Pull Up a Chair... in Key West

At some point on our Key West honeymoon, I looked across our dinner table at the world’s most handsome man and said, fork mid-air, “I now know WHY the honeymoon comes after the wedding.” With a twinkle in his eye, he started laughing and said, “Because if it had come first, your dress wouldn’t have fit for the wedding?” Yep. That’s precisely it. Every night while we were in the Keys, one of us would ask “what was your favorite thing we did today?” and you’ll hear about some of those responses in upcoming blogs. By the end of the week, the question had morphed into “what’s the best thing we’ve eaten while we’ve been here?" and the answers to that changed with almost every new restaurant or café we tried.

I forgot to photograph most of our meals (or was too impatient to take the time to) but here are some of the highlights of places you just MUST TRY if you’re ever in Key West.

Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville Café

Margaritaville Café is on busy Duval Street, which is the main drag from one end of Key West to the other. It’s probably a cardinal Key West sin to cross the threshold into what is probably known to locals as a tourist trap BUT since we were tourists, and we were happy doing touristy things, we saw it and thought it looked like an energetic happy place so we made our way inside where we were promptly seated. When I saw on the Jimmy Buffett menu Cheeseburger in Paradise with the description that said “made just like the song says”, I immediately started singing the tune in my head. “I like mine with lettuce and tomato, Heinz 57 and French fried potatoes…” Yep, sounds good. I’ll have that. Robert, of course, showed me up and had grilled shrimp with rice and green beans. (He’s such a healthy eater; I’m sure glad he doesn’t fret when I have pizza for breakfast or ice cream for dinner… but that’s another blog for another day.) If you think the Cheeseburger in Paradise is just another burger, think again. I don’t know what they did or how they did it, and no offense to anyone who has ever invited me to a backyard bbq, but the Cheeseburger in Paradise was absolutely the best burger I’ve ever eaten. EVER. And let me just tell you, I’ve eaten a lot of burgers in my time. Hands down, this one was the best. So good, in fact, we ate at Margaritaville twice during our stay and one the second visit, Robert joined me in junk food heaven and had a Cheeseburger in Paradise too!

Sloppy Joe’s

Sloppy Joe’s, also on Duval Street, has been in existence since 1939 and was frequented back in the day by Ernest Hemingway. Joe’s offers a laid-back atmosphere, live music, quick service, and great food. The patrons at Joe’s have never met a stranger and you walk in feeling right at home. I had a buffalo chicken wrap and Robert once again tried to find the best cheesesteak on Earth. He put Joe’s in the top five, at least, of his favorites. If we had a Joe’s closer to home, I think Robert would have permanent seating there.

Blackfins

We tried Blackfins, a quaint café with enough seating for maybe 16 (maybe, if everyone’s all squished like sardines) on a recommendation from Brian, the concierge at The Reach Resort. And if I remember correctly, this meal was the one Robert liked best. My meal of grilled shrimp was tasty but Robert’s Chef’s Special Pasta was beyond amazing. It’s what I’d wished I’d gotten the whole time I sat watching him eat it. I have to figure out a way to institute a half-way-through-the-meal plate swap with him… he almost always orders better than I do.

And to finish it off…

Yes, we were in the Keys. No, we did not have key lime pie. Why did we not have key lime pie? Because we, gasp shock and horror, don’t like key lime pie. One hot humid afternoon, we did have smoothies from a stand in the middle of Mallory Square. I tried the key lime pie smoothie simply because I felt obligated to indulge in the island's most recognized citrus fruit and Robert had strawberry. Once again, I wished for a mid-smoothie swap!

PS- Fabulous friends Blane and Patsy gave us a gift certificate to Seven Fish restaurant to use while in the Keys. Off the beaten path, Seven Fish is a tiny spot that you’d have to know about ahead of time. It’s a well-kept secret by the locals but the line outside when it opened told us everything we needed to know. Salads, grilled fish, and strawberry whipped cream pie are the house favorites and come highly recommended by one and all! Sadly, I failed to capture photographic evidence of all the yummy-ness on the Seven Fish menu. But thanks, Blane & Patsy, for sharing in our special day and for the gift card!

PSS- Since we’ve been home, the thought has crossed my mind to hop on the scale to see what sort of damages were done with our fantastic food adventure in the Keys. I have yet to be brave enough. I don’t know that I’ll ever have that kind of courage.