Steve's Authentic Key Lime Pies
Steve's Authentic Key Lime Pies
185 Van Dyke Street
Brooklyn, NY 11231
718 858 5333
M-Th noon-6pm
F- Sat 11am-7pm
Sun 11am-6pm
So good that people swim from Coney Island for the pies!
It doesn't get more Red Hook than this. Full-size and single serving key lime pies made on site. Home of the Swingle, a frozen single serving key lime pie, coated in dark chocolate, on a popsicle stick.
Brightly colored picnic tables out front, next to Valentino Park, make this a hang-out joint and not just a pie purveyor.
You can also talk fishing with owner Steve Tarpin.
WaterStories history of key lime pies - fishermen!
"KEY LIME PIE STARTED WITH ‘HOOKERS’" reports David Sloan in the Keys Weekly. Hookers in this case refers to Frorida Keys sponge fishermen, who in the late 1800s "poured sweetened condensed milk on stale Cuban bread in a coffee mug, stirring in a bird egg and topping it with lime juice."In a conversation with PortSide NewYork about the key lime pie's watery beginnings David Sloan replied: "Like many things in Key West, the sponger origin was something people in town just knew but didn't see much importance in recording.
Monroe County Historian Tom Hambright was the first I know of to put the idea in writing. Local chef, distiller and Key lime lover Paul J. Menta tracked down the oldest sponge fisherman he could find and talked with him to confirm the process and tradition.
An important part of this equation is that condensed milk and lime juice were used to not get sick. They added condensed milk to coffee and used limes to cook fish, but they were known to maintain good health. I believe the lime was added to the condensed milk to mellow the puckering effect of straight lime juice. Why condensed milk instead of water or coffee? They probably looked at it as taking all of their vitamins at once and getting it out of the way."
