Food

He sells them from his porch or his cart: Meet the Key lime pie guy of Coconut Grove

By Connie Ogle

Updated March 1, 2023 12:52 PM

Joshua Abril, who makes and sells Key lime pies out of his Coconut Grove house, waves to late afternoon commuters. He sells the pies in front of his house. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com

The Key Lime Pie Guy of Coconut Grove waves at everybody.

Drivers and dog walkers. Cops on bikes and the UPS guy. The kids on the playground across the street, if they look up from their games. The firefighters from City of Miami Fire Station 8, who work just down the block and count themselves among his most loyal customers. (Firefighters risk their lives. Firefighters deserve pie.)

Whoever passes the little house on Oak Avenue gets a wave, even if they don’t buy a pie. But they should. These pies are delicious, citrusy and bright, with a sea salt Graham cracker crust that will make you reevaluate every other Key lime pie you’ve ever eaten.

But more than that, these pies are a slice of history. The entrepreneur who created them, who has spent nights riding around the Grove and selling them from his bicycle cart, is preserving a piece of that quirky Grove vibe that’s disappearing all too rapidly.

The Key Lime Pie Guy has a name, of course. He’s Joshua Abril, or better yet, just Josh, born and raised in Miami and proprietor of Fookem’s Fabulous pie business.

Joshua Abril still sometimes rides his bike cart around the Grove selling mini- and full-sized Key lime pies, but he doesn’t do it as often as he used to. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com

Like many entrepreneurs, Abril stumbled upon his calling during the 2020 pandemic. Working as an associate producer for a reality show when COVID shut down his job, he tried to file for unemployment, only to be stymied by a system that wasn’t working.

“It was a nightmare,” he recalls. “They didn’t take phone calls. I couldn’t call the IRS. I couldn’t pay my bills. The system let me down, and there was no one to reach out to.”

Like any entrepreneur, Abril dug deep. What he unearthed was a Key lime pie recipe. He also had a tiny front yard where he could put up a stand. So he started baking in his cramped kitchen, got a juicer and turned one of his rooms into storage for pies, boxes and ingredients.

At first, the people stopping by the bright pink stand were just walking around the neighborhood, happy to be out of their houses and distracted by anything that wasn’t more bad news.

“They were trying to break up the monotony of lockdown,” Abril says. “But then the rumor that the pies were actually good started spreading.”

Now, it’s not uncommon to see a line form in the evenings outside at the stand, where Abril sets up around 5:30 p.m. Fookem’s Fabulous sells only Key lime pies, as per its cottage law license (Abril says he doesn’t use eggs in his pie, which made the license easier to obtain but also limits his repertoire). You can take your chances and walk up for a pie at the spur of the moment, but why leave dessert to chance when you can order ahead of time?

Joshua Abril puts the finishing touches on one of his pies at his Coconut Grove home. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com

Abril has added different flavor infusions to his pies, too, including guava (known as “The Station 8” for his customers at the fire station); pineapple; coconut; mojito; and pistachio. He makes about 12 regular-sized pies a day and somewhere between 20 and 30 mini pies, with nine to 14 flavored mini pies.

“If I was open more hours, I’d make more,” he says.

Fookem’s Fabulous grew so popular that Abril now supplies Key lime pies to several Grove restaurants, including Barracuda Taphouse & Grill, Sandbar Sports Grill, Shore to Door Fish Market and Botanico Gin & Cookhouse, which lets him use the kitchen for his commercial orders.

Ricardo Ordonez, co-owner of Botanico, says that before the restaurant opened in 2021, he and his partner were looking for a local vendor to supply desserts. A friend recommended Abril, who showed up to the interview on his bike, wearing flip flops, a T shirt and a cap — and bearing coffee for everybody.

“It was so cool of him, but that’s Joshua,” Ordonez says. “And when we tasted the pies, they were amazing. We love him, and we’re glad to be part of his growth. We’re proud of what he’s doing for the neighborhood.”

When they asked Abril to create an exclusive flavor for Botanico, he created a Key lime pie with juniper and elderflower, signature flavors of the restaurant’s extensive gin program.

Abril is also setting up a pie vending machine at Julia & Henry’s, a seven-story culinary and entertainment destination coming to downtown Miami sometime this year (“we’re working out the kinks,” he says).

Joshua Abril makes and sells Key lime pies out of his Coconut Grove house. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com

All this action has cut back on his pandemic habit of selling pies from his bike cart. He used to ride around Fuller Street, to the marina, down by Douglas and all over the Grove, but now the bike has turned into more of a marketing tool. Considering Grove traffic, this is probably best.

“I haven’t been riding around a whole lot lately because I’ve been so busy,” he admits. “By the time I’m done with sales, I’m exhausted. . . Besides, it’s a risky situation for the pies. Keeping them cool can be tricky. And if you hit a pothole, it can be a mess.”

Besides, Grove residents don’t seem to mind lining up for their Key lime fix.

“Josh is a hard-working guy, and he’s selling a great product,” said longtime Grove resident Lee Marks, who has been buying pies with his wife regularly for the past couple of years. “We were just down in the Keys, and we went to Key West, and we stopped at one of those Key lime places they advertise along the road. Josh’s pie was superior.”

Abril is trying to find a bigger space in the Grove for his business, but high rents and an influx of restaurateurs have been a problem, he says.

“I’m trying desperately to keep it in the Grove,” he says. “It seems that anything with a grease trap, as soon as you find out about it, some hospitality group of New York has scooped it up. That has made things difficult. I’d be proud to have it in the West Grove. That’s the last part of the neighborhood that still really feels like a community.”