Mmmm. Gator, Frog Legs, Conch, and Grouper

Tiltsta

Tiltsta

Show me your frittatas
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A taste of the Everglades and surrounding ocean with my parents. Headed over to the Everglades city after a week at the parent's place in Naples. Everglades city is a very small town (maybe 500 people) with a notorious reputation as a prime smuggling route into the US for the last 200 years. It is also famous for being the last town on the west coast of Florida. It is jammed between the Everglades and the Gulf of Mexico. It is a little slice of 'old FLorida' from before the building booms of the last century. The place we ate lunch at was the Rod and Gun Club, and it has been an operation restaurant since 1864. The current building was built in 1922 on top of the old place that was destroyed in a hurrican. Something like 9 presidents and a kagillion movie stars have eaten there over the years. We had gulf shrimp, scallops, conch, gator, frog legs, stone crab cakes, mini lobster, deer, grouper, snook, and lots of other local type fare. It was awesome...and now I am full.

Here is a pic of the place. ..

Everglades_City_FL_Rod_and_Gun_Club01.jpg


and the inside....

Everglades%20City%20Rod%20and%20Gun%20Club%20dining%20room%203-L.jpg
 
Apparently, Mick Jagger and Brian Johnson from AC/DC have also eaten there. :thu:

My favorite part, the menu has a very blunt statement on the bottom....

This establishment is not meant to cater to the tastes of the tourist. We have what we have, and we prepare it the way we feel we should. Please trust us and enjoy some classic old Florida cuisine. We can suggest alternative restaurants upon request.
 
Here are a few other pics of the town. Not my photos, but it kind of sets the flavor of the place.

everglades-historical.jpg


Here is the City Hall

city-hall.jpg


Probably not a place to stay, as the rest of the place is private houses, a few bed and breakfasts, a gas station, a small supermarket, and a million air boat ride vendors.
 
And a cool historical fact about Everglades City; It was officially founded after the civil war by Union sympathizers living in the area who supplied food to the naval base on Key West, which also remained in Union hands during the civil. So, the area around Everglades city was under Union control for the entire war.
 
I've never had gator :(

When I was in the Air Force, on a TDY to Las Vegas I went out on a date with a gal I met at the hotel pool to a place called Gators. They served gator tail there but were out of it the night we went. I'd still like to try it some day.
 
Gator is like they say it is. Little chicken, little fish, not terrible, not fantastic.

I've tried some stranger game. Bear was the worst. Greasy, stringy, full of things you spit out...I'd eat it if I had to, but it's not good.
 
The only item off of that list that I haven't had is conch. Grouper is usually my fish of choice. Delicious delicious.
 
lol. I think the similarities end at the swamps and frogs. The more likely cultural influence you would find here for food is Spanish, as we were part of Spain for a very long time.
 
I think the first time I had frog legs I was like 10 years old and tried snails the same night....I wasn't a fan at that age. I've had gator and conch on trips down in FLA in the past but I don't know if I'd put any of them on my favorites list.

Funny...there was a local celebrity chef, Chef Tell, who was supposedly the inspiration for the Swedish Chef, had a restaurant not too far from me and he served a conch fritter & cracked conch, which were supposed to be inspired by his place in the Caymans. A friend that worked there and said that it was often just pork sliced up to look like conch.
 
I remember Chef Tell from TV when I was a kid. He was on one of the Boston stations we got up in New Hampshire.

Weird to substitute conch with pork, as they don't really taste very similar to me. I guess it makes sense, as they were selling shelled conch for like 16 bucks a pound the other day, and maybe a little cheaper at the docks, but none of it was under 12 a pound. Pork is way cheaper, for sure.

I know conch lives in the waters of this area, as my brother scuba dives and collects them and mini lobsters when they are in season for permit divers.
 
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not a fan of gator. Same with turtle. They taste like the swamp water they come from, surprisingly :wink:

conch and grouper on the other hand, are awesomely delicious
 
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