3 Best Restaurants in Everglades City, The Everglades

Gems from the sea are delivered fresh from the owners' boats to this rustic haven. Enjoy breakfast, lunch, or an early dinner outdoors to watch pelicans, gulls, tarpon, manatees, and the occasional gator play off the dock on the Barron River. Even better, you can chow down on sustainable stone crabs—medium, large, jumbo, and colossal, based on weight—with a clear conscience. After they remove the meaty claws, crabs are returned to the water so they can grow new ones. Brought a cooler with you? City Seafood wraps for the road (and ships, too). Gator and shark-tooth necklaces and cutesy crabby-style tanks, boxers, and tees await in the gift shop.

Cuban and Caribbean specialties are a welcome alternative to the typical seafood houses in the Everglades City area. This cheery eatery—3 miles south of Everglades City on Chokoloskee Island—has a dozen or so tables inside and more seating on the porch amid plenty of greenery. Jump-start your day with café con leche and a pressed-egg sandwich, or try a Havana omelet. For lunch, you'll find Cuban sandwiches, burgers, shrimp, grouper, and steak and pork plates. Take some Carlos's HavAnnA Cafe Hot Sauce home with you.

Along the Barron River, seafood houses, fishing boats, and crab traps populate one shoreline, while mangroves line the other. Some seafood houses added picnic tables and eventually grew into restaurants, like the family-owned Triad Seafood Market & Café. It's nothing fancy, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a better grouper sandwich. The fried green tomatoes are tasty, too. An all-you-can-eat fresh stone crab feast (when available from October 15 to May 15) is worth your time, especially for the jumbos. As a bonus, you can have your picture posted on Triad's Glutton Board. This casual spot has a screened dining area and additional outdoor seating under a breezeway and on a deck (heated in winter). Here you can savor fresh seafood at its finest or have it shipped to your home.