Alice's at La Te Da
1125 Duval St., Key West, FL, USA
Phone: 305/296-6706
$10 to $30
Key West
Contemporary

Chef-owner Alice Weingarten's restaurant, where she serves breakfast, brunch, and dinner, has a tropical poolside location.Weingarten, who was named one of South Florida's top 10 chefs by South Florida Gourmet, prepares a creative mix of seafood, game, beef, pork, and poultry dishes complemented by the excellent wines she selects. A sizzling Key West yellowtail features an aromatic blend of Thai red curry and Asian vegetables served over coconut basmati rice. AE, D, MC, V. Closed Mon.

Bagatelle
115 Duval St., Key West, FL, USA
Phone: 305/296-6609
Under $20
Key West
Seafood

This elegant, second-story restaurant in a former sea captain's home overlooks Key West's central street, Duval Street. The view from the veranda draws many diners. The seafood chowder and tuna tataki (rare tuna loin) are recommended, but the menu runs the gamut from pecan dolphin, to shrimp and scallop linguine, to "surf and surf" (Florida lobster and stone crab claws). Reservations essential. AE, D, MC, V.

Bahama Mama's
Corner of Whitehead and Petronia Sts., Key West, FL, USA
Phone: 305/294-3355
Under $10
Key West
Bahamian

Owner Cory Sweeting, a fourth-generation Conch, uses his grandmother's recipes. Dine indoors or outdoors. Specialties include the fried coconut shrimp with rum sauce, curried ginger chicken, and Mama's chicken. All platters include a salad, hush puppies, and a choice of side dishes such as cheese grits and collard greens. MC, V.

Banana Café
1211 Duval St., Key West, FL, USA
Phone: 305/294-3294
$10 to $20
Key West
French

This casual spot on the main drag of Key West keeps the crêpes flying from breakfast through lunch. Tables inside and out add to the tropical setting, and the soups and salads offer the best in fresh seafood. Entrées, such as the rack of lamb filled with foie gras and a Madeira wine sauce, are prepared in classic French style, and assorted cheeses, sorbets, and homemade desserts continue the traditional feel throughout the meal. Come for live jazz on Thursday nights. AE, D, MC, V.

Café des Artistes
1007 Simonton St., Key West, FL, USA
Phone: 305/294-7100
Over $20
Key West
Contemporary

The food here is superb, reflecting Chef Andrew Berman's French interpretation of tropical cuisine, using fresh local seafood and produce and light sauces. The best choices are the featured items of the day such as Atlantic salmon prepared in a light curry ginger butter or venison with a black currant sauce. Dining takes place in two indoor rooms or on a rooftop deck beneath a sapodilla tree and the stars. AE, MC, V. No lunch.

Café Marquesa
600 Fleming St., Key West, FL, USA
Phone: 305/292-1244
Over $10
Key West
Contemporary

The hospitality machine is well oiled at this refined restaurant adjoining the intimate Marquesa Hotel. Chef Susan Ferry, who trained with Norman Van Aken, presents 10 or so entrées each night. Though every dish she makes is memorable, frequent guests favor the sesame-crusted yellowtail snapper that comes with a sake-miso broth, white-flour noodles, sautéed spinach, and pineapple-chili salsa. Some low-fat options are featured, but desserts are quite the contrary. The wines are well selected, as are the microbrewery beers. AE, DC, MC, V. No lunch.

Café Solé
1029 Southard St., Key West, FL, USA
Phone: 305/294-0230
$10 to $30
Key West
French

This little piece of France lies hidden behind a high wall in a residential neighborhood. Inside, chef John Correa creates some deliciously unusual takes on classics like bouillabaisse (some of the best you'll find outside of Marseille) and mussels served in garlic, butter, and white wine. His salads are lightly kissed with balsamic vinegar. D, MC, V. Closed Wed. No lunch.

Caribe Soul
425 Grinnell St., Key West, FL, USA
Phone: 305/296-0094
Under $30
Key West
Caribbean

Within a year after its opening, this ambitious 24-seat restaurant attracted the attention of an investor who wooed it away from its original home to a new location next to the Eden House Resort. It reopened with 60 seats, a tropical patio, and a waterfall. Co-founders Kevin Robinson and Michael Weston now serve a more sophisticated version of their home-style Caribbean and soul food, ranging from a Jamaican pigeon peas and rice bowl topped with eggplant-mango salsa to fire-grilled jerk duck rubbed with spicy, sweet jerk seasoning. Entrées come with cornbread and a choice of two sides such as fried green apples, collard greens, or sweet potatoes. AE, D, DC, MC, V. Closed Mon.

