Of course no visit to Key West is complete without a stop at the Half Shell Raw Bar, so I made my way over there (and yes I did buy a t-shirt).
Across the street from the Half Shell is Pepe’s, the eldest eating house in the Florida Keys (opened in 1909).
Not too far from Pepe’s is the Old Town Bakery where you can find great baked goods as well as sandwiches.
The building was home to the Salgado Bros Grocery from 1877-1977 before it became Old Town Grocery
If you look hard enough you can even find artisanal bread in Key West at Cole’s Peace.
On my last day there, I was taken to Stock Island to visit 2 places. The first was Fishbusterz Fish House for fresh fish to cook for dinner.
They used to have a takeout food place in the back called The Shrimp Shack Grill in addition to the fish market in the front but sadly The Shrimp Shack is now closed. The signage is still around though…
The other place we visited on Stock Island was The Hogfish Bar & Grill. It is a big huge open bar/restaurant right on the water. Great place to go for happy hour. If you go, tell Pattie the bartender I said hi.
When it finally came time to hit the road and leave Key West, I was told there were three places I needed to hit on the drive back to reality. As it was morning time when I left I decided I would make a full breakfast out of the three stops by eating a different part of the breakfast meal in each.
The first stop was 5 Brothers Two Cuban Grocery & Deli (at Mile Marker 27.5)
Where I had a pressed ham & egg sandwich (no cheese).
Further up the road (at Mile Marker 54) I stopped at The Wooden Spoon for a cup of coffee and a side of home fries. This place is an old school greasy spoon kinda place (pun intended).
The last stop on the drive back was Robert is Here in Homestead. If that name sounds familiar it is because I wrote a piece about it when I was in Miami last November F4tF: Miami’s Robert Is Here. This trip was solely for a tropical fruit milkshake and nothing else.
I go the top one Sapodilla with Pineapple & Canteloupe mixed in.
That was the drive back from Key West. Now you may be thinking that this is the end of the places I checked out. It almost is. On the day I was leaving from Fort Lauderdale Airport I was told there was a place I had to check out in Dania Beach not far from the airport called Jaxson’s Ice Cream Parlour. So I programmed the GPS in the car (with Mr T’s voice, really!) and headed over. Having just come from lunch at The Floridian in Fort Lauderdale I was full but stopped by to take some pictures of Jaxson’s. Here they are:
That about wraps up the Florida trip. Hope you enjoyed the ride. Until next time…
