Today we went to the Circus Sunday at the Waterfront Museum in Red Hook. (Highly recommended if you've never been; it's every Sunday in June.) Afterward, as we've done for the past two years, we headed over to Steve's Authentic Key Lime Pies for some, well, Key Lime pie. I've always been a fan of the Key Lime pie, ever since my mom used to make them. Properly made, the combination of sweet and tart, graham and meringue, just adds up to delicious.
Now to get from the Waterfront Museum (really a barge) to Steve's, there are two ways. The long way is a bit of a hike, especially with two tykes. The short way goes through a park along the waterfront, and ends with a gate. Sometimes that gate's locked, and sometimes not. We decided to chance it, but the gate was locked. With delicious pie only a few yards away, it was a short matter to get us all over the gate and over to Steve's.
Steve himself happened to be sitting in front of his pie shop. He was livid. "How did you get here? Did you climb over the fence?" We admitted that we had. "How can you climb over the fence when there's a sign not to? What are you teaching your children?"
Now, if there's one thing that is guaranteed to tick me off, it's a stranger telling me how to raise my kids. Do I come in and tell Steve how to bake pies? No. Have I put my children in danger? No. So: you raise your kids, I'll raise mine, thank you very much.
We went into the shop and started looking at pies. Steve followed us, still irate that we had taken a short cut in order to purchase his wares. "You know what?" he said to his employee behind the counter. "I don't want to sell to these people. Not unless they come back the right way."
Well, Steve, you don't want to sell me your pies, and as of now, I don't want to buy them. We went to Baked instead, which was quite delicious, thankyouverymuch. On the way, I gave Ben an important moral lesson: Let The Punishment Fit The Crime. If Steve wants to punish fence-jumpers (and it's not his fence) by refusing them service, it seems out of proportion to me.
| Red Hook | Food | Pie |
Yeah, if you've read a lot of his comments on Flickr you know he can be a purist. Seems to me he came out as the small guy by not selling you his pie.
Comment #1 :: link :: June 3, 2007 06:14 PMI've said it before, and I'll say it again: Steve is a total ass. I've been to his place twice, and both times he treated me like garbage, for no reason I can discern. I've boycotted the place and have encouraged many friends to do the same. Maybe he'll do us all a favor and go out of business.
Comment #2 :: link :: June 3, 2007 07:07 PMWell I'm glad to know I'm not the only one. Here are some new slogans for Steve's:
IF YOU WANT THE LIME, DON'T DO THE CRIME
NO HUMBLE PIE SERVED HERE
Comment #4 :: link :: June 3, 2007 08:56 PMDoes he sell his pies in boxes? Well, teach your children to think outside the box. (Or fence, as the case may be.)
Comment #5 :: link :: June 4, 2007 01:12 AMGlad you have such fond memories of the only kind of pie I ever baked. With a pie-baking grandma that you had, I could never match that.
Comment #6 :: link :: June 4, 2007 07:15 AMI wished you would have called me when this was going down 'cause this is what I would I have told you to do: line up your kids and have them sing these words from "This Land is your Land",
And I big high wall there
It tried to stop me
Sign painted on it
Said Private Property
But the other side there
Didn't say nothing
That side was made for you and me!
Then you look Steve right in the eyes and you say very loudly, "That's what I'm teaching my children!"
