Tortugas pink shrimp, sweeter and firmer than the Gulf browns, boiled in seasoned water and served peel-and-eat with drawn butter and lime. Menus call them pink gold for a reason.
Where to eat it: 4 restaurants across 1 city.
Vast beds of pink shrimp were found in Gulf waters off Key West in 1949, and the seaport filled with trawlers almost overnight in what the island still calls the pink gold rush. Hundreds of boats worked out of the Bight through the 1950s and 1960s, and the fleet reshaped the waterfront that is now the Historic Seaport. Catches fell in the 1980s and the last dealers left the Bight by 1989, moving the working fleet across to Stock Island, where it still lands shrimp today. The Florida Keys Seafood Festival at Truman Waterfront Park each February is run by the fishermen themselves.
Common allergens: Shellfish, Dairy
Tip from the editors. Buy them shell on and head on. The heads carry most of the sweetness that makes pink shrimp worth the extra money.
Conch Republic Seafood Company fills the old Singleton fish house on Key West's seaport with peel-and-eat pink shrimp, conch chowder and a long raw bar.
Signature: Key West pink shrimp, Conch chowder
Order: Peel-and-eat Key West pink shrimp
Tip: The original Singleton ice-plant floor and sign are still in place; sit at the harbour rail for the shrimp-dock view.
Half Shell Raw Bar shucks oysters and cures conch ceviche in a licence-plate-lined shed on Key West's Margaret Street docks, open to the harbour breeze.
Signature: Conch ceviche, Broiled garlic oysters
Order: Conch ceviche and a dozen on the half shell
Tip: Happy hour brings discounted oysters; the open-air room on the water is first-come, so aim for off-peak afternoons.
Hogfish Bar & Grill sits on Stock Island's Safe Harbor docks outside Key West, frying its namesake fish onto Cuban bread beside the working shrimp fleet.
Signature: Killer Hogfish sandwich, Grouper reuben
Order: The hogfish sandwich with Swiss and mushrooms on Cuban bread
Tip: It is a 10-minute drive from Old Town on the Stock Island marina; go at lunch to watch the boats unload the catch.
Eaton Street Seafood Market sells the Key West catch two ways: over ice from the 1877 storefront case, or cooked into lobster rolls for the patio tables.
Tip: Pick a fish from the market case and they will cook it on the spot; stone crab season runs mid-October to May.
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