KEY
WEST HOGFISH BAR & GRILL
I fell for this place the moment I entered
under the thatched-palm roof. The HogFish Bar & Grill has soul, a step back
in time. It’s a symbol of how the Florida Keys used to be – fresh seafood,
strong drinks, panoramic waterfront views, outdoor dining and plenty of local
characters. It’s tucked away in Safe Harbor, Stock Island, a place where the
locals hang out, and lacks the touristy hype. A perfect place to capture scenes
for my next Corey Pearson- CIA Spymaster novel!
You will enjoy munching down on fresh
seafood brought in from the boats you see docked outside. I ordered the Stuffed
Hogfish entrée, and it was stuffed with crab and shrimp, all lightly covered
with a mango cream sauce. Absolutely delicious!
This unpretentious pub and restaurant sits
beside old shrimp docks, and as I walked past wooden picnic tables topped with
local pink shrimp, hogfish, and grouper, I hummed along with Jimmy Buffett’s
voice cooing out from the wall speakers. I know that Jimmy would love this
place.
Hard-to-find but definitely worth trying,
this tiki bar is tucked into a busy commercial fishing boat harbor on Stock
Island. The locals love it, and its funky, friendly vibe enveloped me. Well,
the fresh, reasonably priced seafood that was swimming in the ocean that
morning did, too. The waterfront setting and big chickee hut and open-air atmosphere
lowered my blood pressure immediately. I sat down with my daughter at one of
the long picnic tables and munched on the Stuffed Hogfish (photo). After
dinner, my daughter fed her shrimp scraps to the eagerly waiting fish below our
dockside table.
The owner of the Hogfish Bar & Grill
said that only a handful of local shrimp boats remain in what was once an
industry of about 300 boats. Shrimpers have been hurt by the rise in
farm-raised, imported shrimp. One ex-shrimper told him they were getting less
on the dock for shrimp today than he got in the mid-70s. Apparently,
restaurants like the Hogfish that promote the pinks are the only thing that’s
keeping few boats going, because they’re willing to pay the extra price to get
the real wild shrimp. BTW, we ordered the Shrimp and Chips appetizer…
delicious!
In my spy thriller MISSION OF VENGEANCE, I
write scenes inside down-to-earth pubs and restaurants like the Hogfish Bar and
Grill because of their lively roadhouse-style impressions. In Key West and throughout
the Florida Keys, the hogfish is savored for its flaky, delicate, white flesh.
It’s difficult to come by because it has to be speared by a diver, and only seasonal
hunting is permitted.
The owner of the Hogfish says there’s a
mystique surrounding hogfish fishing, in that “the harder it is to get, the
more people want it.” He’s an ex-diver with enough connections to get about 30
to 40 percent of the local pull. I bet that every spear fisherman around must
know him- rumor has it that he spears a few himself when the supply gets low!
In the 1989 movie “Road House”, Patrick
Swayze portrays a rough bouncer, and sizeable bar sandwiches were served. Well,
the Hogfish Bar & Grill isn’t a rowdy place and bouncers aren’t needed, but
it serves a bar sandwich that is more than comparable to what Patrick Swayze
munched down on: the Hogfish Sandwich is mindboggling, smothered in Swiss
cheese, onions and mushrooms, in-between fresh Cuban bread.
Lastly, enjoy this cool video about the
Hogfish Bar & Grill.
Robert
Morton is a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO), enjoys
writing about the U.S. Intelligence Community, and relishes traveling to the
Florida Keys and Key West, the Bahamas and Caribbean. He combines both passions
in his Corey Pearson- CIA Spymaster series. Check out his latest spy thriller:
MISSION OF VENGEANCE.
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