Black-eyed pea fritters, the peas soaked and ground raw with garlic, onion and scotch bonnet, then dropped into hot oil. A Cuban street snack that Key West adopted and very nearly lost.
Where to eat it: 1 restaurant across 1 city.
Bollos, or bollitos, came to Key West with the Cuban cigar-working community and were once cried through the streets from carts, the way they had been in Havana. Keys Weekly calls the bollo the most original Key West food. They are not a cooked-bean fritter: the peas are soaked and then ground raw, so the texture is light and slightly grainy rather than mashed. The vendors have gone and only a handful of counters still make them, 5 Brothers Grocery among them. Chef Norman Van Aken published a Key West version in My Key West Kitchen, which is the recipe most home cooks work from.
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Tip from the editors. Never cook the peas first. Soaked-raw is the whole point, and boiled peas turn the fritters dense and pasty.
5 Brothers Grocery feeds Old Town Key West on corner-store prices, pressing Cuban mixes and frying bollos at Southard and Grinnell since 1978.
TryCuban mix, con leche and bollos
TipThe Bench Crew of regulars holds court outside each morning; come before the 06:30 rush clears the pastry case.
Not on this list, but close by, nearest first. Every one is in our guide with its address, hours and what to order.
More cities are in research. Want bollos covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.
