Dining in Apalachicola - Avenue Sea at the Gibson Inn
By Margit Bisztray, Food Critic

Wherever you are reading this, you need to fly and drive, or just drive (since I don’t know where you are) to Apalachicola as soon as you possibly can.

I would tell you to do this even if I weren’t your Food Traveler and advisor to all things dining, even if I only commented on things like Charm and Nostalgia, because Apalachicola has that old Florida feeling you hear people speak of as if it’s only in the past. It isn’t too fussed with, built on, or marketed. In other words, it still has a purity about it that makes it feel just the right amount like a place back in time.

There are beautiful, grand old Southern-style houses with porches, oak trees outside hung with Spanish moss, wide sleepy streets, peaceful beaches tufted with grasses, and a main street that seems to have just one of everything you need and not more.

But as your Food Traveler, I’m really here to impress upon you this: Go to Avenue Sea at the Gibson Inn.

Oh my gosh. I just can’t rave enough. I can’t. The Gibson Inn itself is a beautifully restored historic building with

I eat all over the place, and rarely does a chef blow my mind one dish after another like Chef David Carrier and his wife, pastry chef Ryanne Carrier. What are they doing in this tiny town off the beaten path? David worked for two years at the French Laundry with Thomas Keller (often cited as one of the best restaurants and best restauranteurs in the world, respectively), and teamed with Grant Achatz outside Chicago at a restaurant called Trio (Achatz is easily the “hottest” American chef in the culinary world). All this background is just “blah blah blah” if the food’s not good, but here’s the point: the food at Avenue Sea is purely amazing. I just want to eat there for a month straight–––or make that, for a week straight several months straight, because his food is seasonal and I just can’t imagine what David Carrier does with the season’s first spring vegetables, with summer corn, with swordfish–––with anything, actually.

Here is what I had the privilege of trying this February:

A salad of arugula and red Romaine from a nearby farm called Crescent Moon, so fresh it seemed to dance from the plate, and perfectly dressed in a perfect vinaigrette.

A roasted chestnut soup with fried sage leaves on a float of crème fraiche…nutty and dreamy and captivating.

Olive oil poached oysters that were juicy and tender and offset with ribbons of raw fennel, with Nicoise olives and garlic–––one his star dishes for a reason. There oughtta be a monument.

Gulf hopper shrimp with smoked paprika and preserved lemon, granny Smith apple-scented Arborio risotto with Asher blue cheese, Gulf cobia sashimi with Savoy Cabbage and Thai pepper, braised Amish chicken (that means as organic as it gets, by the way) with buttermilk dumplings and spinach from that Crescent Moons farm again.

There are lovely cheese selections. There are toasted almond mousse crepes with strawberry compote. There is an excellent French-born server who would be queen bee in any urban, fine dining room.

You sit down, and if you’re patient (everything’s prepared a la minute, meaning for you when you order it) you will be lavished with taste experiences that will floor you.

Here’s the deal: not everyone “gets” this type of cuisine. It’s small plate (you’re supposed to order 4-6 dishes per person). Guests walk into this restaurant and leave because there’s no fried grouper platter. So if you read this and you understand how special Avenue Sea is, how special David and Ryanne’s work is, please go. Go and support Avenue Sea so it can continue to be there! You will thank me, I promise. You will thank your lucky stars for that drive you took, to Avenue Sea.

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 these shows and other reviews, visit Margit's Top 5.