Dim Sum's Far East
613½ Duval St. (rear), Key West, FL, USA
Phone: 305/294-6230
$10 to $30
Key West
Pan-Asian

This charming little restaurant succeeds by making your experience memorable from the moment you are greeted at the door to the moment you are wished good night. Service is exemplary and the food, Pan-Asian cuisine and a fusion of classical French and Asian cooking, is outstanding in artistic presentation and taste. The menu features such favorite aromatic dishes as crisp deep-fried whole yellowtail snapper enveloped in a pepper and basil sauce. Nightly specials range from chicken and shrimp in green curry to duck in a red curry sauce. AE, D, DC, MC, V. No lunch May-late Dec.

Duffy's Steak & Lobster House
1007 Truman Ave., Key West, FL, USA
Phone: 305/296-4900
$10 to $20
Key West
Seafood, Steak

The owners of the Café des Artistes (which shares a wall and rest rooms with Duffy's) run this nostalgic American salute to surf and turf. It serves Angus cuts that rival those at good steak houses and lobster and seafood that would make a dedicated seafood restaurant envious. Though the original Duffy's was around when President Truman was a frequent visitor - hence the photo of him on the menu's cover - the look is contemporary and the atmosphere fun. AE, MC, V.

El Siboney
900 Catherine St., Key West, FL, USA
Phone: 305/296-4184
Under $10
Key West
Cuban

Dining at this sprawling three-room, family-style restaurant is like going to mom's for Sunday dinner; that is, if your mother is Cuban. It's noisy - everyone talks as though they're at home - and the food is traditional, including a well-seasoned black-bean soup. Specials include beef stew on Monday, pepper steak on Tuesday, chicken fricassee on Wednesday, chicken and rice on Friday, and oxtail stew on Saturday. Always available are roast pork, cassava, paella, and palomilla steak. No credit cards.

Flagler's Steak House
1500 Reynolds St., Key West, FL, USA
Phone: 305/296-3535
$10 to $30
Key West
Steak

With high ceilings, ornate archways, and dark woodwork, this restaurant is reminiscent of the 1920s - a far cry from the breezy, tropical feel of most restaurants in town. Of course, steak is king here, most notably the Jack Daniel's peppercorn fillet or the New York strip. Breakfast is served. There's a children's menu for the little carnivores, too. AE, D, DC, MC, V.

Iguana Cafe
425 Greene St., Key West, FL, USA
Phone: 305/296-6420
$10 to $20
Key West
American

This 24-hour haunt with street-side bar stools and outdoor patio tables is perfect for people watching. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are served around the clock. Favorites include the Mexican-style spicy tenderloin tips, fish and chips, and the infamous alligator chowder. D, DC, MC, V.

Kelly's Caribbean Bar, Grill & Brewery
301 Whitehead St., Key West, FL, USA
Phone: 305/293-8484
Under $20
Key West
Contemporary

Actor Kelly McGillis owns this popular eatery with a wide deck and a canopy of tropical trees. The menu includes such Caribbean and local specialties as jerk chicken and camarones Curaçao - shrimp marinated in coconut milk, lime juice, ginger, and teriyaki, and served grilled with a citrus peanut sauce. There's a library with works of local writers. AE, D, DC, MC, V.

Lotsa Pasta
609 Duval St., Key West, FL, USA
Phone: 305/294-7874
Under $20
Key West
Italian

This northern- and southern-style Italian eatery is in a 1906 Victorian home. The house specialties are the thin-crust mini pizzas, but the menu includes traditional pasta dishes and seafood preparations, too. AE, D, DC, MC, V.

Louie's Backyard
700 Waddell Ave., Key West, FL, USA
Phone: 305/294-1061
$20 to $30
Key West
Contemporary

At this restaurant with a steal-your-breath view, executive chef Doug Shook offers an enticing menu that changes seasonally. The winter fare might include roast rack of lamb with mint sauce and roasted garlic or grilled sour orange-rubbed grouper with black beans and mango salsa. Louie's key lime pie has a pistachio crust and is served with a raspberry coulis. Dine outside under a mahoe tree. Come for lunch if you're on a budget; the menu is less expensive and the view is still just as fantastic. AE, DC, MC, V.

Mangia Mangia
900 Southard St., Key West, FL, USA
Phone: 305/294-2469
Under $20
Key West
Italian

Elliot and Naomi Baron, ex-Chicago restaurateurs, serve large, flavorful portions of homemade pasta. Diners select a fresh pasta from the daily selection and match it with one of the homemade sauces. Tables are arranged in a brick-lined garden with specimen palms and in a dressed-up old-house dining room. Mangia is one of the best restaurants in Key West - and one of the best values. Everything that comes out of the open kitchen is outstanding, including the Mississippi mud pie and made-on-the-premises key lime pie. Many of the 350 wines served cost less than $20. AE, MC, V. No lunch.

