Mangia!

So, last night (Monday) was a Taste of Key West.



With thunderstorms spread throughout the day, I'll bet organizers were having heart attacks, but the last downpour for the day passed through around 3:30pm (the event started at 6pm), and it stayed clear the rest of the night. Whew!

This had to be the most organized, widely attended event—by businesses and locals/visitors—Key West has thrown yet (since we've been here). Many restaurants participated, including many we'd never heard of (which is saying something on such a small island). You bought tickets and then each item (food or drink) cost a certain number of tickets. Since we had assumed that dessert items (right up Michael's alley) would be the only options for vegetarians, only Michael went, but there turned out to be several other vegetarian options after all. Michael managed to nosh his way down the street, experiencing a variety of yummy foods—all at respectable "sample" sizes. He said he drew his line at 2 tickets for mac & cheese though. Of course, his first stop was the beer tent.

Then he ran across some "healthy mediterranean cuisine" from the Kennedy Cafe. He tried the
feta & spinach and the butternut squash somsas (or samosas as we know them). He said the normally pastry-like outside was more like a pretzel covering on these. He really liked them. They have quite a menu, we'll have to try them out sometime.

Next up were crepes from La Creperie. This place has been on our radar since the Goombay Festival, but we have yet to get there. Michael didn't get a bite this time either, the line was too long, but he did watch how they made them (their serving sizes were huge!), hoping to whip some up for us sometime. Yes, please!

Help Yourself was there, their little restaurant is right up the street from us, and had a great salad (beans, corn, spicy stuff...).

Next up was an Indian dish, with a potato-stuffed something-or-other and hot sauce, from the Spice Lounge. We've seen the sign for this place, located above the theater-like-looking Walgreen's on Duval, but never tried it. We like Indian, so we'll put it on the list.


And then came dessert. Two cheesecake balls from Cheesecakes in Paradise.

It was all Michael could talk about. Talk about babbling ... Let's just say they get a big thumbs up from Mr. Mike.

By the time he left, the waterfront was packed.

I'd say it was a success. Later in the week, the Key West Songwriter's Festival begins, so hopefully any bad weather will have passed by then (Wednesday/Thursday looks iffy). We've never heard of the majority of musicians/singers playing, so will just go to whatever's free and at a time we can stay awake. We're old—what can I say?