At The Oasis

We met my oldest Florida friend for lunch when she came down from the mainland for a visit. I met Denise in the Florida Keys in 1981 and she hasn't changed, still a traveler, a native Floridian who gets annoyed by the trashing of her state but won't give up on it. In the spirit of never having eaten Uzbek food before she sat down with Layne and I to lunch at Oasis on White Street. My wife's favorites: eggplant rolls filled with cheese.

Because I love cheese kachapuri is my favorite, a combination of melted cheese with a fried egg on top which you mush together inside the edible containment ring which is a pastry that resembles a pizza crust. Dig in:

I describe Oasis as an Uzbek restaurant but honestly I'm not sure which bit is Georgian (not that Georgia, the other one), which is Ubzek and which if any might be Tadjik. I do harbor an ambition to drive the Silk Road aboard Gannet 2 if we survive all the other mad plans that are brewing in my over fertilized imagination. If we do get there I will report back on how faithfully these excellent restauranteurs replicated their dishes from home.

Denise asked the waitress very politely if she was Uzbek, and that tentative question opened a flood gate! No the woman said, I'm a Tadjik so of course I pointed out that to most Americans it's a distinction without a difference. I mean, I've been reading about the Silk Road and looking at maps because I'm a nerd that way and I can barely sort one 'Stan from another. Well, she was having none of it, and pointed out that anyone who asked about her nationality assumed she was Korean or some such, much to her annoyance. I speak six languages, I can write Russian, but I am Tadjik and that's not at all the same as Uzbek. Denise herself pointed out to me later she can't sort any of the 'Stans out either. Clearly there is much studying left to do.

The dessert selection at the Oasis wasn't up to match, the usual chocolate/key lime stuff found anywhere in Key West. I'm not sure what Uzbeks (or Tadjiks for that matter) eat for pudding ut I'm pretty sure it would be interesting. I was thinking pistachios and honey might be involved. I've seen long thick sausages of some pasty stuff in pictures on Google maps with locals licking their lips but we got none of that here at the heart of civilization. Instead we crossed the street to check out the All American Key West Cakes. When all else fails a Key Lime cupcake does very nicely thank you. Especially when served by a youngster with much energy and a sense of humor. He did try to smile but the mask made by his mother smothered the effect I think.

Our future home squeezed into a parking spot. Pretty versatile I think you'll agree.

Santiago’s Bodega

Our very good friend Gary and his wife Barbara bought us a retirement dinner at Santiago's Bodega, the notoriously delicious tapas restaurant on Petronia Street at the corner of Emma. 

I like their Portuguese wines the whites tend to be tart and fruity and light and especially delicious when you see the rich food. However their sangria comes in red and white and we usually go there for the festivtive flavor of fruit and wine. We chose red.

The gazpacho cup was fresh and peppery but the shrimp bisque was really divine, as our server Sam assured us it would be. 

We both knew Sam from various exercise classes, and I really like her work ethic. She is a thin and flexible blond with none of the attributes of the bad jokes. She made our evening extra special and it was a nice way to say good bye.

We reserved outdoor seats after Layne's doctor approved eating outdoors as safe for her immune system. Dr Ritter is an unusually cautious  doctor so an outdoor table was surprisingly do-able. We did it.

"Fierce potatoes" aren't Layne's favorites but I am fond of tubers and to get them all roasted and creamy and spicy and mixed in with peppers and olives makes them perfect.  Papas bravas every time. 

The quesadillas are crisps of cheese with a sweet and cheesy topping. Very rich and very filling. 

Mushroom puffs because puff pastry and mushrooms can't be beat...except by those potatoes!

Rack of lamb.

We haven't eat since June when we met friends at the outdoor tables at Off the Hook on Caroline Street.

Happily Santiago's didn't miss a beat and the evening escape from packing boxes was well worth while.

Bread pudding was an extravagance, a sugary brioche with ice cream.

I have no idea how to smile for the camera but I enjoyed playing with my iPhone mini.

Parking was crap as always so we walked two blocks to the car which in point of fact was no bad things as the food needed to be settled. 

I don't know how some people eat out every night. Aside from the expense the rich flavors packed with salt and fats and exaggerations that make an occasional indulgence memorable, would make me dyspeptic.

A glance up Petronia Street, then a  short walk down Emma Street and finally home.

Moose Pit Sandwiches

It is possible that the Moose Lodge may have arrived at the cutting edge of hip food trends, and how they managed that I'm not at all sure. The Moose Pit is at the back of the place, an actual hole in the wall that serves really delicious sandwiches.

It's simple enough, virus proof  outdoor tables, a  barbecue barrel and a counter at the door at the back of the lodge. This is the Moose Pit. They serve Maryland style barbecue, usually beef, called pit barbecue.

I am aware of the barbecue pride that drives people nuts between the Carolinas, tomato versus vinegar and mustard and all that versus Texas versus Kansas and on and on. I've tried them all and I like them all. I'm not just saying that to avoid getting flamed, I like variety so I was curious to come to terms with Baltimore pit beef.

