Hilton Key Largo Resort :
Florida Keys
Gateway to the Florida Keys
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65-foot Gulfstream, operating out of Ocean Bay Marina (MM 99.5) with perhaps the most productive party boat in the Florida Keys. Chan takes passengers to the outer reefs and ledges for yellowtail snapper, snapper and grouper (8:30 am - 4:00 pm) for $65 per person. He uses a technique called "sandballing" for yellowtail in over 100 feet of water. Explained Chan: "Yellowtail cover the reefs in the summer but so do blue runners and other less desirable fish. ‘Sandballing’ consists of mixing oats, fish oil and sand in a concoction that is cupped together in a ball to wrap up the angler's hook, bait and sinker. Then you throw out the ball into the water with your bail open on your spinning reel and feed the line quickly. If things go on schedule, the ball will open up past the "undesirables" and the yellowtail will be waiting for their tempting morsel."
KEY LARGO CONCH HOUSE
With an abundance of fresh fish, local restaurants need to keep their menus both imaginative and reassuring. At the Key Largo Conch House (MM 100.2 oceanside) the Dreaver family since 2004 has maintained a cute salmon-colored single room wood house with wraparound balcony and gingerbread trim in a tiny tropical hammock. In May 2011 the Travel Channel filmed a Conch Fritter Eating Contest as part of their series “Man vs. Food Nation” during Conch Republic Days. For dinner I enjoyed the cracked conch and lobster/conch ceviche with homemade corn chips, a very filling hogfish Mediterranean sautéed with tomatoes, green peppers, scallions, kalamata olives, and feta cheese in a key lime butter sauce, and a dessert sampler with a fine version of key lime pie with graham cracker crust. In 2010 Laura Dreaver’s pie recipe sold 8000 pieces, a testament to the power of the Citrus aurantifolia.
BAYSIDE GRILLE AND BLUES FESTIVAL
After a stunning pink-and-pale-yellow sunset over Florida Bay my final evening at the Bayside Grille and Sunset Bar (MM 99.5), I scanned owner-chef Robert DiGiorgio’s menu of “Keyribbean Kooking & Kocktails.” While the terminology may sound amusing his approach to cooking emphasizes solid respect for his Italian heritage of fresh ingredients and tropical additions. Yellowtail or mahi mahi are served pan sautéed Meunier, blackened “Island Style” with fresh mango salsa, baked “Drunken” with fresh pressed plantains in candied walnut rum-butter sauce, or baked “Keyribbean” with capers and garlic in a white wine butter sauce. His key lime pie appeared more like a cheesecake but tasted just as tart as a traditional, flatter one. “Kocktails” include: Key Lime or Pomegranate Mojitos, Mango Margarita, Tequila Sunset (Jose Cuervo Silver), and a Blue Ocean Martini with a splash of orange-flavored Blue Curacao. Afterwards, over a Frangelico cordial in his Italian restaurant Café Largo back up on the main highway, DiGiorgio said: “I want to create some excitement down here. So I organized the Bayside Blues Concert Series on Saturday nights with musicians like Todd Wolfe, Sheryl Crow’s former lead guitarist. Between our sunsets, seafood and the blues I think Key Largo will begin to realize its identify as a great destination.”
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