Foodie stops along the Keys

      We did find a couple of different foodie places here on the Keys. One was on Non Name Key. It was the Non Name Pub.  An interesting name. We found it while seeking some endangered Key Deer. We had a pizza which on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best, we gave it a 1. We don’t usually rate things by numbers, just good or bad etc. But this time we use a number to show our disapproval of the meal. This is our opinion. We sure disagree with the Zagat rating, wonder when that was done. It was not at all to our liking.  Other things may have been a better choice. Interesting history of No Name. At one time it was a brothel, then general store. See their web site  www.nonamepub.com  The positive thing about the place was we “found it”, see the picture of the sign.

Inside, every spot on the walls and ceiling  are covered with dollar bills

 

     Our next foodie place was Key Fisheries, Market and Marina. Linda wanted to try the lobster Reuben. Saw it advertised on a billboard claiming they sold over 200,000. Linda really liked it, for me it was just ok. I had Conch chowder and fried Conch. Both were very good. All the tables are water front. We will be back to try a few other items on the menu.  While there we saw a number of great catches  from sport fishermen come into the marina. See more at their web site www.keysfisheries.com  Disappointed in the fact that no conch is harvested in the Florida Keys. Told by the owner it is illegal to harvest conch in the Keys. So much for the Conch Republic. He said most  the conch comes from the Caribbean  area. So why do we not see conch all over the US.? I can't confirm this. I checked the internet and found varying stories.  

 

The lobster Reuben

the restaurant

Now that's horsepower

a lot of fish, back of truck is full of large cans of fish going to a restaurant

       We also learned  about  lobster fishing here in the Keys.  Next to the restaurant was a commercial lobster business. We talked to several of the lobstermen and the owner of the restaurant about all the lobster traps we saw.  They have 10,000 traps. This is just one of many lobster businesses. They pay a state fee of $135. per tag for each trap. That’s a whooping sum of money. I didn’t do the math. According to the owner of the restaurant  they did over a billion dollars of business last year. They have an assembly line each day to pack “live” lobsters for shipment to China. They load them into tractor trailers that go to Detroit and are flown to Beijing China.  Don’t know why Detroit, but that’s what I was told. They use to get 5 to 7 dollars a pound but are now getting 24-25 dollars a pound. Wonder why the price of lobster is getting so high.

Making lobster traps, buoys, part of the fleet, piles of traps with buoys inside each one.