Eating our way through Florida

We have been in Florida for about three weeks now.  The weather has been great. Sailing fine.  The memorable thing has been the food.  We have had some great meals throughout the state.

Mayfair Hotel Restaurant - Coconut Grove

Let start in Cocoa Beach Village.  My friend, Diana, introduced us to Ossorios a cute little bistro in the village.  Lovely fresh salads, croissants and wraps.  CR and I also went there in the morning with the locals for a great cup of coffee.  We sat at the sidewalk tables under trees.

We had a beach dinner in Daytona that was the usual beach food.  The scenery was great. We had a nice dinner at the Daytona Marina.  Very beautiful restaurant with fish murals, lovely wall coverings, nice outdoor patio with fireplace.  The best Key Lime Pie so far.

Twice we went to another local hangout in Cocoa Village,  Murdock’s,  an interesting spot, a bar, next door to Florida’s equivalent of the Running Room. After their run the club members came in for a beer!!  There was live music 5 nights a week.  We heard a good blue grass band.The pot roast was the Cpt’s fave.  The building was built with used window frames and trim from a local grand hotel that had been demolished. Big wide window sills and an embossed tin ceiling.

Solar Powered Parking meters in Coconut Grove

Enjoyed a great Italian dinner with our friends at  mmmmmmm!  Great lasagna, veal Parmesan. Nice spot.

Next stop on the foodies tour was Ft. Lauderdale. Known for big fancy houses and big fancy boats. We went to two dinghy restos.  Raw Bar at the bottom of 15^th street canal. Not a white table cloth joint but great fresh seafood.  Entertainment of the day was a jetter.

Ft Lauderdale - yacht central

Better than the Raw Bar was the 15^th Street Fisheries at the Lauderdale Marina on the ICW.  We went there twice.  The Skillet was to die for.  Lots of fish in a cream sherry sauce. Fantastic soft shell crab sandwich.  The sangria was the best I have ever had.  It was a little on the strong side.  I went back to the boat and fell asleep for the afternoon.

On to Coconut Grove,Miami.  We started out at the Mayfair Hotel for a salad and pizza lunch.  The setting was great.  We have been trying to replicate a pizza we had in the south of France two years ago and so far haven’t found it.  Hard to find fresh anchovies here in NA.  For dinner that night we went to the newest in cuisine trends, pan American,  really meaning south American.  We went to Jaguar.  Great ambiance.  I had sirloin skewers with a green sauce and green pasta.  Chris had Mahi with lots of heat and a fabulous, to die for, best ever, mango/onion salsa.  We also had ceviche appetizer, which was the special.  This tasty dish we first had in Charleston with Deb and john.  It is seafood cooked in lime juice.  The lime juice changes the texture of the flesh.  Grand!!! We wanted to have a key lime tequila creme caramel brulee but were too full.

Just here for the seafood man - try the clams or crabs!

On to the local hangout Flannigans for the best ribs in south Florida, recommended by the City Marina staff.  Nice little local joint..  Then we went back to Jaguar for Crème Brulee and the coffee.

Of course in between all of these great eats we are eating celery and drinking water and walking as much as possible(baloney!).

On to the Keys, the land of fresh seafood and conch chowder.  Close to our marina home is the Keys Fisheries.  This is a local on the water joint.  You seip up to the counter to give your order and your order is denoted by a song or cartoon character.  I had wonderful seared Bay Scallops on Caesar salad for one lunch, the lobster wrap for another.  The Capt loves the blackened grouper sandwich. They also have individual servings of Ben and Jerry;s  So far I have resisted.

Next door to our marina home is a famous local spot, Castaways.  They are known to have great Sushi.  To date we haven’t gone but we are going to be here for another week.

Sunday we went to Key West, another interesting local transit adventure.  This is a small town so everyone knows each other, lots of chatter. The best looking 85 year old woman I have ever seen.  There is hope girls!!  She didn’t look a day over 70, I kid you not.

Blue Heaven in Key West - A favorite!

Ah,  Key West where do I begin?  The land of bad tee shirts, cruise boats, great restaurants, beautiful trees and lovely little streets of Victorian cottages.  We did up the town.  Started out at the Grand on Duval. It is hard to get good Hollandaise. Best Hollandaise ever on  my eggs benedict & the captains.  I had the classic, the Cpt had smoked salmon.   Then we walked and walked eventually went to the Schooner Wharf Bar for a drink.  Then walked some more, had an early dinner at Blue Heaven.  Expensive but worth it.  I had the yellow tail in a wonder full sauce  CR had mahi mahi.    Finally we ended the night with a quick drink at Margaritaville.  Then another ride back on the local Keys bus; oddly enough with the same group of locals we rode down with.  Everyone was a lot quieter this time.

So, the moral of the story is,  if one of us doesn’t start cooking soon we are going to go broke,  but what a delicious way to go! Today we bought two cook books.