The locals' end of town: laundromat Cuban counters, Haitian Creole plates and neighbourhood bistros along White, Catherine and Southard Streets.
Seven Fish is the Key West dinner room locals book on Truman Avenue, plating yellowtail snapper in Thai curry sauce and smoked mahi from a tight menu.
Signature: Yellowtail snapper with Thai curry sauce, Smoked mahi-mahi
Order: Yellowtail snapper with Thai curry sauce
Tip: Dinner only from 18:00 and closed Tuesdays; the small dining room rewards a reservation over a walk-in wait.
Cafe Sole has cooked French-Caribbean dinners in a Key West backstreet since 1995, John and Judy Correa's kitchen of hogfish and portobello mushroom soup.
Signature: Hogfish, Portobello mushroom soup
Order: Hogfish from the local catch, then the duck a l'orange
Tip: The Correas close for the whole of September each year and reopen in October, so plan shoulder-season visits around it.
El Siboney is Key West's bilingual Cuban dining room on Catherine Street, ladling roast pork, rice and beans at prices the neighbourhood can still afford.
Signature: Paella Valenciana, Roast pork with mojo
Order: Roast pork with black beans, rice and plantains
Tip: The Paella Valenciana needs at least an hour's notice, so call ahead if you want it; everything else moves fast.
Mo's Restaurant cooks made-from-scratch Haitian Creole food on White Street, the only kitchen of its kind in Key West, with oxtail and goat stew as anchors.
Signature: Oxtail stew, Creole shrimp
Order: Oxtail stew with rice and richly seasoned gravy
Tip: It sits by Bayview Park away from the Duval crowds and closes Sundays; carryout runs until 21:30 on open days.
Cafe Sole pairs French technique with Keys fish in a quiet Key West garden room, a husband-and-wife kitchen open since 1995 for hogfish and duck a l'orange.
Order: Hogfish, then the duck a l'orange if you are sharing
Tip: The garden tables under the trellis are the seats to ask for; the whole restaurant holidays through September.
Sandy's Cafe is the laundromat lunch counter of Key West, pressing Cuban mixes and pouring con leche at a White Street walk-up window from 05:00 daily.
Signature: Cuban mix, Cafe con leche
Order: Cuban mix with a large cafe con leche
Tip: Order at the window, eat on the stools facing the street; the buchi shot is the fastest caffeine on the island.
Oasis Mediterranean Cuisine hand-folds Turkic manti and khachapuri in a garden room on White Street, Key West's Central Asian outlier worth the detour.
Signature: Manti, Chicken shawarma bowl
Order: Manti dumplings, then the chicken shawarma bowl
Tip: The lush back garden is the seat to take; the somsa pastries and baklava travel well for a beach picnic.
Sandy's Cafe is the laundromat lunch counter of Key West, pressing Cuban mixes and pouring con leche at a White Street walk-up window from 05:00 daily.
Signature drink: Cafe con leche
Order: Cuban mix with a large cafe con leche
Tip: Order at the window, eat on the stools facing the street; the buchi shot is the fastest caffeine on the island.
Sandy's Cafe is the laundromat lunch counter of Key West, pressing Cuban mixes and pouring con leche at a White Street walk-up window from 05:00 daily.
Try: Cuban mix and cafe con leche
Tip: Order at the window, eat on the stools facing the street; the buchi shot is the fastest caffeine on the island.
Sandy's Cafe is Key West's cheapest good lunch, a laundromat window on White Street pressing Cuban mixes and pouring con leche from 05:00 every day.
Try: Cuban mix and cafe con leche
Tip: Order at the window, eat on the stools facing the street; the buchi shot is the fastest caffeine on the island.
El Siboney plates Key West's biggest-value Cuban dinners on Catherine Street, roast pork with rice and beans at prices locals still recognise.
Try: Roast pork, rice and beans
Tip: The Paella Valenciana needs at least an hour's notice, so call ahead if you want it; everything else moves fast.
Mo's Restaurant serves Key West's most generous plates for the money, Haitian oxtail and Creole shrimp portions that outlast most Duval lunch bills.
Try: Oxtail or goat stew with rice
Tip: It sits by Bayview Park away from the Duval crowds and closes Sundays; carryout runs until 21:30 on open days.