For a while the old Sea Harvest restaurant was the “Dolphin View” and this is my review from a visit there back when it was open.
(UPDATE: The Dophin View has gone out of business and this blue building is currently empty.)
(*This place has closed down not long after I wrote this post.)
The Dolphin View riverside restaurant in New Smyrna used to be the Sea Harvest. (As you can tell after reading this post, I was not highly impressed by the Dolphin View, and apparently I was not alone.)
I was out house-hunting and stopped to get some lunch to-go. I stood in line outside to order, and it was HOT. With only one group of customers in front of me, I still waited a while to order. It was Saturday, and well before lunch time, so there were few patrons. As I stood there sweating, at least I could watch the weekend parade of boats head by. Most were going north (to Disappearing Island?) up towards Ponce Inlet.Continue reading “Eating at the Dolphin View”
The Pink or Queen Conch (Strombus gigas), can grow to be a foot or more in length and has a smooth pink interior. (Horse conch snails can grow to be 2 feet long!). The pretty shell is in danger of disappearing because of its collection as a decoration after the snail is pulled from it’s home to be eaten! Have you ever eaten conch? I have not. In Florida and other Caribbean areas, the conch is a delicacy and is made into fritters and other food, but it has been over fished so there are restrictions and fines associated with the collecting of it. Conch meat is used in chowder, salads, fried, fritters, sandwiches and more.
Queen (Pink) Conchs
For these two reasons, the Queen or Pink conch is in high demand. It is very unlikely that you will just come across a large, empty queen conch on the beach. They are trawled and taken from their homes out in the ocean and brought in for shell shops and restaurants. The queen conchs I have were purchased over 20 years ago at a shell shop some place in Florida. At the time, I never thought about where they came from, but I would definitely not purchase one now.
So when you vacation in the tropics, you might want to think twice before ordering conch fritters just to be able to say you’ve tried it.
*More strange food they eat in Florida – Alligator and turtle. I lived across the street from some people who had a cookout and the food was served buffet style. I added to my plate what looked like chicken nuggets and fortunately I was told that it was turtle meat before I tried it. Yikes, that was close. I love the Gopher turtles and could never ever eat one!
