what do I know

So it’s Friday and that means seafood until Lent is over. I’m in Milton, FL which is located near Pensacola and after driving up and down through town, I found a pretty cool little seafood restaurant called the Shrimp Basket. There are only a few of these in Florida and Alabama, so I’m going to qualify it as a local joint so I can post about it. Let me start out by saying, holy fried food. A quick look at the menu and it’s obvious what I’m talking about.

We ordered the Corn Fritters (~$5), a couple draft beers (~$2 each), one fried combo basket with clam strips and large shrimp (~$13), and one fried combo basket with crawfish tails and fish (~$13). Each meal comes with shrimp coleslaw, hushpuppies, and an option of red potatoes, fries, or potato salad. All of the food came out fast, freshly fried, and in gigantic portions. The corn fritters weren’t as hot as I’d like, but they tasted good and were stuffed with corn nibblets. The shrimp coleslaw was tasty, the hushpuppies were a little mushy inside, and the potatoes were pretty standard issue. The batter for the seafood was good; the fish was grouper-like, the clam strips were pretty normal, and the shrimp and crawfish tasted fresh.

Overall, I was in the mood for some fried seafood and, not surprisingly, it wasn’t hard to find a place in the Florida panhandle to satisfy. The staff was extremely courteous and we got our food so fast, I had to assume a marathon pace to keep up. The Shrimp Basket was a great stop for the first day of my trip although the prices did seem a little high. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to shower so my skin doesn’t feel like it did when I was a teenager.

The Shrimp Basket in Milton is located at 6389 Highway 90, Milton, FL 32570.