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‘Lionfish Restaurant Week’ kicks off in Destin with 6 locations serving up unique lionfish dishes

Lionfish Restaurant Week is an initiative that Visit Destin-Fort Walton Beach started in 2019 when they brought the Emerald Coast Open to the area. Restaurant guests can sample lionfish at one of the featured restaurants during the Emerald Coast Open Lionfish Restaurant Week!  Local chefs will be highlighting lionfish in unique dishes to help bring awareness to the lionfish […]

📸 Alex Fogg, Coastal Resource Manager - Okaloosa County

Lionfish Restaurant Week is an initiative that Visit Destin-Fort Walton Beach started in 2019 when they brought the Emerald Coast Open to the area.

Restaurant guests can sample lionfish at one of the featured restaurants during the Emerald Coast Open Lionfish Restaurant Week! 

  • Local chefs will be highlighting lionfish in unique dishes to help bring awareness to the lionfish invasion in the Gulf of Mexico.

Lionfish are highly invasive and can reduce fish populations and reefs by more than 90%. The Northwest Florida area has been identified as having the highest concentration of invasive lionfish in the world, according to the Emerald Coast Open.

“We partner with different restaurants in the Destin-Fort Walton beach area and we provide them with lionfish filets,” said Alex Fogg, Okaloosa Coastal Resource Manager. “We allow them to prepare lionfish in a bunch of different ways and each restaurant is a little bit different, so it’s a nice variety.”

Lionfish entree at Crab Trap Destin

The Lionfish Restaurant Week runs from May 8th to May 14th at various locations:

  • May 8 – Dewey Destin’s
  • May 9 – Crab Trap Destin
  • May 10 – Harbor Docks
  • May 11 – La Paz
  • May 12 – Brotulas
  • May 14 – AJ’s Seafood & Oyster bar

👉 It’s important to know that while lionfish are venomous, they are NOT poisonous…so you can eat them! (And they are delicious!)

“Restaurant week would not be possible without the Emerald Coast Open, the Pre-Tournament, and all of the divers that are going out and harvesting lionfish to donate them to the event,” added Fogg.

So hit up one of the restaurants this upcoming week and make sure you order Lionfish!

Learn more about the invasion of the lionfish

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Community Comments

“The Big U! The NMU supplied the unlicensed crew and when we lost this ship and its jobs and when U.S. Lines went bankrupt, we were on our way to...”
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“Highschool is finna be more crowed now. We need another highschool not a middle or elementary school.”
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“This is bittersweet. I spent a wonderful week in Cay Sal Banks on the Pilot in 2006. I will have to go pay her a visit soon....”
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“I agree with Jerome. What will this accomplish since both ends are only 4 lanes?”
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“The parking lot at McGuires would disappear along with the parcel that Destin purchased at the bridge.. Flooding on Okaloosa Island would close an expensive update to 98 , at...”
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“This will not make a difference for traffic passing through the center of Destin along Rt. 98. The smart option is to complete the Brooks Bridge and intersection in Ft...”
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“Doesn’t it still end up with 4 lanes on either end after bridges? Seems more aesthetic than a traffic plan. Which is nice too but does it increase the function?”
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“It would be a money pit let’s sink it for the tourists who we don’t have enough of so more will come”
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“Traffic moves pretty well on that stretch of 98, I don't see the need to waste the money. Maybe do something to deal with the traffic in Destin, and Mary...”
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