[OldDave]

I want to finally jump in on this thread. When we come to Florida (which in past visits has always been on the coast further south) we eat fresh fish nearly every meal. Hey fresh fish in Kansas is a can of tuna just just opened. So we were really disappointed when we got here. Nothing in any of the stores is local. In fact most of isn't even from this country. So when I saw this thread we went out of our way to try Lighthouse on 466.

Now it is very hard to tell if fish has been frozen and then thawed, but my opinion is that his stuff is truly fresh. He was telling my wife all the details of making daily trips to the shore to purchase directly from divers. The main thing to know after purchasing and cooking stuff from him 4 times is nothing smells. That is the very most important thing in buying fish. If it has any kind of "fishy" smell it is already starting to spoil. It should smell like seawater. (In Kansas my wife used to insist on smelling stuff at the fish counter before she'd buy. The people at the counter couldn't understand that and always said, "hey it smells like fish" We stopped trying "fresh" fish and started buying it frozen at Walmart which is surprisingly good quality.

So I would highly recommend this fellows stuff. Take along something with ice in it to keep it cold on the way home and cook it that day only.

Some folks have asked about cooking. Here is a very simple way to enjoy fresh fish. Dry off the fillets with a paper towel and put salt,pepper, and seasoned salt on it. Use about 1 teaspoon of butter in a nonstick pan on medium high. Get it hot before adding the fish. Leave it alone and allow it to brown nicely before turning. You'll get a great taste from the browning butter,and there are very few calories in that little butter. Cook it as done as you like.

Finally several people mentioned the homemade Key Lime Pie. They said get there early. The deal is actually you have to order it from him a week ahead. We did that and it was the best key lime pie I ever had. I wanted another for this weekend and called their main number in Lake Mary. The fellow that answered said his 83 year old mother made the pies. And she works in the store every day. He said she's a Florida cracker and insists on squeezing her own juice from fresh key limes. It is great.

So try him and enjoy it.

Dave