Key Cafes

On the days cruise ships dock at this southernmost tip of the continental United States, rusty-looking retro hippies yield Duval Street, the main commercial street, to silver-haired cruise passengers in sparkling white resort wear.

By 9:30 a.m., many are already in line outside Fast Buck Freddie’s, waiting to plunk down $30 for one of those sound-motivated plastic rats squirming in a trap or snickering over the packages of penis-shaped pasta on display in the back room.

By 10:15 a.m., there’s not a seat left on the terrace of singer Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville Cafe, and two-lane Duval is already in the first throes of a traffic jam, with pink taxis, pink motor scooters, pink bicycles and pink poodles. Sidewalks bulge with shoppers ducking in and out of the dozens of T-shirt shops that line both sides of the mile-long street.

By 10:30 a.m. the older crowd is detouring one block west to see Harry Truman’s Little White House, the retreat he used during his presidency. There curator Al Walsh gives me an earful about Truman’s favorite pastimes: winning at poker, playing the piano and insisting visitors watch newsreels of the 1948 election.

The house where Truman lived, off and on between 1946 and ‘53, isn’t all that unusual other than that it lacks a kitchen. All meals were prepared on the presidential yacht, the Williamsburg, that brought supplies all the way from Washington, D.C. The Secret Service didn’t want to chance those spicy tropical dishes dancing the cha-cha with the presidential digestive system.

By 11 a.m., business has picked up at Flamingo Crossing Ice Cream, the rainbow-hued cottage in a thicket of palm trees bordering Duval. Bestsellers are the rich coconut, key lime and passion fruit ice creams made in the back room. At $1 a scoop, it’s well worth the money.

You could spend that little for refreshment or you could put a serious dent in your charge card dining at the Cafe des Artistes, the Marquessa or Louie’s Back Yard, Key West’s fancy dining places. The local interpretation of dress up means clean jeans and a silk shirt or a sundress with spaghetti straps and heels. “If somebody wears a tie down here they’re not from Key West unless they’re going to court,” said local actress-director-publicist Rita Brown.

But the best bet for tasting the real flavor of Key West is to leave Duval behind and search out places where the locals hang out.

Key West’s patron saint, Ernest Hemingway, who lived here during the 1930s, would love Blue Heaven in the Key West neighborhood called Bahamaville. For one thing, he would recognize the setting: an old billiard hall and boxing ring where he refereed matches and a sideyard where he watched cockfights.

The first floor of the restored building and the outdoor seating area now make up one of the most popular restaurants in the lower Keys. The upstairs is an art gallery and a boutique in back sells woven embroidery pieces they’ll wrap into your hair.

Roosters, hens and itty-bitty chicks have the run of the yard, eating crumbs under the tables and sometimes running over diners’ feet. Conversations might be interrupted by a rooster’s crowing and the unwary might find one of the hens pecking a sample from their plates. The only downside when I was there in last February was that some Bahamaville residents strolling the street out front didn’t look all that friendly. That puts some tourists off but delights others. “So Key West,” I heard one whisper to a friend.

What keeps customers coming back is the food: Jamaican jerk chicken on a sesame bun, or a jerk chicken plate with brown rice as base for a tortilla piled high with black beans, tomato, bell peppers, avocados and jerk, with corn bread on the side.

Sue Ann Citchan, one of the restaurant’s owners along with her husband and brother-in-law (both chefs), said the marinade for the chicken jerk includes 18 powdered spices, garlic, fresh lime juice, orange juice, vinegar and soy sauce.

If you have any room left over, the Banana Heaven dessert is the way to go: homemade banana bread, sliced banana, vanilla ice cream and a hot caramel sauce, served in a big bowl. Sure it’s diet disaster but, hey, you’re free to share. (I didn’t.)

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Caroline Street, overlooking the commercial waterfront, is good food territory within walking distance of the Duval Street madness. Pepe’s Cafe & Steak House, established in 1909, is a favorite of locals for breakfast. There you dine on a crowded outdoor patio shaded by palm trees near a straw-roofed bar trimmed with blinking Christmas lights and a neon “CLOSED” sign that used to hang on the front door to keep out tourists. That policy changed 12 years ago, the manager said, when it was realized that “everybody’s money is the same color. Now our clientele is half and half.”

You can build your own special omelet--how about prosciutto, Monterey jack cheese and asparagus--or maybe order the man-size Pepe’s steak omelet. The biggest problem is getting a table. Go before 9 a.m. for quick seating. At night expect an hour wait.

