I’m chatting with Bobby Mongelli, owner of Hogfish Bar & Grill, the delightfully ramshackle Stock Island institution situated on Safe Harbour Marina, roughly a 15-minute drive north of Key West, when a hostess approaches our table to ask, “Are they allowed to have their parrot out here?”
We turn to see a young woman with sun-bleached blonde hair wearing a boater’s foul weather jacket and a macaw with brilliant tangerine and royal blue tail feathers perched on her shoulder.
“Yes—yes, yes!” Mongelli cries without hesitation. “The parrot’s cleaner than most of the people!” A fast-talking D.C. native, Mongelli moved to the Florida Keys in 1983 from Aspen, Colorado to escape the cold. After a series of odd jobs (unloading mackerel boats, diving, washing dishes), he got a foothold in the restaurant business and eventually opened Hogfish in 2002, converting an old shrimper bar into the beloved dockside, open-air restaurant it is today.
License plates, vintage signs and sundry ephemera are tacked to the walls, including photographs of Ernest Hemingway grinning ear to ear on a Key West dock standing next to his catch, another of Fidel Castro at the rear of a fishing boat, casting a line into tranquil waters offshore. Cuba is, after all, only 90 miles south across subtropical seas and the swiftly moving Gulf Stream current. An old poster inside the restaurant advertises ferry service between Key West and Havana that once departed from these docks in the 1950s pre-embargo.
“There’s a lot of history here. People don’t realize it. There’s still pieces of Flagler’s railroad in the bushes over there,” Mongelli says, referring to oil tycoon Henry Flagler’s Overseas Railroad, which originally connected the Keys to Florida’s mainland starting in 1912 and was destroyed by the great hurricane of 1935.
Separated from Key West only by the narrow Cow Key Channel, Stock Island is both an extension of its famed neighboring island and a destination unto itself.
Today, Hogfish Bar & Grill is a paragon of Stock Island subculture. Famous for its laidback, salty ambiance and fresh, local seafood, its namesake refers to a snapper abundant in local waters that cooks up flaky and sweet. It’s a delicacy best enjoyed here sandwiched between pillowy soft Cuban bread with melted Swiss cheese, sautéed onions and mushrooms, which I polished off at the bar before meeting Mongelli and washed down with a cold Bahamian Kalik beer, while sandwiched between a couple visiting from Nashville and a gentleman who drove down from Big Pine Key.
Separated from Key West only by the narrow Cow Key Channel, Stock Island is both an extension of its famed neighboring island and a destination unto itself. It’s long been considered a hold out of “old Key West” before tourism became the island’s largest economic force. Stock Island is where you’ll find the area’s last working waterfronts and shipyards for shrimpers, lobstermen and commercial fishermen. It’s also home to artists, boat builders, multigenerational Keys families and much of the area’s workforce from Haiti and Cuba.
In 2017, Stock Island’s first two hotels, Oceans Edge Resort & Marina and The Perry Hotel, opened within months of one another, providing tourists unprecedented access to this largely local enclave.
In 2017, Stock Island’s first two hotels, Oceans Edge Resort & Marina and The Perry Hotel & Marina, opened within months of one another, providing tourists unprecedented access to this largely local enclave. Shon Williams, a longtime Key West local and avid waterman, operates his Fun in the Sun boat charters and rental company from Oceans Edge Marina and the nearby Key West Harbour Yacht Club. He and his colleague Neil Mellies, a photographer and fifth generation conch (the term used to describe Key West natives) of Cuban descent, showed me around the island for an afternoon.
Just outside Oceans Edge’s white picket fences and formal landscaping with four swimming pools neatly lining the marina, we stop at Washed Up, a woodworking studio and showroom run by mother-son artist duo Deb and Kasidy Fritts. Specializing in driftwood sculptures made of found materials, reclaimed “upcycled” wooden furniture and fine art, they share the space with jewelry designer and metalsmith Nick Soto. We admire a piece Kasidy recently sold, a giant mahi-mahi sculpture fashioned out of driftwood, Cuban mahogany and copper wire with vintage ship nails for teeth and an old sail’s clew sewn into the tail.
Next, we head to Coast, an artist collective founded by longtime local and boat captain Billy Kearins where we find French abstract artist Diane Barthélemy, newly arrived from Brooklyn, at work on a painting. The dusty outdoor compound is part studio, part performance venue and part community gathering place with Yahman’s Authentic Jamaican Jerk Shack food truck holding court at the entrance.
Our appetites piqued, we duck into El Mocho, a no frills Cuban luncheonette that opens at 6 a.m. and is always packed with fishermen at breakfast getting their fix of eggs and grits before heading offshore for the day. At this late afternoon hour, we practically have the place to ourselves and grab red vinyl stools at the counter. Mellies, a regular, orders us a colada (strong, sweet Cuban coffee served in a small Styrofoam cup and shared by pouring into thimble-sized plastic shots) and the tastiest croquetas jamon I’ve had in recent memory. Freshly fried, they’re hot and crispy and practically liquidate in my mouth. The entire snack cost less than $6 and we were off to hop aboard one of Williams’ boats, a 39-foot Contender, to watch the famous hot pink Key West sunset with shrimp boats dotting the horizon.
“This is what I love about Stock Island. You’re surrounded by more nature here.”
Shon Williams, Fun in the Sun Charters owner
“This is what I love about Stock Island,” Williams says as we idle into the channel, taking in the turquoise-green waters, mangrove islands and pelicans coasting just above the surface. “You’re surrounded by more nature here.”
Stock Island’s waterfront extends like fingers into the Atlantic Ocean, lined with marinas and clearing the sightline for idyllic water views from almost any vantage point. The Perry Hotel is situated on Stock Island Marina Village with 220 slips, a community garden, artist studios and a food truck with a stage for live music. Named one of the best designed hotels by Architectural Digest, The Perry’s modern, industrial aesthetic with clean lines, raw concrete and steel is inspired by Stock Island’s boatyards.
Their onsite restaurant Matt’s Stock Island Kitchen & Bar serves some of the most sophisticated and flavorful food in the area. Dishes are inflected with Southern soul and creole flavors and take advantage of the island’s bounty of fresh seafood. One evening, a friend and I delighted over their crispy, light-as-clouds crab beignets served with lemon powder and Old Bay aioli. Their sumptuous grouper in thyme butter swimming with crawfish and cornbread gnudi is a dish I’m still daydreaming about.
“People come to find the old Key West and it’s not in Key West anymore. It’s here. It’s actually in Stock Island… This is it.”
Bobby Mongelli, Hogfish Bar & Grill Owner
When talking to locals about the appeal of Stock Island, a theme began to materialize. They told me: It’s quieter, saltier, off-the-beaten path, more wildlife, less commercial, like the Key West I remember from my childhood…
For those searching for an authentic Florida Keys experience, Mongelli offers some straightforward advice, “People come to find the old Key West and it’s not in Key West anymore. It’s here. It’s actually in Stock Island… This is it.”
A version of this story originally appeared in AFAR.
