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.
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.
4 editor picks for Key West pink shrimp in Key West, ranked by editorial score. All Key West signature dishes · Key West pink shrimp across every city.
Hogfish Bar & Grill ★ 4.6
stock-island · 6810 Front Street, Stock Island, FL 33040
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.
Half Shell Raw Bar ★ 4.4
historic-seaport · 231 Margaret St, Key West, FL 33040
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.
Eaton Street Seafood Market ★ 4.4
historic-seaport · 801 Eaton Street, Key West, FL 33040
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.
Conch Republic Seafood Company ★ 4.1
historic-seaport · 631 Greene Street, Key West, FL 33040
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.