B.O.’s Fish Wagon is as Key West as it gets: It’s a funky, open-air, thatched roof kind of place with a bar surrounded by tall stools. Owner Buddy Owens still isn’t happy about having had to move the covered wagon he had at the corner of Duval and Fleming streets for 17 years before opening in new quarters on Caroline Street in early 1995.

Owens is proud of his fish sandwiches, particularly the Square Grouper and the short grouper (the same thing, halved). The sandwich name echoes part of Key West’s not too distant history. “Years ago when they were running marijuana down here, they used to put it in bales so that it would float on water when they dumped it out of planes,” Owens said. “They called that bale a Square Grouper.” The same reasoning explains the Smuggler’s Dozen conk fritters. “Did you ever see a smuggler bring in just a little bit? He brings in a whole bunch because if he’s caught, he’ll go to jail either way. My smuggler’s dozen is 14 fritters.”

The Half Shell Raw Bar shows a rowdier side of the historic waterfront at night, but it’s a mellow place before the lunch trade hits. An enormous dog snoozes at the entrance, oblivious to the array of stray cats slinking back and forth. Inside, every inch of wall space is covered with hundreds of rusting license plates, the weirdest of the lot being one from Saudi Arabia, a souvenir of Desert Storm.

The Half Shell Raw Bar is particularly proud of its buffalo shrimp served with a hot sauce. “Kind of like buffalo wings,” the manager explained. There are six to an order and with a cold beer, it’s enough for a light lunch for under $10.

The Half Shell is as well regarded for its alcohol as for its seafood. “We sell an awful lot of rum runners and margaritas,” Patty Do, the blond bartender said. The rum runner is a tropical fruity frozen drink with rum, but the Half Shell also makes key lime and golden margaritas. The key lime recipe is a secret but includes lime juice and regular tequila and triple sec, and you can have it frozen or on the rocks. The golden margarita is made with Sauza Gold--the true anejo that is aged five years.

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The real food bargains are on Key West’s outskirts, the closest thing the tiny town has to suburbs. Mo’s Restaurant, tucked between an antique shop and a paint store, just across White Street from the Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall, could fit into a three-car garage.

The long, narrow room has a counter along one side, tables on the other and a kitchen in the back. Even with no wine or liquor license and a plain brown bag decor, it’s a gathering spot for Key West foodies. Maurice Daillantourt and his sister Rena McDonald perform small-scale culinary miracles, making their own pates, a fresh-daily choice of casserole, quiche or soup, with onion soup always on the menu.

For a place so close to Cuba, Key West has many restaurants offering black beans and rice, but few serving authentic Cuban cuisine. One of the best is a neighborhood hangout called B’s Restaurant, where those in the know can eat very well for very little. It’s well worth the $5 to $10 cab fare from the north end of Duval Street, especially if you’re the kind who depends on street signs for directions. Key West street signs are a sometime thing, and even when there, they can be hard to find.

B’s has authentic Spanish paella, thick with lobster, stone crab, fish, shrimp and pork in yellow rice, a steal at $28 for two. But you have to go to the restaurant earlier in the day to leave a deposit and say what time you’d like the meal to be served.

Owner Pino Cubria sympathizes with those who travel solo. “For one person we have a seafood platter--zarzuela de marisco--that’s mainly the same things we put in paella but for one person. Then you order your yellow rice and black beans and you almost have a paella for $12.50.”

B’s is also a great place for bean soup of many varieties. They serve black bean soup every day and on Monday also offer white bean soup with collard greens. On Tuesday they serve red bean soup; Wednesday, garbanzo bean; Thursday, another white bean--sometimes plain, sometimes with cabbage--and on Friday they serve American lima bean.

Order a bowl of soup and Cuban toast, and you’ll have a great meal. If you’re still hungry, try the homemade natilla (like vanilla pudding with cinnamon on top) or a rice pudding or a flan. Those who do will need to take an afternoon nap.

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GUIDEBOOK

Key West Counters

Where to eat: B’s Restaurant, 1500 Bertha St.; telephone (305) 296-3140.

Blue Heaven, 729 Thomas St.; tel. (305) 296-8666.

B.O.’s Fish Wagon, 801 Caroline St.; tel. (305) 294-9272.

Flamingo Crossing, 1105 Duval St. Tel. (305) 296-6124.

Half Shell Raw Bar, 231 Margaret St.; tel. (305) 294-7496.

Mo’s Restaurant, 1116 White St.; tel. (305) 296-8955.

Pepe’s Cafe & Steak House, 806 Caroline St.; tel. (305) 294-7192.