Pigg'n out in Key West: January 2013

When me and my friend arrived at the festival with our kids, we loaded up our strollers and rolled out to get an eye-full of the big-deal seafood festival here in seafood-y Key West.

The festival is held in a grassy park. There were maaany, many booths set up, selling all sorts of things from bouy wall decorations to tiki candle holders to pocket books for both women and men. There's a tall white stage where the bands were performing towards the front--which were pretty entertaining (there was a crazy guy playing guitar and doing beats off of big silver pots--it was pretty wild). And as you make your way behind the audience, you'll find all of the food booths!!

I hopped in the Conch Fritters line right away, while my friend, Alise, stood in the line for Lobster, Fish and Combo Plates.

The lines were long to say the least. BUT the booths were very efficient, the line moved right along with no problems. They definitely prepped well.

Conch Fritters with Cocktail Sauce

Okay, so these are the conch fritters. Conch is a sea snail..it's meat in a shell from the ocean--it's SEAFOOD. When I see "Conch Fritters" I'm thinking there's going to be some battered, fried conch. But for some reason, whenever I've seen this term and ordered it, I get some kind of hush puppy with itty bitty teeny pieces of "conch" inside. It really makes me wonder what's going on. This is what I'm talking about:

Do you see any conch?? Anywhere? Maayyybbee a little piece to the left, there..maybe. But $6 for fritters at a festival nonetheless was still pretty good. They tasted good. They were freshly fried and crispy. I like the flavor and little kick of the black pepper--but still, where's the conch??

So I meet up with Alise who has been waiting in line and she got me the "Combination" plate which consisted of half a grilled lobster, fried fish (though, I'm not sure what type of fish), yellow rice and black beans and coleslaw:

I must say, being from south Louisiana, I was surprised that the fried fish was as flavorful as it was. It was moist and crispy and seasoned very well. The lobster was perhaps a bit overcooked, but had a nice jous inside the head from the mixing of fat and butter :). Black beans and rice are always good. I'm not a fan of cole slaw, but Alise said it was good, and it made her reconsider not eating cole slaw for the past few years. Perhaps the only drawback was the price. $18 for this one plate.

There was also the Lobster plate which was just 2 lobsters (as the one seen) and the same sides for $20, Just a fish plate for $19. There were also fried clams--that is, from this one particular booth.

BUT the food doesn't stop there. There were the Key West "pinks" (which are the pink shrimp caught here in the keys), more lobster, cuban coffee and bread, conch salad, conch chowder, and I heard that there were conch sausage/hot dogs. We also got ice cream from a Wisconsin ice cream joint. I'm so sorry I can't remember the name or even got a picture of it--but that was really good. A real treat!

So, where, you ask, do all of these people with all of these plates who need both hands to snack on their delectables eat? I'll show you:

There were about 3 of the above long tables where people line up to peel their shrimp and peel lobsters out of their shells. The below stations were in two separate sections of the park, and allowed you to be closer to the bands and eat at the same time. The decor is so fitting--lobster/crab traps!

Oh yes!! I can't forget! There was BEER! You could buy it in pint size in a yellow translucent beer mug (you can see people holding them on the left in the picture), then get reduced priced refills as many times as you like! There was also wine. It was Barefoot wine, and $6 or $7 per glass

Last, but certainly not least, we cannot forget the kids. The kids have their own separate land here with several bouncy houses, rock climbing wall, water play, and the jumpers with the cables.