Restaurant Dessert Inspiration: Deconstructed Key Lime Pie

At the end of a near-perfect restaurant meal recently, I ate a dessert I haven’t stopped thinking about for weeks: deconstructed key lime pie. Light and refreshing, it is simpler than a slice of pie and yet much more refined. And although it sounds fancy, it’s not much more difficult to make than the original.

I tried this dessert at Son of a Gun, a fish-centric restaurant in Los Angeles that serves homey yet elegant food that is anything but stuffy. Their version of key lime pie is a scoop of house-made key lime frozen yogurt topped with a sprinkling of graham cracker crust crumbles and lime zest. A thin layer of brûléed marshmallow fluff smears one side of the bowl, giving a kind of meringue vibe to the cool, smooth, sour, graham-crunchy flavors of the dish. So good!

To make this at home, you’d just need to top a simple key lime frozen yogurt with a spoonful of a baked, crushed graham cracker crust and a sprinkle of key lime zest. Toasting half a marshmallow over a flame and putting it on top would be a crowning touch, but the dessert would probably be just as good without it.

Recipes to try:
• Key Lime Frozen Yogurt – Coconut & Lime
• Graham Cracker Crust
• D.I.Y. Graham Cracker Crust
• Toasting Marshmallows Without a Campfire

Have you ever eaten a restaurant dessert that inspired you to make your own version?

Related: Sticky Orange Cake, Gooey Lemon Pie: 15 Citrus Treats

(Image: weezermonkey, used by permission)