Top Five Picks for ”Key West Character”
By Margit Bisztray, Food Critic


NOTE: The Winter/Spring Top Five Video is available online. Just click to watch Margit's Top Five Restaurants for Key West Character


It’s High Season in the beautiful Keys, and the weather is perfect. Up north, they’re shoveling snow, but down here, it’s all about bare feet in the sand and a warm breeze off the water. This is quite simply the best time of the year in these parts, and visitors are soaking it in.

Key West is loved for so many different reasons–––its natural beauty, its history, its fun loving spirit and its fascinating diversity. Now, defining what’s uniquely Key West or what’s the essence of Key West is kind of like defining art: hard to explain, but you know it when you see it. There’s a certain combination of sights, smells and sensations that captures what this place is all about, and I believe that’s what really keeps people coming back, and what people really love about being here. It’s those particular Key West Moments that couldn’t be anywhere else. This season’s pick for Top Five in Key Wests focuses on places where those Key West moments are most likely to happen. Some of these choices might surprise you, but try them: you might end up with a wonderful, Key West surprise, and that’s the best souvenir of all.


#5
The Deli Restaurant
At one of Key West’s busiest intersections, where Truman Avenue, or US1 meets Simonton street–––a corner buzzing with scooters and conch trains and commuters, a small town, family diner holds its post. I’m talking about the Deli restaurant, which has been here since 1950 run by the same family the entire time.

There’s still remnants of an old style soda fountain…there was also once a beauty parlor and a newsstand in the same building, so you know this has always been a central hub in town. Many people have memories of stopping by the Deli for a soda as a special treat, and of this building being not all that different from how it is today, much as the view outside had changed.


#4
Schooner Wharf
Our next stop is best known for it’s liquid diet, but bar food is a way of life here, and I know just the bar. Voted Key West’s favorite bar by locals year after year after decade, the Schooner Wharf calls itself the last little piece of Old Key West for a reason. They’ve kept things pretty much the way they’ve always been; the good, the bad and occasionally the ugly. But it’s never a dull moment. As you may know, Key West counts among its many festivals a singer-songwriter festival, and there are still a few places where there are poetry readings and storytelling.

Evalena Worthington may not LOOK like the owner of this bar, but this Swedish beauty is the brains and the essence behind the Schooner Wharf. She works practically around the clock, but still takes time for sailing. That’s true Key West spirit, by the way.

It’s never dull, always unpretentious, and that’s why I love the Schooner Wharf bar. Our next stop isn’t far away from here, same waterfront area. But while this place is everyman’s territory, the next one is an individual expression. You’re gonna love it.


#3
B.O’s Fish Wagon
I’m going to give you a couple of tips on B.O’s etiquette, because I want you to be able to enjoy it, and as you can tell, normal rules do not apply. So here’s the deal: you walk in and come up to this window. The menu is on these chalkboards. Don’t ask for anything else, ok? They don’t really want to mess around with how you want it: you eat it the B.O’s way and be a good sport. You ORDER, like this: “I’ll have the fish and chips and a special, please. You pay cash–––none of that plastic stuff–––and then you give your name, it can be a real name or a fake one, like Peter Pan, if you want. Then you sit down until someone yells out what sounds like your order, and then you go get it. Maybe someone will run it out to you, but maybe they won’t have time. Best thing is to get it yourself. And, don’t forget your name!


#2
Five Brothers
It’s easy to think of Key West night spots, right? Well our next stop is busiest early early early in the morning…and may well be one of the reasons Key Westers CAN stay up as late as they do.

This is Five Brothers, one of my favorite places in the world. While you’re in Key West, you need to come here not once or twice, but several times. You need to try a cup of Cuban coffee, the con leche, with as much sugar as you can stand, or have a meal here.

Even if you’re not hungry, this is a great place to browse. It’s a taste of Cuba, and I don’t just mean food.

On the shelves, you’ll find exotic ingredients like guava paste, MATE SODA, chorizo sausage–––great gifts, by the way, for your food-loving friends back home. You can also get bustello coffee and Cuban coffee maker so you can try to make it at home, but it won’t be the same.

They go through 24 POUNDS of coffee a day. Unbelievable, but true. And more believable when you try a sip of the con leche–––WHEW! It’s a kick in the pants. You’ll be buzzing for hours after just one of these babies, and some people come here a few times a day. A lot of Cuba, and a lot of Key West…Five Brothers packs a lot of Key West essence into its small corner of the island. Don’t miss it.


#1
Blue Heaven
And now, for our final stop, my number one unique Key West destination, we’re going to head for the Bahamas. Hey, why not, it’s close!

The owners and the staff define personal style, and the restaurant, despite its success, hasn’t lost its character. That’s possibly the hardest thing for a restaurant to do, that and maintain consistency, and Blue Heaven has done both.

Unique location, colorful history, excellent food, tons of character and local personality…what can I say? Blue Heaven’s got it all. And that’s why, for the most Key West in a single mouthful, Blue Heaven’s my number one pick.



NOTE: Margit Bisztray has been reviewing restaurants and writing about food for ten years. She has published three editions of The Complete Key West Dining Guide, and her work has appeared in such publications as Vogue, Gourmet, Islands and Metropolitan Home. To read more restaurant reviews, log your own personal opinions, rate your favorite restaurants and watch streaming video archives of this show and other reviews, visit Margit's Top 5.