Now wine consultant Julie Kushel offers a toast to her charming choice for a memorable
meal.
It's in the southernmost city where it's often tough to find a hearty Southern meal, but
she's sure you'll be saying "OMG" after ever bite.
She calls it the sweetest little spot in Key West, and it's called Firefly.
Firefly Key West is a new American Southern restaurant with a heavy emphasis on scratch.
Our jam is made from fresh berries.
We
grind our sausage for the sausage gravy.
We cure our pork.
I think that that's what Southern food is.
Doing it all yourself.
Shrimp
and grits, fried chicken, biscuits and gravy, all the staples but just with a lot of love
and care put into the preparation of 'em,
and done with newer technique.
You know, I'm classically French trained and I like to bring that influence into it.
I try to connect
the best sources.
I work with local fisherman, and I'm as farmtotable as I can be.
You get good quality, put some love into it, and I
think it shows.
I really feel like Tricia and I have made this place what it is.
You know, it's our personalities.
We want everybody
to have an experience, you know.
We're not just putting food in your mouth, you know, we want you to sit down and enjoy
it.
Firefly
Key West, it's just a place where everybody's welcome.
Key West is known for its misfits and we're a collection of misfits and we
make good food and we care about your experience.
I love the name of this restaurant.
I really do.
It's great.
It really is.
I think it's adorable.
And it used to be a home, right?
It did, it used to be a home and it's in a place called Bahama Village, so there's different
areas of Key West, and yeah, it's put
right on Petronia Street.
It's the perfect house and you walk in and you go, "My gosh."
It's everything you want in a Southern
quality kitchen that you're not really, when you walk in, the smell, it's all Southern,
and with the house with the stairs, it's
incredible.
Lovely, so what did you have this last time?
[Julie] I had the shrimp and grits.
Very spicy, I love spicy food.
The biscuits, they're known for that, too.
And then, they do, so
they get their fish every day.
If the fish is not caught that day, then they won't make a special.
But that day, they did, so I had
the wahoo, which was over grits, and it was delicious.
[Michelle] As well, so you had shrimp and grits and then wahoo and grits.
[Julie] Yes, yes.
[Michelle] So you had double grits.
Petite shrimp and grits.
[Michelle] Okay.
That's the appetizer, so it was good.
[Michelle] And I think it had like a beetroot compound butter, which I love the way that
sounds.
[Julie] Yes, a beetroot, yes
[Michelle] Was it as delicious as it sounds?
[Julie] Yes, Russ Ferstle is an incredible chef.
He's a very talented man, so, yeah, he makes all his food, everything's from
scratch there.
I bet.
Randy, what'd you think?
I thought it was good.
It wasn't my favorite.
He's a tough cookie.
I am tough.
He is.
The Southern food.
I am not gonna cook for you.
No, you may cook.
Do you not like Southern, is it the Southern?
No, it's the Southern, it's the heavy Southern cooked food.
The place is beautiful, it's designed to look like an old conch house,
but it's new construction.
But, it was great.
We had champagne and my wife had wine.
She had the shrimp and grits, and she liked it.
I did not see fish on the menu, otherwise I would've ordered it.
So I ordered the vegetarian special and it was deep fried broccoli
with green apples, which I thought was kind of an unusual combination.
[Michelle] Interesting, how was it done?
Were the green apples raw or were they cooked?
[Randy] They were raw, yeah.
[Michelle] Okay.
[Randy] And it was just sitting on rice.
What'd you think, Margit?
I like, I really enjoy Firefly a lot.
I almost think of it as, they don't bill themselves as this, but it has that gastropub feel to
me in that you can sit at the bar, and they have great craft beer, and then they have
just great small plate things that are just
really good with the drink that I enjoy a lot.
Yes.
[Margit] Like I love, I mean the biscuit is just out of this world.
They're just, you know, the designer biscuit, like fluffy in the
inside, crunchy, just you know, poof, you open it
[Julie] The jam, their jam, is
Uh, the jam!
Fresh everyday.
Everything is fresh every single day.
So does it change all the time?
Once in a while, they'll do like a peach, if peaches are in season, they'll do peach,
and they'll do a mixed berry.
Do you order the biscuits or do they just come?
You order them, yeah.
I'm just a big fan.
I think it's been, it's every time you go in there you can get something different but
the
chicken and waffles are also a very big staple there as well.
[Margit] I think they do an amazing job with the fried chicken 'cause it's just that juicy
inside and that almost, like, cookie
crust, where it's just like yummy, crunchy, such a great treat, and it's delicious.
[Julie] Even their deviled eggs, I mean, homemade
[Margit] Yeah, I like deviled eggs.
[Julie] Oh yeah.
And they make their homemade pickles, they just
[Margit] Which brings me to the salad, because that's what I love about the kale salad is
that there's so many different textures
and they have the kale, and then a variety of pickles which I think is such a great
With the salad?
Yes.
[Michelle] Oh, nice.
And then these little, and you can tell they were little heirloom tomatoes because they
were streaked and kind of a little funky
looking, and I just feel like there's a lot of love in something like that salad.
It is, the chef shows a lot of love in his cooking, yes.
Yeah, makes the pickles.
Yes.
[Michelle] Right, oh wow.
So that, it's just special, you know, it makes it more special.
[Julie] It's nice to see that go out, when people literally see the way that the plates
are done, it's fascinating, someone shows
heart to their cooking.
You also had a Key lime cake?
[Julie] Yes, it's nothing like it on the island.
Yes, it's very good with the cream cheese frosting, and it is green.
[Margit] It's green.
[Julie] It's green.
[Margit] It's a grandma recipe.
[Julie] Yes.
[Michelle] Wow.
[Margit] Grandma's green cake.
[Julie] Yeah, and with fresh berries on it and then the streak of the red, of the sauce
on it with powdered sugar.
[Michelle] It sounds like it would be very moist.
It is very moist, and it's enormous, and then when they cut it, it's, people are like "Oh,
I'll take two or three slices."
I said
no, you can take one cake, I mean one slice is enough for literally like two or three
people.
Randy, how was the service?
The service was good, it was very good.
I'd like to bring up the gastropub idea.
I noticed they had all the craft beers and a great
wine selection.
So it is beautiful inside, it is really nice.
Nice.
Well, Julie, Firefly was your pick.
Please sum it up.
It's a hidden gem.
I keep saying that to people.
For me, the Southern cuisine is probably by far the best.
It really is.
Randy.
I think if you like a nice quiet evening off Duval and like Southern food, you're gonna
have a great time there.
Margit.
Neighborhood gastropub feel, great Southern food, and a lot of chef attention and love
there.
Well for a Southern meal in the southernmost city, check into Firefly located at 223 Petronia
Street in Key West.
Open daily for
breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Reservations are accepted, and the average price for dinner without drinks is about $55.