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Old Key Lime House: Big Fish, Sweet Pie, and Sunny Intracoastal Views

It's the portion size that wins me over. Coming from New York, it's hard not to be a little snooty about restaurants elsewhere in the country, but I'll admit to a fondness for the whopping American helpings you get when you venture beyond the five boroughs. I wasn't sure if the fish tacos I ordered at the Old Key Lime House in Lantana, Florida were going to be enough food, but that's because I was envisioning them served tapas-style, artfully presented on a saucer but expensive and not at all filling, like you'd get in the city. But the tacos were huge, and the foot-long whitefish fillets in each were perfectly fried and served with chipotle aioli, salsa, and guacamole. It was a splendid lunch, enjoyed in the shade of the dockside dining room as boats sailed by on the Intracoastal Waterway. The Old Key Lime House bills itself as the oldest waterfront restaurant in Florida, but even if it's not, it represents an earlier era of South Florida, before the franchise restaurants opened up along every coastal highway. It succeeds because it keeps things simple, with well-prepared beach pub food, affable servers, and a comfortable, thatched-roof atmosphere that's doesn't push the nautical kitsch too far beyond a plaster shark and a skeleton pirate mannequin. As far as the Key lime pie is concerned, it's quite good, but they overdo it with the whipped cream on top. Not to bring things back to NYC again, but I think the pie is better at Steve's Authentic Key Lime Pies in Red Hook, Brooklyn. It's okay, Steve's originally from Florida.

[Photo: Victor Ozols]

Related Stories:
· Old Key Lime House [Official Site]
· Steve's Authentic Key Lime Pies [Official Site]
· Restaurant Coverage [Jaunted]