Best Cracked Conch In Key West ((FULL))

Best decor: This seafood shack may look like it's barely standing, but the food certainly holds its own. What began as a makeshift food truck in the 70s, opened by local legend Buddy Owen, has become a staple in Key West. The fresh fish sandwiches are simple, yet the best in town. Bobby Flay and his Food Network camera crew even paid a visit for the cracked conch sandwich--tiny strips of fried conch stuffed between fresh Cuban bread and shot with Key Lime mayo. Conch fritters, salads, burgers, and hot dogs are equally tasty, and the anything-goes atmosphere sums up the entire town. The restaurant stays open until 9:30 p.m. on most nights (they'll close early if they aren't busy), and on Friday nights, you can enjoy an all-out musical jam session.

Best conch fritters: This blink-and-you'll-miss-it corner stand doesn't look like much, but they have some of the best conch fritters in Key West. You may have to wait a few minutes if there's a line, but it's worth it. The fritters are made to order, perfectly cooked and served with a Key lime aioli. If you score one of the few stools at their walk-up bar, settle in with a cold beer to watch the parade of people going past. If it's a warm day, they turn on misters to help everyone stay cool. Note that their hours are based on island time: "11ish to 10ish weeknights and 'til midnight on weekends." If it's raining, all bets are off.

If looking for one of the best breakfast in Key Largo stop here for their signature eggs Benedicts. Try the cracked conch Benedict topped with lobster and conch ceviche if you love seafood. Other favorites include the key lime macadamia pancakes or the cajun shrimp and grits.

For dinner, start off with the Conch House sampler with conch fritters, coconut shrimp, cracked conch and conch ceviche. Entrees include fresh catch of local caught fillets either grilled, fried or blackened. The local caught hogfish is amazing, as are the conch house tacos. Not to worry for the vegetarians, they serve a veggie curry.

A fun part of the Lazy Lobster is you can bring your fresh catch to be cooked by Chef Lupe, if you happened to take a fishing charter earlier in the day! On the dinner menu you will find fried cracked conch and lazy conch, raw oysters, a lobster dinner special served a variety of ways from Matecumbe style to Islamorado or Key Lime style.

This Upper Key favorite has been around since 1982, serving fish like Mahi-mahi, yellowtail snapper, and grouper in a myriad of creative ways that include Black and Bleu (topped with blue cheese crumbles and baked, then topped with a cream sauce of bleu cheese, garlic, blackening seasoning, and white wine) and Hemingway (lightly breaded with Italian breadcrumbs and baked, topped with white wine, garlic, basil cream sauce). Other popular items include fried cracked conch, and coconut shrimp served with poppyseed mango dressing.

The Conch Shack -- Many aficionados will tell you that The Conch Shack serves the best conch fritters on Key West in the Keys. For dipping sauces, you can choose from a spicy pink option or one with a Key lime base. If you're trying to stay away from fried foods, try the cracked conch with Key lime aioli instead.

If you happen to pass by this ramshackle joint without knowing what it is, you might be afraid to go in. It looks like someone upended a junk shop in the corner of a parking lot. But go in. I urge you. In his younger years, Buddy Owen (nicknamed B.O.) ran a little fried fish shack in a lot on Duval Street. It was the ideal life: He'd cook the perfect grouper for folks at mealtimes, but when he wasn't working, he'd be out fishing all day and carousing all night. Life changes, though, and Buddy got married, had a kid, and when his Duval Street lot was developed, he set up shop on this corner, cobbling together a shelter out of old lobster pots, mannequin legs, concrete, license plates, and an entire vintage pickup truck. He's been here for two decades now, raising a family through sales of the perfect fish sandwich, greasy burger, endless refills of key limeaid, fried grouper and cracked conch, non-seafood "Landwiches," hand-cut fries, and Friday music nights that have attracted locals for years. The free-spirited kitchen staff may sit on the serving counter while they casually take your order, the food may take its sweet time, and if you're very lucky indeed, Buddy himself, now a pillar of the Conch community, may make an appearance. You'll know him because he looks like Hemingway himself. Usually, though, he lets the party he started rock on without him. And if you look on the rafters above the western door, you'll spot a European license plate from the 1980s: number 10M-5018. That hung on the desk of a certain young travel writer as he went through high school. That's my license plate, and when Buddy was building his new home, I donated it to his iconic clutter. Now it presides over what I have always considered to be the best conch fritters in Key West and one of the most authentic local customs it still has to offer.

Those of us who have lived in South Florida for some time may remember when conch, freshly harvested from the sea, was readily available in grocery stores and fish markets. My first recollection of conch was watching young boys pulling them up onto the pier at Higgs Beach in Key West. A few weeks later, I learned to prepare a truly authentic Bahamian-style conch chowder using giant conch, or Strombus gigas Linnaeus, a mollusk that possesses a large "foot." They meander around on the ocean floor like aquatic peg-leg pirates, "jumping" and rotating to get food. The Bahamians taught us many ways to use this tasty creature and you can still sample fresh conch fritters, cracked conch, conch chowder and even conch carpaccio in Key West. If conch is unavailable, you may easily substitute shrimp in this salad recipe. 2b1af7f3a8