On the Table
The Long Way West Bridge-hopping your way to Key West is one delicious endeavor. BY ADAM ERACE PHOTOGRAPHY BY VANESSA ROGERS
From left: Angler and Ale, Blue Heaven’s Key lime pie, and Ghee’s Niven Patel.
L
ESS THAN ONE DEGREE ABOVE THE TROPIC
of Cancer, strung like splinters of shipwreck between the Atlantic and the Gulf, the Florida Keys are as far south as you can go in the continental U.S. For this reason, the archipelago has always been an escape, for pirates and poets, hermits and hedonists, and, during the pandemic, American travelers shut out of much of the Caribbean. Since last year, the adorable Key
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V I RT U O S O L I F E
West airport has grown its airline partners (from four to five), nonstop destinations (from 13 to 16), and flight frequency, making it more convenient and affordable than ever to bypass the four-hour drive from Miami and arrive directly in the Conch Republic. But that misses the point. Key West is a magical place – in some spots, scruffy and mystic; in others, as pastelmanicured as a box of Ladurée macarons – and if you only