gets no better than this, but there is one possible way to improve it: put it on a stick, envelop it in dark chocolate, and freeze it. The result is one of the best desserts I’ve ever eaten, the pie’s primal flavor mix underscored and enlivened by just enough (but not too much) chocolate. As you take a bite, the smooth, dark veil mixes with the pie’s cookie-crumble crust and sugar-citrus body, which, when frozen, attains the texture of ice cream just soft enough to blossom. The flavor mix and mouthfeel are incomparable.