dining out |
HOW TO EAT YOUR WAY THROUGH SANIBEL’S RESTAURANTS — IN A PANDEMIC Restaurant critic Jean Le Boeuf took a much-needed vacation on Sanibel. Eating their way through the island, in a pandemic, turned out to be delicious. | BY JEAN LE BOEUF
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t had been 20-some years since I vacationed on Sanibel. That is, prior to this month. I’ve been to the island plenty, mostly to eat, sometimes to fish or lounge on the shelltrimmed beaches. But vacationing on Sanibel is something Minnesotans and Canadians do. Not us locals. It’s for Michiganders in their black socks and Teva sandals, and for Wisconsinites, their pale, northern skin branded pink by our sun. Sanibel, in my head, belongs to them. Or it did — until the pandemic struck and vacations worldwide came to a screeching halt. I had plans to slurp hand-pulled lamian noodles in Vancouver’s Chinatown and tear through beignets and etouffee in New Orleans, to be the out-of-place tourist in someone else’s city. Instead I was home, cooking for myself, boring myself to tears with my same old recipes, my same reliably predictable flavor profiles, my same same same. As I drove myself crazy, a friend proposed an island getaway on Sanibel. Just a few days. A quick change of scenery. I’ve never been more excited to pay $6 and cross the Causeway. How does a restaurant critic eat through Sanibel with a small, COVID-conscious group amid a pandemic? Carefully. Here’s a closer look.
Schnapper’s Hots
TAKEOUT TO DROOL OVER Much of my Sanibel vacation was spent driving around and grabbing bags and boxes of food, which I was happy to do. If I’d had my way, we would have eaten at The Pecking Order every meal, every day. I wrote a little something about the restaurant’s handmade pies last week, but everything here deserves recognition: the shatteringly crisp, fried-to-order chicken; the leafy collard greens; the velvety black-eyed peas with their richly savory kick.
The first night we got in, I ordered a 20-piece bucket with one of every side and pies galore. We ate as much as we could, then shoved the rest in our condo’s fridge for snacking throughout the weekend. It was gone a few hours later. Our next stop for takeout was the classic Schnapper’s Hots. There’s nothing fancy about this place. It’s a counter with a few spots for stand-up dining and a few picnic tables out front. The prices — $4.95 for a hot dog, $6.95 for a plain cheeseburger
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA PARENT & CHILD » OCTOBER 2020 » 21
