BBQgeek

40th Birthday - Siesta Key day 6 - Walt's Fish Market and Argentinian BBQ

Today, I celebrated my 14,610th day above ground on the planet Earth.  It was magnificent.  I spent the day with those closest to my heart - my dear wife and my two daughters - on Siesta Key, FL.  We had a delicious breakfast at the Broken Egg and a spectacular day on the beach.  Who needs cake?  Not me.  Just give me a sunny day and those I love and you can call it done.   Given the option, I would change absolutely nothing about my 40th birthday.  Throughout the day, my thoughts were with my friends Kevin W. and Dave R., for very different reasons.  But these are guys that I am proud to call friends and who are going through trying circumstances for very different reasons.  A 40th birthday makes you consider carefully the things and people you call dear in your life.  To my friends and family, I would like to say a big thank you for all your love and support over the years.  I know I am not the easiest person to be around and I appreciate your patience and love.

Moving on to all things food, I was lucky enough to stumble across a genuine Argentinian BBQ party a mere half block away from my rented house in the parking lot of Maximo's Restaurant.  As I walked with my family up for our nightly ice cream run (rocky road, birthday cake, and butter pecan), I spotted a Weber Ranch Kettle and the plume of hickory smoke.  I immediately noticed that the pitmaster, Daniel Mendoza, was laboring under the burden of not one, but two, broken ankles - and he was still tending the grills - A true hero of BBQ.

The grills were covered in delicious looking beef (undetermined cut) smoking away over charcoal fires.  I spoke with Daniel and learned that they would be served with chimichurri  and complemented by sides of arroz con pollo, empanadas with beef and egg,  beef wellington, and Caribbean chicken and spanokopita.  I'm terribly unclear as to the nature of the event, but I can say that the attendees were very happy with their selection of food.  If you want to contact Daniel, he can be reached at 941-536-6470 for your catering needs.  I only sampled the beef with chimichurri, but it was spectacular.  Daniel is apparently working towards becoming a full time caterer.  He splits his time between welding and catering. 

Returning to my love for Walt's Fish Market, I returned to their store just a couple days ago to pick up some shrimp and mussels for dinner and thought I would share with you just a couple photos of their fine establishment.   An unassuming and unpretentious place, Walt's offers lunch and dinner as well as an  assortment of fantastically fresh fish and shellfish.  This was where I first procured smoked mullet spread (more to come later after further research) and where I go in Sarasota for my seafood needs.  If for no other reason, Walt's deserves to be respected for the fact that they park a kick-ass smoker at the front of their parking lot.   It's not for sake of ease.  They want you to know that they smoke fish and that you are missing out.

Here's a couple pictures from Walt's, just to emphasize the nature of the killer seafood going on here.

Siesta Key - Day One - Perry's BBQ and a chance encounter with a Hog Snapper

Sunday was bright and HOT on Siesta Key outside Sarasota, FL.  My family has been coming to Siesta Key for many, many years for vacation.  It offers a rare taste of old Florida - a Florida free from Spring Breaks, massive hotels and condominiums, and chaos.  My only beef with Siesta Key has always been that the best you could do for BBQ down here was Sonny's.  For those of you from somewhere other than the Southeast, Sonny's is our BBQ equivalent of McDonald's.  Let's just say they have great sweet tea.  So, I almost jumped out of the car when I was cruising through the Siesta Key village and I spotted a beautiful plume of white hickory smoke, a large trailer smoker, and sign that said "BBQ".

   Perry's Original Roadside BBQ Catering was stationed outside the Salty Dog in Siesta Key vending some delicious pulled pork, spare ribs, and smoked chicken.  The picture you see was a simple and delicious pork sandwich that I got for a mere $6.00.   I also sampled a rib, which was equally wonderful.  Perry is running a family operation.  His daughter served me my sandwich and gave me some of the back story on the operation.  Her dad has been cooking BBQ a long time and is a fixture in the Sarasota restaurant community.  She's been helping him build the business for many years.  Since Perry has clearly mastered the production of top notch BBQ, he has set his sights (with some guidance and support from his daughter) on the BBQ sauce market.  I found Perry's sauce to be just down-right great.  In the fifteen minutes that I hung out with these folks, I saw several customers come up for their second serving of ribs or pulled pork and they all remarked how much they enjoyed the sauce.  So, if you are a sauce hound, I suggest you follow the link above to Perry's site and order yourself some of his stuff.  You won't be sorry.

In all, this was a great way to kick off my South Florida vacation.  I met some great people who love what they do and I got to sample some knockout BBQ.  If you are down in the Sarasota area, make every effort to find Perry and get yourself some.

Among the other great finds of the day was some red sweet corn that I picked up at the local Publix.  I'm not sure if this is a regional variant of corn or if I've just been missing out, but this stuff is gorgeous looking and tastes great.  I grilled my corn as part of a tomato/basil garnish.  I'll be boiling a couple more ears tomorrow to see if I can coax a little more gentle texture out of it.  But, this stuff looks great on the plate and tastes equally delicious.  I don't know if this corn is widely available or even popular, but I think many chefs would be inclined to use it on their dishes for purely presentational purposes.  As you can see in the photo, it really has a striking appearance.

I served my red sweet corn over my final find of the day.  A visit to Walt's fish market introduced me to the Hog Snapper, which is apparently a close cousin to standard red snapper.  I thought to myself " Hog Snapper? Pig meets Fish?  I'm in!"  The fish monger told me it's his favorite go-to fish when he cooks, so I knew I had to try it.  Sadly, the fish doesn't taste like BBQ, but it is wonderful it its own way.  Hog Snapper seems to be just slightly more buttery and delicate than regular red snapper.  I garnished our filets with a simple relish of fresh tomato, basil, shallots, olive oil, red sweet corn, and salt and pepper.  It was wonderfully fresh and light.

Coming soon - a follow up visit to Walt's Fish Market and a thorough investigation of smoked mullet.