Oysters at Indian Pass

On Saturday we decided to do a little exploring.  If you head west on 98 you have a beautiful drive along the coast.  You will pass through Eastpoint, across a long causeway, and come to the town of Apalachicola.  The intracoastal waterway heads inland here and the town is home to oyster boats and shrimp boats and produces almost 90 percent of Florida's oyster harvest.

This is another scruffy little coastal working town but it also has a art community and a funky little downtown area.  More about Apalachicola in a future post.  If you continue west on 98 towards Port St. Joe you will soon come to Hwy 30A.  If you follow 30a for 7 or 8 miles you come to Indian Pass Rd.  Right on the corner of Indian Pass Rd and 30A sits a building that looks like an old general store, but is now home to the Indian Pass Raw Bar.

The Indian Pass Raw Bar has no hostess, so you pick out your favorite cold beverage from the large coolers, and find a place to sit.  Your next job is to flag down the waitress and tell her what you want.  There isn't a menu, just an old sign on the wall, but she will tell you what they have.  Basically it's oysters, and shrimp.  If you really don't want either they will fix you a burger or a hot dog.  But you come here for the oysters and shrimp.

You can have your oysters raw, steamed, or baked and your shrimp steamed or stuffed with crab meat.  I chose the baked oysters and Judy went for the plate of steamed shrimp.  That and a couple of cheap beers  and we had ourselves a tasty lunch.

Oh and don't forget a generous dousing of Ed's Red,  a local hot sauce referred to as "Oyster's best Friend".  It can best be described as Tabasco with horseradish.  It's so good we went hunting for it at the local grocery store when we were done with lunch.

I must tell you that this was one of those memorable dining experiences that makes full timing special.  If we are going to eat out this is the kind of place we look for.  Local authentic fresh food prepared by people who are just trying to earn a living and are happy you stopped by.

Until later.