Good food, good oysters, good times at SKOB
The Siesta Key Oyster Bar is all about seafood – but the name makes it clear where the emphasis is.
The Ocean Boulevard restaurant in the heart of Siesta Village has $6-per-dozen oysters on the half shell and crawfish daily from 3 to 6 p.m.
The crustaceans appear popular, since the 200-plus-seat restaurant with both indoor and outside dining was packed on a recent weekday visit, with patrons gobbling down the shellfish, along with a variety of sauces.
Like oysters? Try them again battered in a one-dozen appetizer ($9.95) or in a Po’ Boys sandwich Cajun style with house baguette and french fries for $9.95.
Appetizers after the obligatory oysters feature clam chowder ($4.95 for a bowl), Jack Daddy’s Fried Calamari ($8.50), a pound of crab legs ($11.95) as well as fried clams, Jamaican shrimp, breaded mushrooms, peel-and-eat shrimp and pan-roasted mussels.
Don’t forget to add on to your appetizer menu a few chicken wings, grouper bites or St. Louis Ribs with various sauces: hot, medium, mild, Mule’s Bourbon BBQ, Honey Garlic, Jamaican Hurricane or Jerk Style. A dozen wings are $8.95, and the grouper bites and a half-rib is $9.95.
Sandwiches – well, Skobwiches at the Siesta Key Oyster Bar – run from wraps and sandwiches, seafood to beef.
Highlights include Caribbean Mahi Mahi ($10.95) and Super Gulf Grouper at the same price. There are also Caesar wraps, Jaedyn’s Crab Cake Sandwich for $10.25, chicken, the SKOB Burger at $9.95, or Dave’s Cuban Sandwich at the same price.
Off the daylight menu, let’s go to the evening.
Review the appetizers mentioned above. Eat them, and then go forth.
Then follow it with a salad. The SKOB Mediterranean is slated as a salad but looks more like a meal for two for days. You get gulf shrimp and scallops, all pan-seared and tossed with black olives, tomatoes, onions, feta cheese, balsamic vinaigrette and field greens ($10.95).
Ah, and then it’s time for dinner.
Splurge on the Beach Extravaganza Dinner. Hey, you’re on the beach, why not have a good time with a five-ounce sliced sirloin served with snow crab legs and little-neck clams with herb butter, potatoes, veggies and either a soup or salad for $21.95.
Other entrée highlights include Seared Citrus Chicken Breast with potatoes and vegetables at $13.98, a 12-ounce piece of grilled swordfish with pineapple salsa and potatoes for $17.95.
More seafood?
Go for Senior Chef’s Choice Grouper at $17.95, a 12-ounce grouper fillet served with rice and remoulade.
Feeling spicy? Try Lou Lou’s Caribbean Mahi Mahi, a 10-ounce pan-seared dolphin – the fish, not Flipper, by the way – served with Jamaican jerk seasoning, mango season and rice.
SKOB also has Baily’s 10-ounce Seared Sirloin Steak for carnivores at $19.95. And JR’s Rack of Ribs, a whole rack with that Drunken Mule BBQ sauce and pineapple salsa and cole slaw and mashed potatoes and ….
Desserts feature a Key West Key Lime Pie at $4.95 and a feature of the day that makes the Siesta Key Oyster Bar a place to check out.