TheYearRounder Names Front Street's Caramelized Key Lime Pie as a 'Best Bite'

The Caramelized Key Lime Pie at Front Street is the best thing I tasted in Provincetown all week long.

During the average week in a Provincetown summer I'll taste somewhere between 20 and 60 dishes served in restaurants, takeout joints, bakeries, neighborhood markets and delis. Out for dinner with friends the other night, as usual, we all tasted around the table with each course that came out of the kitchen, so I sampled 9 appetizers, soups, entrées and desserts that night. That brought my total number of tastes around the town to about 42 for the week.
This week I sampled everything from breakfast sandwiches to late night-night menu items served after 10 PM. I tasted things ranging from a chilled gazpacho to a hot apple crisp. I had striped bass, stuffed clams, three different lobster rolls, and the ubiquitous clam chowder. I ate Portuguese kale soup, Jamaican jerk chicken, Mexican chile rellenos and Chinese dumplings. I tasted everything from pizza to roasted duckling.
Without a doubt, the best thing I ate during the entire week was the Caramelized Key Lime Pie served at Front Street restaurant, at 230 Commercial Street. We all tasted it, and the next day we were all still talking about it. It had a thin, crisp, buttery graham cracker crust filled with a firm, sumptuous, custardy mixture that perfectly balanced the sweetness with the vibrant tartness of Key limes. A bit of sugar had been sprinkled on the top of the pie, and then it had been torched to caramelize it, à la crème brûlée. It was topped with a thick dollop of whipped cream and a couple of slivers of candied Key lime peel.
A generous slice of this splendid pie was surrounded by a velvety pool of mango coulis, adding another stratum to the flavors in this flawless dessert. It was perfection on a plate. That’s what earns it TheYearRounder’s Best Bite award. I hope to find it appearing frequently on Front Street’s ever-changing menu of Chef Donna Aliperti’s Mediterranian-American fusion delights, featuring the superb desserts created by Chef Kathy Cotter. This was, hands down, the best dish I tasted anywhere in Provincetown all week long.