The tourist trade still looks busier than you might think in Key West, though there are caveats to the financial well being one might expect from all the traffic there is still in town. The lodging association reports beds are still getting slept[t in though the nightly rates have dropped considerably from the crazy flights of the boom years. Restaurants still put knees under tables but patrons are choosing cheaper and sharing more, and everyone is running specials of one sort or another... These are hard times and I've noticed at night that Duval Street is wrapping it up early because this is family time, kids are out of school and bar flies just aren't there to get in trouble and start drunken fights and all the nastiness associated with winter revelers. In addition to being the times that try men's souls, these are also the times that favor established businesses and well known, reliable providers. 
Thus it was that on my wife's first trip into town following shoulder surgery we met friends at Azur, a café that describes itself as Mediterranean in style and which my wife and I had never previously visited. The weather was crap outside and I previously published pictures of the down pour that accompanied our return home, but inside the restaurant offered a pleasant contrast to the gray outside, warm wooden floors and serene blue decor and a fascinating menu:
Frankly I thought Carole's effort to be "good" yielded the least interesting result, a light and colorless frisee and endive salad with some olives and an appearance bland enough I didn't bother to taste it. This next one was my wife's $9 flat bread with lamb and it was as delicious as it looked: 
If my wife's lamb had Eastern overtones, Kathy's flat bread was what I called the Jewish Mediterranean plate, based on lox and cream cheese: 
My choice was perhaps not so adventurous but I enjoyed every bite of a fresh and genuine old favorite:
While I choose the Caprese sandwich, fresh mozzarella and tomatoes in proper Italian style, the idea was to share, as my wife says sharing food is part of the marriage vows in the Jewish culture. However, it turns out sharing ain't necessarily so if you've got the lamb flat bread and your husband has the very serviceable but not as alluring dish...but at least I got a taste of hers and she admitted my sandwich was entirely delicious, just not as delicious as hers.
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The service was attentive and not intrusive which is how I like it and we got all the iced tea we could have wanted (this was a working day for half the table). I was tempted to ask for a glass of milk to see how the French waitress would take such an outlandish American request, but I was trying to be on my best behavior, so I refrained. I think she would have coped just fine actually. Azur, which is on Grinnell at Fleming, offers breakfast all day and they have lots of standard egg dishes and pancakes along with Key Lime Pie (! for breakfast!!) or something called sweet Portuguese bread and even carbonara pasta (yes! for breakfast!!). It wasn't the day to eat outdoors but we will be back because this place has shot to the top of our short list of interesting, value packed places to eat. And it has a cozy bar to boot:
11 comments:
I will add this to my list for my next visit - looks wonderful!
sandratee by the way - but I've lost the tee ...
you lost the tee? supporting the nude beach ground swell I take it. very nice.
honorable conch, sir. this looks like a fitting establishment. I shall put it on my list of places to visit when I employ your pedal cab tour guide services in the near future.
-Peace
Speaking of nude beaches, did you all see the story that the American Decency Association (I think that was it) has posted on their website a form to send letters to the KW City Commission expressing outrage over the idea of a nude beach, the breach of public morality, etc... I would expect it's quite an amusing read, but when I went to read it, their server had crashed from the traffic. LOL!
Diana in Citrus
Dear Sir:
With nearly 50% of the American population sinking into the pavement becauise they are huge fatties, where do you come off advocating pasta and key lime pie for breakfast? I came across statistics yesterday that claim the earth's rotation will have a wobble in it due to the huge asses now attached to the American public. I don't think you should use valuable blog space to contribute to the problem.
Furthermore, a recent New York Time article states that the skinniest people in the US, and therefore the most attractive, now reside in Manhattan. Do you realize what this means for a Key Wrest economy that depends so heavily on skin (especially in October)?
What would be the point of putting in a nude beach if it attracts Japanese whalers to the shallower waters? I would remind you that we all have a new-found responsibility to eliminate American fat asses by 25% this year.
There must be a premier dining establishment in Key West that serves shoots, grubs, and native tree bark.
Fondest regards,
Jack "reep" Toad
Mr Conchscooter:
MMMMMM, key lime pie, one of my favo(u)rites . . .
bob
bobskoot: wet coast scootin
Jack,
Manhattan makes since. People walk there. Hmm, people walk in KW as well. I wonder if the permeate populace is too small to get into the aforementioned stat. I don't generally recall too many "whalers" in the locals - just turtle skin brown.
Oh, Caprese salad sounds like a good lunch - need to walk up to the store for the mozzarella. MMMMM
Conch et al.
I'd write a longer post today however, it seems I'm otherwise occupied in an attempt to hurredly draft a response to the ADA's petition brought to our attention by Diana's post. My group, the American Society for Serendipity (A.S.S.) is prepared to couner with a petition for unbridled nudity on the beaches of Key West... We haven't quite figured out how we'll deal with the question of the alarmingly large asses Jack had eluded to...we have a team working on just that... I'll keep you all posted as events unfold.
everybody needs to calm down. Fort Myers Beach has fired their city manager ( the former manager of Marathon) for being married to a porn star. True story, she acts in films of the type that riepe likes and she is blonde and she has got her hubby fired ( with a six months severance). And he is a toad like baldy. Key West cannot be duplicated elsewhere in Florida.
Yes, I Facebooked the News Press article. They fired him to avoid a media storm later - hmm - that shipped sailed.
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