Before he finished his vacation GarytheTourist wanted to meet for one last breakfast and I figured that a truly local's place is El Mocho on Stock Island. The wonky thing about Key West is the constant search for what locals do and where they eat and so forth, so I figured a proper greasy spoon would do. Eggs and bacon and grits and con leche.
We went all the way and had a slice of American cheese on the grits. It may be disappointing but local's food is not fancy nor is it the place to see or be seen. El Mocho serves Cuban food for lunch and enough of it that one plate serves two, which makes eating here economical. Not romantic but not pricey.
El Mocho offers no air conditioning if you want to be coddled but it is a refuge from the bright summer sunlight outside.
We walked Cheyenne for a bit and talked and Gary left me some discs of pictures he's taken around here. I plan to use them during the month of July while I'm on vacation riding a motorcycle in mountains.
I gave Gary the lowdown on life in the Keys as I see it and he took my observations in good part, so perhaps listening to me rant is better than eating grits with American cheese. It doesn't sound like much of a choice to me. The next time you're on a Key West forum and they are asking where the locals eat and you see a list of names that doesn't include El Mocho you will know what to think. Bring your white rubber boots, just like the commercial fishermen do. On second thoughts, don't because the boots are their prized and privileged uniform, just come as you are.
We went all the way and had a slice of American cheese on the grits. It may be disappointing but local's food is not fancy nor is it the place to see or be seen. El Mocho serves Cuban food for lunch and enough of it that one plate serves two, which makes eating here economical. Not romantic but not pricey.El Mocho offers no air conditioning if you want to be coddled but it is a refuge from the bright summer sunlight outside.We walked Cheyenne for a bit and talked and Gary left me some discs of pictures he's taken around here. I plan to use them during the month of July while I'm on vacation riding a motorcycle in mountains.I gave Gary the lowdown on life in the Keys as I see it and he took my observations in good part, so perhaps listening to me rant is better than eating grits with American cheese. It doesn't sound like much of a choice to me. The next time you're on a Key West forum and they are asking where the locals eat and you see a list of names that doesn't include El Mocho you will know what to think. Bring your white rubber boots, just like the commercial fishermen do. On second thoughts, don't because the boots are their prized and privileged uniform, just come as you are.
4 comments:
Dear Pam and Gary/Greg I had to redoe the whole essay and lost your kind comments because Windows 9 and blogspot don't seem entirely compatible yet. Or p[erhaps it';s me thats not compatible. Pam- take El Mocho for what it is and enjoy the ambiance. Gary/Greg your pix start July 1st, three a day for the month and I will drop in some stuff by iPad I hope as I travel. Thank you so much.
You are very welcome and I thank you. It was a pleasure to meet you. We will probably be back next year and I hope to see you then. By that time the surviving family of Walt Disney will have announced that they are purchasing the Keys with the intent of turning the whole shebang into a theme park named DisKey Land and your home will be worth well over 6 million, there won't be a home for sale anywhere in the Keys and El Mocho will be an extremely clean upscale eatery specializing in their famous cheese grits made with the finest Vermont Cheddar personally churned by the hands of many elves and which can only be purchased with Disney Dollars. See you then my friend.
Gary
It is a future that I look forward to, serving the visitors in my french maid's uniform.
That will teach me to hit "preview"...poof, my comment was gone so I'll try again. Speaking of "Key West forums", you were the one who prompted me to ask my bf (a local) about El Mocho before I became a local. He had been before but not recently and he drove me by it. Anyway, many months later I moved to Key West and on a day the bf had a fishing tournament, I went to El Mocho and got a ropa vieja sandwich, a bowl of chicken soup, and a con leche to go...for $11. The sandwich was enough for two lunches, but I dug into it like I was on death row. Anyway, the bf and I will go one of these days very soon as I've never had breakfast there and I'm very excited to try it.
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