Key West - Turtle Kraals

OK, now you are all sure the old guy is losing it. Not only did the last post ramble on with little talk of food, but this time he is going to do a repeat of a post that he did last year. I bet he even gushes on about the brisket again, and what's with all these turtle pictures? He will probably tell more sick jokes about how they use to butcher poor little turtles here. Gee, guys give me a break, the turtles are pretty cute and the brisket is still quite good. You watch TV, just think of this as a rerun.

Yes folks, it's Turtle Kraals. (Check out last years post in case you don't remember what that means.)

We always hang out at the harbor a lot when we visit Key West. There are many restaurants around the harbor, and I must admit we have not eaten at most of them. Key West food can be pretty pricy, but the places near the water seem to be the most expensive. Most any evening you could find us sitting on the upper deck at either Schooner Wharf or Turtle Kraals. On the hottest day there is always a cool breeze blowing in from the gulf and there is much activity on the docks below to give you opportunity for people watching. Many beers and desserts were enjoyed there. There is always good music drifting in the air from the many live music venues nearby. This is what paradise is really like.

Well, we did eat the brisket with Southwestern yellow rice, vegetable medley, salad or slaw, and cornbread with jalapenos. (My beef got cold from me taking the time to pick all the peppers out of my cornbread. That is my only complaint.)

Good stuff and it only cost us  $45 with drinks and tip.

Another trip scored us some of their perfect Key lime pie.

Two pies, two beers, two ice teas cost $25 with tip. Sometimes I tip too much, but our waiter Eric was a good kid and came here from the Midwest and stayed. It is hard living in this town. Most young folks work 2 or 3 jobs just to pay the rent. But, like Eric, they all seem happy and glad they escaped  to the Keys.

The last image is of a place we did not eat at. The place is right next to Turtle Kraals. I don't care how much skin the happy lady on the sign shows, she ain't gonna convince me to eat fish bait.

Bon  Ton  Roulett  Y'all  

Gene and Nancy

“I will play for gumbo.” – JB

Turtle Kraals ... Time For Brisket / Key West 13

EATING DOWN HIGHWAY ONE


With Gene Morgan and his favorite traveling companion Nancy

OK, Turtle Kraals is an odd name for a bar and grill. In the old days there were lots of sea turtles in the Keys. This is the dock where they used to brings loads of turtles to be butchered and cut up for turtle soup. The smell is almost gone. (I know I used that before, but I just call ’em as I see ‘em.) There aren’t many turtles left in the surrounding waters. I guess more people like turtle soup than I ever imagined. (Carrie's note: Aww, poor turtles!  Save the turtles!!*sniffle*)

Nancy does not usually like crab meat, But they had some great crab cakes in a buffet up on Duval Street. They had really fresh crab in them and were nice and sweet and she tried them. When out late one night after a sunset catamaran cruise we stopped at Turtle Kraals for little snack. I talked Nancy into trying their crab/spinach dip. Nancy’s exact words were: “Awesome, Dude!” The weird skinny crackers were decent as well. The dip was so tasty we took half of it back to our cottage with us and ate it on sandwiches the next day.

We eat seafood as much as we can when we are in the Keys, but after a few days we are actually ready for a bit of a modification to our all crustacean diet. There used to be a great restaurant uptown next to the Green Parrot Bar called The Meteor Smokehouse. They had the best Texas brisket I have ever tasted. Unfortunately they went out of business. We hunted all around the Keys for some good beef, and were surprised to find it on the Turtle Kraals’ menu.

This brisket was a fine hunk of cow that came with rice, yellow squash, and jalapeno corn bread. The bread made me sad because I love the corn, but just can’t handle those hot Mexican peppers. What a shame. But the bread was all that was left on the plates when we were done.