Little Bar, Goodland, Florida, near Marco Island

David and Sue Boyd came up, or actually around from Key West to Marco Island. You’ve met them before. They’re Ella and Lily’s grandparents, our co-grandparents. I was able to get a reservation for all eight of us to go to dinner at Little Bar in Goodland, the fishing village that provides Marco Island restaurants with that preternaturally fresh seafood. Among those sea creatures are the stone crabs that thrive in the mangroves. And there’s no better place to get stone crab claws than Little Bar.

I’ve reviewed Little Bar before, most recently here. Each time we’ve gone, we’ve ordered stone crab claws. Usually they’re seven to a pound, but this time the claws were larger, four to a pound. Nice. They can be served hot but we and most diners prefer them served chilled with a mild but tasty mustard sauce.

After the crab claws come the entrees. At Little Bar, all entrees come with a basic salad and a starch, rice pilaf, pasta, or sweet or russet potato, baked or fried. Those of you who are dreading yet another set of blackened grouper photos can relax. No groupers were blackened in preparation of this post. This, again, is a place where the seafood is fresh as can be and prepared by people who really know their business. Let’s look instead at the variety of ways in which the local seafood is offered.

Here are the entrees we chose —

Softshell crabs.

Grouper almandine.

Lemon-caper grouper.

Sautéed frog legs.

And for me, Shrimp Dejohnge, which you don’t see often. It was iinvented at the Dejohnge Hotel, and is a casserole of whole peeled shrimp covered with garlicky bread crumbs softened with sherry and cooked with a variety of herbs.

I’m pretty sure it included some tarragon or anise, but there was a lot going on in the dish. It’s extremely rich and flavorful, and a joy to eat.

There are so many ways to make seafood taste delicious, and Little Bar can do just about all of them well. The level of seafood quality in Marco Island and beyond is very high in large part because of the dayboats going out from Goodland. You really want to try the seafood right at the source, in Little Bar. Be sure to put it on your Marco list.

***

And while you’re at it, click “follow” on our front page to receive blog posts in your email box. Or bookmark us and check in from time to time. We’re on Instagram (johntannerbbq) and Twitter (johntannerbbq1) pages, and if you’re planning a trip, you can “Search” the name of the destination city, state, or country for good restaurants (in Europe, often close to sites, like the Louvre, Prague Castle, Vienna’s Old City, or the Van Gogh Museum, that you’ll want to visit in any event.  We welcome comments and questions, and eagerly seek suggestions of places to eat and stories to cover.