Apparently roadside grills started appearing outside Baltimore in the 1970s and people learned to enjoy thinly sliced beef, crusty on the outside with horseradish on a  Kaiser roll. Their fame was spread by Key West's own Boog Powell who started his baseball career at Key West High and is properly famous for playing for the Baltimore Orioles. Apparently he owns several pit barbecue restaurants there and has made Maryland beef as popular as their more famous crabs. 

My friend Robert said this was a place to try and he was right. I had the giardiniera (above) with pickled vegetables and baked beans while Robert had the Philadelphia a recreation of a cheese steak more or less. They also have delicious Utz chips whgich my wife will be glad to know I turned my back on.

He calls himself Jersey and he makes a mean sandwich. He even had a pork special but we went traditional.  I think I need to get my wife a sample to go. It was good.

Keys Weekly gave them some ink shortly after they opened in March. Sandwich Master LINK.
 

Off The Hook

Snowy grouper they called the special which my wife and I both ordered for dinner. As good as it looks.

Off the Hook was a favorite before the pandemic and they are still here on Caroline Street with outdoor seating as good as ever for us vaccinated scaredy cats. It was a good meal in good company.

I dislike being the one with the camera so Ed (director) and Marilyn (producer) obliged by exchanging shots over the outdoor table.

Marilyn says the pizza at Off the Hook is the best she's ever had and I had some and it really was good, not salty, crisp and not overloaded. 

I was surprised to see dog bowls and even a  fenced dog area behind the musician's dais with a  fire hydrant and seating for humans. A waiter came out with a bone and our neighbor dug in under his table.

Gosh, I spent the evening feeling guilty for leaving Rusty at home...

The music covers happy hour and ends at seven pm so our fears of not being able to hear each other were exaggerated. It was a very pleasant evening.

And we did the right thing.

Summer dusk cooled by the usual June breeze. It was the perfect evening to eat outside and I mentioned I was surprised to see the snowbirds at our table still in town. They have learned to enjoy early summer in Key West thanks to the pandemic they said. It's nicer than Baltimore.

One gets the feeling that is a new perception of people used to feeling the great heat wave every Easter. Our secret is out. We had  Key Lime ice cream wedged between Snickerdoodle cookies to compensate.

Off the Hook, off the charts. Great service, on point and not intrusive and I really like their Founders All Day IPA a beer with character but without the bitterness of high alcohol beers brewed for people who claim to enjoy bitter beers. I am related to a few of them and I am held in disrepute for preferring beer below 5%. Off the Hook caters to me thank goodness. 

Café Marquesa

Our visitor said I want to take you guys out to dinner. Okay my wife said and  got us reservations at six o'clock right after my shift ended. Which is how we ended up at Café Marquesa. We walked in and I realized I did not even have  a mask in my pocket. Only the staff were masked and the diners, all adults, were one supposed, like us vaccinated.

You can imagine the emotions, sitting down and being waited on like we were people who mattered, talking about this and that, it was all banal and normal and profoundly changed. A quick zip to get us started, amusing our mouths:

We came to the café years ago and found the experience profoundly unsatisfactory, a  snobbish affair and  not at all welcoming. The pity of it is that was an age ago and obviously everything has  changed, in this town change is the constant and we have deprived ourselves of the possibility over the years of a special night out. 

The food was excellent, not salty, not gimmicky but also not quite normal. I don't normally eat shrimp and grits with broth but after this example I wish I did. Layne had friend green tomatoes which she loves for some reason only here they came with smoked swordfish:

I joked it was an upscale tuna fish sandwich (which I really  like in normal life) but once again the odd mixture of ingredients made the dish special.  Therese had oysters Rockefeller, a classic made perfect and creamy and not overly overdone. Sharing was the order of the night of course as my wife says sharing food is an unwritten marriage vow.

I've never had flash fried osso buco before, but the chef explained the meat is brined and marinated before being fried and naturally the meat fell of the bone. Layne likes duck and she found hers with - not an orange sauce but cherry!- the best she's had....It was the theme of the evening.

Therese ordered Sancerre to drink and scallops to eat which were of course perfect and we spent two hours dawdling like the good old days.

If Café du Monde in New Orleans could produce beignets like these I would be happy, but they don't. These are soft and vanilla flavored, airy doughnut balls perfect to end a meal on. Therese gave us the history lesson them and said they were developed as siege food when all other ingredients ran out and only oil and flour were left. My kind of starvation diet.

Because we had gone mad, or perhaps because Therese started out dinner with a brandy (wild woman) we ordered three puddings including a pot of chocolate and a slice of Key Lime Pie, properly tart. There used to be a lady in the Torch Keys who made pies for Parrotdise the restaurant that went away and she made the best Key Lime Pie in the Keys (fighting words). This has to be a close contender to win that title.  Who would have expected that in a place like this? Fishermen's food made right.

Even the toilet had me fascinated  studying this contact sheet of photos from Havana I'm guessing.

Worth a visit. Definitely. 

Walk it off!

A serene yet breezy evening in Key West.