Starfish Seafood Company

Today we finally got to try out the Starfish Seafood Company for lunch. It's just an outside deck overlooking the docks and fishing boats -- with only 10 tables or so. You wait in line at the bar to place your order, TRY and find a seat and then your food is brought to you in a white box. After waiting in line for about 15 minutes to place our order we were resigned to the fact that we would probably be taking our meal home to eat because the place was packed. Right when it was our turn to place our order, two seats opened at the bar. And it was perfect - it was hot out but the fans made it pleasant to sit there. Mark had a sampler plate (or box, if you will....) of fried shrimp, scallops, grouper and oysters. Now when I say fried - it's not like Red Lobster fried. It's so lightly breaded you can barely see it. The seafood is fresh and is caught locally. He had an order of cheese grits with his meal and cole slaw. I had a shrimp po' boy sandwich that was delish. Next time I plan on getting the shrimp by themselves or even a crab cake!



Seemed like there were a number of tourists there STILL. How do they find this place??

After lunch we went into the fish market (which is why we went there to begin with) and bought some fresh mullet so Mark could smoke it. They clean it while you watch. Can't get any fresher than that!

Today, I planned no breakfast. I planned no breakfast because no one but me eats it. Today, I planned no breakfast and Mark asks 'what's for breakfast.' I just stare at him.

So at 11:3o in the morning, I broach the subject of going out to lunch which he promptly agrees with. I suggest trying the Starfish Company that is in Cortez right by the fishing docks. Now...Mark is a fan of the chains. Don't get me wrong, I love them too. Consistent meals have been had a Carrabba's, Beef O' Brady's and Outback (although we did boycott Outback for over a year due to bad service), but, I like a little change once in a while. He was visibly skeptical of my suggestion but really doesn't dare to question it.

At 12 noon I'm ready to roll. Mark goes into the office and starts shuffling papers. I decide to fold towels while waiting for him. He starts paying bills; so I start straightening the linen closet. I hear him shredding documents so I clean out my closet shelves. It's now 1:30 -- he comes out and asks if I'm ready to go yet. Oy.

Fast forward -- we drive to the Starfish Company. It's just an outside patio with maybe ten picnic tables. You order at the bar and someone brings you your food in a box. Like KFC, only, not. The food looked great. A few very unfortunate things happened though. First, all tables were crammed full. Second, the line to order your food was about 20 people deep (where we're they going to sit??). Third, Mark saw a sign that said 'cash only.' We took a menu with us and said we would go back better prepared next weekend. That shrimp po' boy sure did look good!!!

We ended up at Anna Maria Oyster Bar on Cortez Road. Mark got the grouper sandwich with Caribbean spice on it; I got the fried shrimp. It was all good. The coleslaw would have been really good had it been colder. I would have told the manager that if he'd stopped at our table. Another weird thing, the server charged me for the dinner portion AND it turns out that I got the dinner portion. I didn't really pay attention when I got it, but, it stands to reason if you go someplace for lunch (albeit late) and they're still serving lunch, they give you the lunch menu....you would get the lunch. The hostess did give us a dinner menu too, but, I didn't pay any attention to it. So I'm not sure if it was an honest mistake or a scammin' thing on the servers part but she changed the cost to the lunch portion. I think she did it on purpose. And I think she was nervous that she got caught; she was kind of acting weird afterwards. Bad sales tactic, chicky.