Margaritaville Café
500 Duval St., Key West, FL, USA
Phone: 305/292-1435
Under $10
Key West
American

If you're in the mood to dine on cheeseburgers and margaritas, this is the place. Key West resident Jimmy Buffett's flagship restaurant (there are three other franchises spread throughout the southern U.S.) is a popular, if painfully touristy, spot to learn his songs and views on life while chowing down on Key West pink shrimp or the fresh fish of the day. AE, MC, V.

Nicola
601 Front St., Key West, FL, USA
Phone: 305/296-9900
Under $20
Key West
Seafood

Dine on the terrace facing the waves of the Atlantic or in the formal dining room. From the seafood pasta to the spicy grilled shrimp, the seafood here is always among the freshest in town. Nicola serves breakfast, too, and has a special kids' menu for finicky eaters. Call for reservations on weekends. AE, D, DC, MC, V.

Pepe's Café and Steak House
806 Caroline St., Key West, FL, USA
Phone: 305/294-7192
Under $20
Key West
American

Pepe's is a Key West institution. It was established downtown in 1909 (making it the oldest eating house in the Keys) and moved here in 1962. With few exceptions, it's been serving three squares a day with the same nightly specials for years. Barbecued chicken, pork tenderloin, ribs, steak, fresh fish, potato salad, red or black beans, and corn bread on Sunday; meat loaf on Monday; seafood Tuesday (Maine lobster) and Wednesday; a traditional Thanksgiving every Thursday; prime rib on Saturday; and filet mignon daily. Dine indoors or on the garden patio. It's worth coming back. D, MC, V.

Pier House
1 Duval St., Key West, FL, USA
Phone: 305/296-4600
$10 to $30
Key West
American

This casual restaurant on the Gulf of Mexico serves up American cuisine with an Italian and Caribbean twist. Dishes include West Indies curried chicken, jumbo shrimp, and scallops. You can dine outdoors on the partially covered patio. AE, D, DC, MC, V. No lunch.

Rick's Blue Heaven
729 Thomas St., Key West, FL, USA
Phone: 305/296-8666
$10 to $20
Key West
Contemporary

There is much to like about this historic restaurant where Hemingway once refereed boxing matches and customers watched cockfights. Upstairs is an art gallery, and downstairs are affordable fresh eats, in both the house and the big, leafy yard. Business is booming with nightly specials and a good mix of natural and West Indian foods. All of the desserts, breads, tortes, buns, and rolls are baked on-site. Three meals are served six days a week; Sunday there's a to-die-for brunch. Expect a line - everybody knows how good this place is. Reservations not accepted. D, MC, V.

The Sands
1435 Simonton St., Key West, FL, USA
Phone: 305/296-5000
Under $10
Key West
Seafood

The terrace of this eatery has a view of the Atlantic; inside, walls painted with seascapes continue the maritime feel. The herb-crusted grouper and fettuccine with Key West pink shrimp are delicious. Breakfast is also available. AE, D, DC, MC, V. No lunch. No dinner Sun.-Mon.

The Seaport Tavern
610 Greene St., Key West, FL, USA
Phone: 305/296-3002
Under $10
Key West
Cuban

This diner and neighborhood tavern serves large portions of authentic Cuban-American dishes. Appetizers include the Tavern Flying Saucers (a toasted sandwich of baked ham or Cuban pork, mustard, and cheese). Entrées include grilled skirt steak marinated in garlic and sour orange and topped with onions. All platters are served with yellow rice, black beans, plantain or yucca, and a tamale. AE, D, DC, MC, V.

Sloppy Joe's
201 Duval St., Key West, FL, USA
Phone: 305/294-5717
Under $10
Key West
American

This local institution, which opened the day Prohibition was repealed, was the infamous saloon beloved by Ernest Hemingway. Today it also has an upstairs speakeasy, where you can order lunch and dinner. The menu includes hand-pulled barbecue pork sandwiches, Key West coconut shrimp, and Conch fritters. Of course, it's more famous as a watering hole - and deservedly so - but if you happen to get hungry on your bender it's nice to have the option to stay right where you are. AE, D, MC, V.

Square One
1075 Duval St., Key West, FL, USA
Phone: 305/296-4300
$10 to $30
Key West
American

This casually elegant spot, complete with fine china, candlelit tables, and a pianist, overlooks Duval Street. Dishes include the sautéed sea scallops and the New Zealand rack of lamb. AE, D, DC, MC, V. No lunch.

Two Friends
512 Front St., Key West, FL, USA
Phone: 305/296-3124
$10 to $30
Key West
Contemporary

In true Key West style, this 32-yr-old family-owned business has an open-air patio and a bar with a large selection of frozen tropical drinks. Entrées include stuffed mahimahi baked with shrimp, crab, and jack cheese, and the lobster combo house specialty (a half lobster tail, grilled shrimp, broiled scallops, and stuffed crab). Lighter fare includes the blackened chicken Caesar salad and seafood combo sampler. Breakfast is served, too. AE, D, DC, MC, V.