Triad Seafood Market & Cafe in Everglades City is a Florida Gem

Triad has been serving in the area for over 30 years, a very good sign. The seating at Triad is mostly outdoors, though they do have a screened area in back overlooking the Barron River. You can unwind, gaze at the wildlife and watch the boats go by.

The first thing we tried was the restaurant’s conch chowder. This was very good and nicely spiced with aromatic vegetables, bay leaf and oregano. I could have had a second bowl, but there were many other things to try on the menu.

We split an order of blue crab fingers. These were blue crab claws that were breaded and fried. This dish was absolutely delicious, made even better by the in-house made tartar and cocktail sauces served with it. Once we started eating this delectable crab, it was very hard to stop!

Triad is known for it’s “all you can eat” stone crab specials, which are priced at $80, $120 and $160 dollars for medium, large and jumbo sizes respectively. I thought this a bit much and at retail prices, you would have to eat almost 5 pounds of jumbo crab claws just to break even. As such, we opted to buy a couple of the large claws from the market to eat later. Expertly cracked and very sweet and meaty, the claws were very good and highly recommended.

We finished up ordering a fried oyster sandwich and a fried seafood basket. The oyster sandwich was delicious and came with about 8 large fried Apalachicola oysters. Fries, hush puppies, lettuce, pickles onion and tomatoes completed this dish. The fries and hush puppies served here were also very good; the exception rather than the rule.

The fried seafood basket was also very good. Grouper, shrimp and clam strips came with fries, hush puppies, tartar and cocktail sauces. Both the sandwich and seafood basket were excellent.

With it getting dark, my dining companion and I continued on to the night sky outing at Big Cypress National Preserve. These are ranger guided tours of the night skies over Big Cypress by laser pointers and telescopes. Being in between Naples and Miami, Big Cypress has some of the darkest skies in the eastern United States. It was recently granted Dark Sky Park status by the International Dark Sky Association, a group dedicated to the protection of night skies from light pollution and maintaining the fragile ecosystem of the areas.

This was a very good night out and highly recommended. I am not much of an astronomy aficionado, but appreciated the night sky over Big Cypress and really being able to see the stars and constellations. We were even able to see a few satellites passing by. These could be differentiated from a plane as it was traveling across the sky without any anti collision lights. Views like this are something not possible over virtually all urban areas. Even better, the tour is offered at no charge and is open to the public. The remaining two tours for the 2016-2017 season will be given February 10th at 7 PM and March 25th at 8 PM. As a courtesy to others, try to bring red lighting. This will not affect others light/dark adaptation when star gazing. Chairs and insect repellent are also helpful.

401 School Drive

Everglades City, FL 34139

(239)695-2662

Open 10:30 AM-6 PM Monday-Saturday, 10:30 AM-5 PM Sunday; All major credit cards accepted; Kid’s meals served; Closed in the summer months, please inquire.

33100 Tamiami Trail E.

Ochopee, FL 34141

(239)685-2000