::giggles:: what about the door to door salesman? :) Sorry...but seafood off the back of a truck. Just screams food poisoning potential! But I'm sure its fresh!!

Of course mom got a good one yesterday....one came around trying to give away free food! What the? Okay she pushed the door shut on him...wondering if we need a no soliciting sign.

Last time my dad came to visit, he had fish, not the fried, at the greek restaurant at Spanish Springs, nest to Katie Bells. He said it was the best fish he had had in a long while. We lived on Cape Cod, so this is high ratings. We plan on trying it next time we go. We like all of the food at this restaurant and they are very nice too.

I was glad to read the comments on the Lighthouse market. I have seen the truck on 466 but I was leery to try it!!

We have eaten at the Ligthouse Restaurant at LSL a few times. The food is delicious! Unfortunately, almost all of the items on the menu are fried. Be prepared to wait.

:agree::agree:

Had the Haddock Fish and Chips at Athens Restaurant a few weeks ago - very good.

lighthouse seafood doesnt fry or cook fish yet!!!!!but thats soon to come i here,cant wait the freshest fish i ve had in years,cant wait for them to start cooking here in the villages

We have the Haddock there often and it is great. The owners are very nice and aim to please......great breakfasts too!

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

For real fresh seafood take a 1 hour drive to Homosassa, it is on the Gulf and fresh seafood stores abound, we regularly go there to pick up fresh pink and white gulf shrimp.

Which seafood store do you prefer in Homosassa?

Decided to drive to Homosassa. On the internet I found Peck's Old Port Cove, which is about two miles past the point where I thought we would drop off the edge of the earth. We came out of the swamp into a really pretty little area with a nice bar/grill. They had lots of fresh fish and we really enjoyed it. I found the reviews on Yahoo. Sat outside over looking the bay.