Joanie’s
There weren’t a lot of places to eat out at Big Cypress National
Park, but we kept driving past Joanie’s Blue Crab Café as we explored, and
finally we decided to stop in a try lunch!
Roadside Sign
The handmade roadside sign either meant the food was really
good…..or we’d be really sick afterwards!
Since there were lots of cars parked out front, we were hoping for
really good food. Of course, it could
have just meant desperation on the part of other folks, as it was just about
the only restaurant around!
A Fine Dining Establishment
The Ochopee area where Big Cypress is located was founded back in
1828 as a tomato growing farming community, and was quite prosperous back in
the day. The current Joanie’s building
was originally a cattle barn and then became a bulk oil business. Joanie’s opened in 1987. The color of the building harkens back to its
tomato farming heritage.
Extensive Menu
When we entered thru the battered screen door, a gravelly voiced
waitress handed us what I thought were flyers of some sort & told us to
just pick a free spot anywhere and grab a drink out of the refrigeration units
in the back of the dining room! Only
after we sat down with our beer and Mike’s Hard Lemonade did I realize that
what I held in my hand was quite the extensive menu (it’s also printed on the
back)! And, lucky for me, there were
other things besides seafood (and blue crabs) to eat!
Important Info
The blackboard behind Mattie held very important info and told of
the attitude of the restaurant’s management!
We never did meet Joanie, tho!
They had some great musicians playing what I think was a sort of
bluegrass type music. I’m not a fan at
all of country music, but for some reason, I do tend to like a bit of
bluegrass.
Postcards from Folks
I’ve been in places that have dollar bills tacked onto the walls
with notes written on them (the Salty Dawg in Homer, Alaska being my favorite
of those!), but I’ve never been to a place where the patrons of the restaurant
send postcards from their travels. Ah,
well, it lends to the fun atmosphere of the place!
Joanie’s
And, I have to admit, the food was tasty. I had a burger and Jeff had some sort of
fishy dish that he thought was good – the burger was tasty, too. It was so good that we went back the next day
for lunch again – only this time, I had home-made key lime pie for lunch – yum!
Enjoy!
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