Candid Florida

Black Hammock Fish Camp

One of the first genuine Florida adventures I was introduced to upon arriving back as a resident after a long absence was the crazy quilt of outdoors and dining that is Black Hammock Fish Camp, not far from Orlando along Lake Jesup in Oviedo.

The restaurant is down-home and tasty, featuring farm grown alligator and seafood. At the time I visited, you had to slip and slide down a sand road, much like driving in snow, to get there. The road’s since been paved but rambles through old orange groves in a blissfully agricultural district of Seminole County.

Beyond the restaurant, it’s a complex of entertainment and outdoors: a marina and boat ramp, waterfront tiki bar and shop full of trinkets and Ts, an alligator pit, and airboat rides on Lake Jesup. Now I’ve experienced for a fact that Lake Jesup is full of alligators. So if you’re hankering to see some, either hatchlings in a tank, gator tail on your plate, or the big guys in the lake, this is the place to be.

Black Hammock Fish Camp
2356 Black Hammock Fish Camp Road
Oviedo, FL 32765
407-365-1244

Now Lake Butler is truly a Florida backroads town, huddled along the shores of a beautiful cypress-lined lake that they keep all to themselves. It’s another railroad town dating back a century and more, and quiet as the day is long. I know of it mainly since the Florida Trail cuts right through the middle of town, and hikers are encouraged to ask for permission to camp in the city park along the lake. I’ve stopped here before and dined at the Butler Seafood House to my satisfaction before, but this visit had a challenge attached – we were warned the food wasn’t as good as the last visit. And I learned my lesson. Don’t order beef in a seafood restaurant! The burgers, sadly, were uninspired. But the country buffet sure looked good. If it weren’t for all the eager teachers swarming across it, we might have ordered it. I’m not giving up on them yet, especially since the cashier was nice enough to give us a discount for waiting so long for the clouds of young teachers to clear the room. I’d suggest, however, sticking with country favorites and fried seafood.

Butler Seafood House & Grille
315 N Lake Ave, Lake Butler
(386)-496-3700
www.butlerseafoodhouse.com

For fresh, local wild-caught crab, Peace River Seafood, a funky little shack along US 17 north of Punta Gorda will have you wishing you could eat here every evening. It’s an unpretentious place, an old Cracker house with a talkative parrot on the porch, dollar bills stapled on the walls, and a nautical theme like you’d expect in a seafood house.

But this is no ordinary seafood house. The menu comes direct from the local catch, and the owner himself is a crabber. That means fresh stone crabs in season, blue crab, jumbo shrimp — all of the bounty of the nearby Gulf of Mexico, with a little ‘gator thrown in for good measure, and a fresh fish market to stock your cooler for the drive home. Every evening there’s a different seafood soup or stew, and entrees range from $10-35. If you don’t like seafood, go somewhere else and save the space for us! Open Tue-Sat, closes 8 PM.

Peace River Seafood
5337 Duncan Road (US 17 north), Punta Gorda
(941) 505-8440

Once settled in Pensacola (a month ago today or so) for the eve, I called my brother-in-law Jeff, newly residing in Pensacola,  and made plans to go out on the town. He consulted his brother, a long-time Pensacola resident, and came up with two options: a popular Irish pub or the Pensacola Fish House. It didn’t take long to decide: when on the water, fish is best!

Right along the bay downtown, the Pensacola Fish House is a hopping place, especially on a Friday night. It took a little while to get a seat, and we had to eat outdoors.  We both ordered seafood, of course, mine a spicy shrimp dish. The chef’s into Asian fusion, so there were a lot of funky tastes with the sauces and accompaniments, but it worked. I wasn’t so pleased with the Lemon Drop martini, however, as it wasn’t tart like the ones I’ve had elsewhere. And I drink so infrequently, it was a little disappointing.  But the tasty meal was well worth pushing through the swinging Friday eve crowd to ask for a seat on the deck — a bit chilly with the breeze off the water.