Bucket of blue crabs at Peace River Seafood in Punta Gorda.
Florida fish shacks represent just about everything we love about Florida – fresh air, funky style and fun.
To be a fish shack, a place has to be open to the air. We may use air conditioning, but we know authentic Florida involves sun and breeze and salt air.
To fit our definition, you’d be well-dressed at a fish shack if you’re wearing a T-shirt (and a fashion plate if it’s a Guy Harvey T-shirt.)
Our last criteria seems pretty obvious: You have to serve good fresh fish, and to do that, a fish shack needs a real connection to Florida fishermen; the closer to the source, the better.
We’re still discovering new fish shacks, and we hope we always will. Here, though, are a few of our favorites. What did we miss? Please use our comments field at the bottom to tell us about the place we need to discover next.
Triad Seafood, Everglades City
Stone crabs on the waterfront at Triad Seafood in Everglades City
With a location right on the Barron River, Triad is located on the docks through which Florida’s best and freshest stone crabs pass, including those destined for Joe’s Stone Crab on Miami Beach. Triad, however, has a few advantages over Joe’s. First, you won’t have to hunt for a parking space! Beyond that, you’ll find even fresher stone crabs at lower prices (though you should expect stone crabs to be among your priciest seafood choice.) Being a fish shack, Triad puts on no airs. You dine in a screened patio overlooking the water on picnic tables. “Doesn’t look like much from the outside” is an over-statement. We like the conch fritters and sweet potato fries and the key lime pie gets excellent marks.
Florida Rambler story about stone crabs in Everglades City.
Triad Seafood
401 School Drive West
Everglades City
Peace River Seafood, Punta Gorda
Folks who love crabs have fun at Peace River Seafood in Punta Gorda.
You may think the best blue crabs come from Chesapeake Bay, but Jimmy Beall, co-owner of Peace River Seafood and a long-time area crabber, knows better. And he proves it five days a week with a crab shack that looks like it could be the prototype of a Florida crab shack. Located in a 1927 Cracker cabin, Peace River Seafood is shaded by a big old live oak tree. Even in the summer, it’s all open air, with newspapers on the tables, a parrot squawking on the porch and customers using mallets to crack open their delicious crabs.
Peace River Seafood serves fresh local shrimp, stone crabs, crab cakes, clams, grouper and mahi mahi as well as fresh fish from outside the area, such as salmon and lobster. But crabs are king here. The fresh seafood here is sourced from local Punta Gorda fishermen, and it is also a wholesale market.
Florida Rambler story on Peace River Seafood
Peace River Seafood
5337 Duncan Road
Punta Gorda
941-505-8440
JB’s Fish Camp, New Smyrna Beach
The deck at JB’s Fish Camp, New Smyrna Beach
At JB’s Fish Camp, you know the crabs are fresh because tomorrow’s dinner is crawling around behind the restaurant. Live crabs are kept alive in double-decker “runs,” where they are nurtured until they meet their maker – you –courtesy of JB’s chefs. These crabs are local, when available, and the restaurant has its own leased oyster beds, although the oysters served here may also come from Apalachicola Bay or Louisiana. The clams are equally fresh and often harvested from the lagoon.
JB’s has a pure fish shack ambiance – tablecloths are brown paper rolled out in strips; many visitors arrive by boat or kayak from Mosquito Lagoon. The outdoor deck overlooks the bays and islands of the Halifax River.
While the main attraction is crab, other favorites include rock shrimp and the to-die-for crab balls.
Florida Rambler story on JB Fish Camp
JB’s Fish Camp
859 Pompano Ave.
New Smyrna
Hogfish Grill, Key West
Seating at Hogfish Grill in Key West is under a big chickee hut
Hogfish is as close to the Key West shrimp docks as you can get, and those fresh Key West “pinks” – the local shrimp, which are plump and pinkish-coral color – are one of the two must-haves at the Hogfish. The other, of course, is the hogfish, best experienced in the World Famous Killer Hogfish Sandwich ($14.95.) This signature dish is made with fresh hogfish (a sweet, mild local delicacy caught only via spear-fishing) plus mushrooms and Swiss cheese on Cuban bread.
The Hogfish Grill is located in a hard-to-find working marina on Stock Island, which is located east of Key West and an island through which all Key West traffic must flow. For years, Hogfish was a locals-only spot, with reasonable prices and Conch Republic attitude. In recent years, however, Hogfish has been discovered, and was recently ranked as one of the 30 best seafood restaurants in America by Travel & Leisure.
Visitors will find Hogfish unchanged so far. It’s a big chickee hut with long tables and benches and sometimes loud live music on weekend nights.
Florida Rambler story on Hogfish Grill
Hogfish Bar and Grill
6810 Front Street
Stock Island, FL 33040
305-293-4041
Lazy Flamingo, Bokeelia
There are four Lazy Flamingo locations: One in Bokeelia, two on Sanibel and one in Fort Myers.
This cozy little fish shack is on the north end of Pine Island, accessible by boat from Sanibel or Captiva via Pine Island Sound and from Boca Grande, Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda by way of Charlotte Harbor. By car, take US 78 through Cape Coral and Matlacha, then drive north to the Four Winds Marina.
I love this place and visit often when RV camping nearby. You can dine outside on the deck overlooking the marina or at the bar and dining room inside. And your first order should be “The Pot,” a bucket of two-dozen clams and oysters steamed in beer with special spices, celery and onions. The menu also includes a delightful conch chowder and a hearty grouper sandwich, among other seafood specialties.
There are three other Lazy Flamingoes in the area – two on Sanibel and one in Fort Myers – but I’ve never been and cannot attest to their ambience. If you are staying in the area, you can rent a boat slip at the marina for a straight shot to pristine Cayo Costa Island.
Lazy Flamingo
16501 Stringfellow Road
Bokeelia
DJ’s Deck, Port Orange
The deck at DJ’s Deck, Port Orange.
One of my favorite dining destinations when in the Daytona Beach area, DJ’s Deck is your classic seafood and raw bar, and it’s a favorite of locals. (I know locals that eat there religiously.) You order from the menu at the window and pick it up when it’s ready. Waitresses move through the picnic tables spread across the dock under clusters of tiki huts to refresh your beverages.
The menu is your standard fish shack: fried, grilled or blackened specialties, such as the fish-of-the-day dinner ($12.99), grilled mahi ($13.99) or my mom’s favorite, the fried scallops ($14.99). We never go there without pounding down a bucket of oysters or clams ($19.99) and a bowl of chowder ($4.99).
At times, you have to dodge the line of fisherman who sell their catch at the ice house next door, but that adds to the flavor of DJ’s. If you want a slightly less casual indoor dining experience, visit the “Down Under” on the other side of the parking lot.
DJ’s Deck
9 Dunlawton Ave.
Port Orange
More authentic Florida dining experiences:
- Eight Key West restaurants for local flavor
- Florida Keys best tiki bars
- Historic Florida restaurants: A meal with a story
