Islamorada tempts with milder cooking style
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The locals probably just say they’re going to eat at Bass Pro, but the official name of the restaurant inside Bass Pro Shops in Denham Springs is the World Famous Islamorada Fish Company Restaurant.
The name refers to a group of islands in the Florida Keys known for its beautiful waters and bountiful fishing. Early Spanish settlers named the islands “Islamorada,” which means “purple isle.” The original restaurant was established in that region in the 1940s. Now several such restaurants are found in Bass Pro Shops across the country.
Walking into the restaurant itself, one can quickly forget it’s attached to an outdoors store, with the eatery taking up 11,430 square feet on its own. The bar area wraps around a giant saltwater fish aquarium, which unfortunately, we couldn’t enjoy from where we were seated for dinner but did pause to check out before leaving. The walls of the cavernous, circular dining room reach two stories, with hanging lanterns and other lighting fixtures offering subdued lighting. The walls are constructed of unpainted clapboard for a rustic effect.
Vintage framed photos of fishermen and their prized catches, and other outdoor-related art decorate the walls, while large fishing poles are featured at points along the room’s lower, inner wall. Dominating the center of the room is a screened fireplace, and on a recent unseasonably chilly April night, the fire was going, adding to the room’s coziness. A porch that wraps around part of the restaurant’s exterior allows for outdoor dining overlooking the tranquil pond.
Islamorada’s menu is dominated by seafood dishes with a Floridian twist, which Louisiana palates will find much less spicy than they’re accustomed. The menu extends to steaks, chicken, ribs and some wild game. Diners entering the restaurant area can observe through a glass window the chickens turning on the rotisseries.
From the appetizers, we sampled the alligator ($6.95). The eight or nine squares of alligator meat were hand-breaded and lightly fried. The tender meat had a surprisingly mild flavor, yes, similar to that of chicken, and was served alongside a “homemade gator sauce” for dipping. In the sauce, we detected the sweetness of cream cheese mingling with savory seasonings.
The shrimp boat ($15.95) served up more than half a dozen popcorn shrimp with four coconut shrimp and four butterfly-style fried shrimp. We found all the shrimp were nicely cooked and not overly battered, with the sweetness of the coconut especially pleasing. For dipping, there was a spicy cocktail sauce and a sweet, citrus-based sauce with a slightly fiery kick. The dish was served with coleslaw and a choice of French fries or chips.
The eatery makes its own thick-cut chips, which were just an over-sized, thicker version of regular potato chips, and not something we’d bother to order again. The coleslaw was also a disappointment. The slaw had the requisite shredded purple cabbage, green cabbage and carrots, but not enough dressing to give the vegetables much flavor at all.
The angler ($17.95), however, was a different story. The combination dish offered a large crab cake, two filets of grilled mahi-mahi and grilled shrimp on a skewer. The crab cake was nicely done, with a good crab-to-breading ratio (more crab than bread), chopped green onion and other seasonings. The fish was flaky and mildly flavored, and the shrimp were cooked to doneness, not at all chewy, and with a nice grilled flavor. This dish also came with coleslaw and chips or fries.
Most restaurants that emphasize seafood don’t do well when they veer from it, but such was not the case with Islamorada’s St. Louis-style spare ribs ($16.95). The menu says they’re fall-off-the-bone tender, and they’re not kidding. The ribs were really that tender. The meat had a robust, hickory-smoked flavor and the sweet barbecue sauce coating them was not overpowering, letting the rich, smoky flavor come through.
With desserts, what says Key West better than key lime pie? The large square of pie ($6.95) had a thick graham cracker crust and a thicker layer of key lime filling, all topped with whipped cream and a twisted lime slice as garnish. Sweet, creamy and refreshing. The bread pudding also offered a large square of moist pudding ($4.95) with a nice texture and sweet, cinnamony flavor, covered in a sweet rum sauce.
There’s often a wait during dinner hours, but the hostess gives diners beepers so they can browse the store until a table is ready. The wait staff was friendly and helpful. One of the managers even came to our table to explain when there was a “run” on ribs, and the kitchen didn’t think it could accommodate our order. But the problem was quickly resolved.
