Key West Food and Drink

 

This post will conclude my writing about my twelve days in Florida. It is far more bitter than sweet that I am done. We didn't just go to Florida to be warm. I have a bucket list written down in a notebook. I had about fifteen things written down I wanted to do in Florida. I had a list of twenty two things to door or places to see. This trip alone I had a shot at fifteen of them (most of the others were birding locations in north Florida). I ended up being able to check off fourteen of the fifteen. The one I did not do was catch a tarpon.

Key West alone, had eight different things I could check off of my bucket list. I've already written about snorkeling a coral reef which was a big one for me. If you look at my last post, you'll see a sunset photo. Seeing a sunset over the Gulf of Mexico was another.

Some of the others may surprise you. It's no secret that I don't drink very often. As I've put it in the past "I'll go months at a time without a drink before I've even realized I've gone months without one". Drinking has never been my thing. So you'd probably never guess I had three bucket list ideas that involved alcohol. I wanted to go to Sloppy Joe's and Captain Tony's. Both were bars that Hemingway frequented. Sloppy Joe's also has some of the best food in the city. Captain Tony's is famous for being a spot Buffett played at and hung out. My third item was to get drunk in Key West. I guess to honor Hemingway. In my entire bucket list notebook, there is no other mention of alcohol, just Key West.

I had food I specifically wanted to try while in the Conch Republic. Of course, I wanted an authentic slice of Key Lime Pie. I wanted to get a Fish Taco. Lastly, I wanted to try Conch Fritters which are basically clam cakes but with conch instead of quahog.

   Luckily, Key West has great food and plenty of drinks.

Key Lime Pie- Laurie and I went on a Key Lime Pie Taste Testing Spree! Starting in Key Largo at the Blonde Giraffe and ending at Kermits on Key West, we tried KLP from seven different places. I had gone on line and found a top ten list for Key Lime Pie and we tried as many as we could (one had gone out of business). My favorite was Kermit's near Mallory Square.

Conch Fritters- There is a little outdoor eating place called the Conch Shack on Duval Street. It is open air including the cooking area. I got conch fritters there twice. They were very good. There was another place near the Shipwreck Museum that also had Conch Fritters, but seemed closed when we would walk by. In case you want cheap beer. The Conch Shack has the cheapest beer in Key West. Four dollars a bottle.

Fish Taco's- I wanted to try fish taco's in a part of the country that makes authentic fish tacos. That really means Florida and California. I didn't want some previously frozen Applebee's special.  I got fish tacos at two places. The first was called B.O.'s Fish Shack. I'm pretty sure they used mahi-mahi. It was pretty good. The other place was a Mexican place called Amigo's on Greene Street. It was delicious. More on Amigo's below.

Food in General-

Plain and simple, the food is awesome. It is obviously more expensive being a tourist town a hundred miles from mainland Florida. Besides the food above, we tried other stuff. I did not have a bad bite to eat anywhere-

Amigo's Tortilla Bar- is across the street from Captain Tony's. Laurie got the quesadilla and I got tacos the first night. The quesadilla was very good, but the tacos were the best I have ever had. You can choose multiple types of tacos. I got chicken, beef, and veggie (plus the fish taco a different night). All are prepared differently so I got three different flavors. They were amazing. Six dollar frozen strawberry margaritas

Margaritaville- this is the original Margaritaville owned by Jimmy Buffett. We only bought a slice of KLP and a frozen drink, but next time I'm getting the buffalo wings.

Sloppy Joe's- I could go on about how good the food was at Amigo's, but I could say the same thing about Sloppy Joe's. The food was terrific. They do have a Sloppy Joe sandwich and it is delicious. Laurie ordered a BBQ pork sandwich that might even be better. I'm confident that you can't be disappointed with anything you order. My advice is to go for lunch. It is very crowded after dark. It is still the busiest bar in Key West for eighty years.

Drink- Because  our Key West Pass had coupons for buy one drink get another free at five places, I went into more bars in three days than I have in the last twenty five years combined. We got frozen drinks with our meals at Sloppy Joe's, Amigo's Tortilla Bar, and Mararitaville. None of those places were buy one/get one. We also crossed off of my bucket list having a drink at Captain Tony's possibly sitting in a seat that Jimmy Buffett sat in. There are bras pinned to the walls in Captain Tony's, reminding people that years back Key West was a pirate town that had a lot more debauchery than now.

When we went bar hopping we also stopped at Hard Rock Cafe and had a drink at the outside bar. We went into the Smokin' Tuna which had a cool rustic vibe. We went to Rick's Key West where we got a draft bear in a cup that we took home. And we got drinks at a place called Pepe's where at this point I'd been bar hopping for a couple hours and wasn't feeling any effects so I switched over to tequila shooters.

   Long story short, I got drunk in Key West. I didn't get shitfaced despite switching to tequila shots. I was just passed buzzed in the slightly drunk category. At least drunk enough where I can cross it off of my bucket list and I don't have to do it again.

Key West is awesome

p.s.- In case your wondering. The night we went bar hopping and consequently got a little tipsy was our last night there. The next day we had a five hour drive through the Everglades. I wanted to make it an all day road trip and stop to see sights and gators. I woke up at 4:35 am without any hangover at all. we were packed and in the car at 5 am.