Grub Crawl - Ponce Inlet: Hidden Treasures and Down the Hatch

I went to these two seafood restaurants at the end of line in Ponce Inlet on Sunday afternoon. BTW those idiots are now charging $10 to get to the beach. As if it wasn't already a giant pain in the ass to get there. I got there by taking I4 to the end and making a right and then crossing the bridge in Port Orange.

Hidden Treasure Bar & Grill - This place is in the shadow of the lighthouse. It has a bar area on the dock and an inside. I sat inside because it was a little windy (great job mediocre-ologists) and they had a tarp down that blocked the view from the bar. I tried a half dozen Louisiana oysters (raw) and an oyster po' boy. The raw oysters ($9) didn't have much flavor and ham hands in the kitchen made sure I got pieces of shell in every one. The po' boy ($13) was good. 10 well fried, panko crusted oysters. A little smallish. A very good roll and remoulade sauce (on the side). Tomato and pickle. Fresh home made chips. It came out fast. They have a big menu. You are supposed to try the steamed buckets, but, I think you can get more by ordering things individually. This place had more shellfish than the next place I'll talk about. Service was good, She knew enough to be helpful. They have a half ship inside and one dry docked on the deck that you can sit in. The place has all those tacky signs and fake ivy and Xmas lights that seem to be a requirement to operate. I liked one sign that said "if you can't believe our voters wait until you see our drivers". They have two big fake alligators up front. Parking was limited. Not bad. They have a crab cake with burger challenge (I think four of each) that you have to do in twenty minutes. It seats about sixty outside and forty inside.

Down the Hatch - This place is few hundred yards down on the "river" side. It also is on a dock/marina. The place is a little less "Swiss Family Robinson". It is one big brown wood building with low ceilings and an outside bar area. The inside is full of bay windows so you don't feel entirely cooped up. The walls are wood. They have stuffed fish and Nascar driver photos on the back wall. An inside bar is behind that. It seats about seventy inside and seventy outside. They sell souvenirs. I had a trigger fish sandwich to go. It was cooked perfectly. I like the firm flesh of the trigger. And the fact that it is a bad ass doesn't hurt either. It came with lettuce and tomato that could be improved upon. The bun was good. Giving people a bag of chips is kind of lazy. Most things here were more expensive than at Hidden Treasure. The menu was smaller. They did have a better selection of fish (by a hair - scale?). They didn't take AMEX.