651347 Wed Sep 09 22:32:50 -0700 2009 8 10 Florida 0 5018401 I haven't been there in years. Searching this board I found very little mention. Any hounds with finds to share? Wed Sep 09 22:32:50 -0700 2009 111267 meatn3 1 5018406 Tony's has some of the best chowder I have ever had in my life. My father loved it so much he requested that we mail some to him at home in Kansas. www.tonyschowder.com Wed Sep 09 22:39:55 -0700 2009 5018401 165293 Lpflaum 2 5018410 The chowder looks fantastic! Cedar Key is looking more interesting... Thank you. :-D Wed Sep 09 22:45:18 -0700 2009 5018406 111267 meatn3 3 5019355 Thanks for starting this thread, meatn3. I'll be down in Tallahassee in a few weeks and Cedar Key is also in my potential radius of exploration while I'm in FL. I haven't been there since the early 90s, and at that time everything there was the sort of gimmicky and not-so-good "paying for the view" type of thing that you often find right on the beach in North Carolina. My parents tell me that back in the 70s, it was a mecca for hole-in-the-wall local seafood with character and vibe. Hopefully we get a couple more recs. here to make a day trip of it. I've heard pretty much universally great things about Tony's though, so that might make it worth it in itself. Slightly OT, but it's interesting to note that at the same 2009 competition that Tony's won 1st place in the clam chowder category, Michael's Seafood in Carolina Beach, NC won the best "'seafood chowder" prize. Thu Sep 10 09:40:31 -0700 2009 5018410 15293 mikeh 4 5021233 I hope we get more rec's too! I was there in the early '80's for the art festival and just remember massive crowds - no memory of food. I'm visiting family in the Tampa bay area. I'm planning a return trip to the Triangle by way of Homosassa to try the Yulee Museum Cafe. Tampa hounds have given high points for their Cuban! Then on to Cedar Key. I attended FSU, but have not been to Tallahassee in quite some time. That new BBQ place makes the idea of a visit sound interesting. Is this your farewell trip before you head west? Hope this link works, I'm having some technical issues... www.sptimes.com/2006/12/05/Floridian/The_search_for_the_pe.shtml Thu Sep 10 22:14:54 -0700 2009 5019355 111267 meatn3 2 5065963 I wasn't able to work Cedar Key into this trip. Hopefully next time...Thanks for taking the time for the referral! Mon Sep 28 23:30:52 -0700 2009 5018406 111267 meatn3 3 5068223 I just got back! It was a nice day trip from Tampa, and it was our 16th wedding anniversary... It must be the slow season because not much was going on... There's really only a small area with restaurants and shops----- Dock Street... We went to the lil' visitor center first thing, and asked about what to do and where to eat---because I was a food guy, it was our first time there, and who knows when we'd get back... She pointed us to Dock Street but refused to recommend one restaurant over another, and a few other shop owners behaved similarly... I hated that! I saw Tony's and I wish we went there... ---------Well, there's really not much to do in Cedar Key, unless you hop on a boat tour... You just drive a little, and walk around the small tourist and restaurant area that is supposed to be known for 'their own farm raised clams' and good seafood... I was PSYCHED for a clamfest, and was told by the visitor's center that "most all the places have clams on the menu"... We ended up at this, place, named Frogs... A shopowner said she just came from there and it was good... We left another place that looked interesting but was cash only... So we ordered two seafood combos (for variety) @ $17.00 each, a dozen Clams in a butter-garlic broth $10.00, and a single softshell crab appetizer, $5.00, for my wife because she had one once and liked it... The combos were supposedly fried shrimp, fried oysters, scallops, deviled crab, & grouper ----- fries and cole slaw... My wife never had fried oysters and she still hasn't... These things were tiny, dry, and fully consumed in a bland thick batter crust... Scallops (bay scallops) were the same... Batter balls... Softshell crab------ consumed in stupid batter crust... The shrimp were good... The Deviled crab could have been purchased in the frozen section of a Circle K.... Pastey and bready and good for nuthin'... The fish was 1" by 3" and was dry... Grouper? Who knows... My poor wife was OD'ing on breading... The Clams-------- the famous clams---- were like small lima beans... I ate them in a couple seconds and had no idea I ate clams... The experience didn't register... Almost $70.00 thrown out the window... But we enjoyed the trip... We were in Cedar Key for 4 hours tops, before we turned the car back towards Tampa... Would we go back? If it wasn't for this supposed 'Seafood Festival' in October that I'll investigate, I'd say not a chance in hell! Tue Sep 29 19:19:51 -0700 2009 5065963 10783 Mild Bill 1 5164325 Island Pizzeria in Cedar Key has an "Oyster Rockefeller" pizza that is out of this world. Garlic, spinach, bacon, Parmesan and fresh Cedar Key oysters. The four of us were skeptical and ordered a small 8" pie and were completely blown away. The traditional mushroom and peppers pie we ordered with it could not compare. Sat Nov 07 19:46:09 -0800 2009 5018401 221363 Bumstead 2 5164395 Damn, that Oyster Pizza sounds good!! I wish... Sat Nov 07 20:40:02 -0800 2009 5164325 10783 Mild Bill