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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

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“I suggest revising this statement: "doubling the number of travel lanes from the current four to six" since doubling four does not yield six.”
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“Sad that I know him and had no idea!”
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“One of the most important issue regarding this matter is: was this x-con provided with an opportunity to learn a trade while locked up for 327 months or was he...”
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“Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty? I seriously question the integrity of the yellow media and low-intelligence commenters for spewing such damagaing rhetoric before this case has even been...”
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“I take it that he only did half of 27 years which is 13 1/2 years .He apparently missed his inmate friends. What made him think he could get away...”
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“How can we get this started at Bluewater ? yeah Mrs Crist , still loving and making a difference in children’s lives .”
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“This is such an awesome idea! Ms. Crist was my daughter Valerie's 2nd grade teacher when Valerie attended Bluewater Elementary School! Ms. Crist was born to teach!! Nellie Bogar, Youth...”
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“I have been in the charter industry for nearly 20yrs, I own a successful mulit-boat fishing company, I teach the FISHING CLASS at Destin Highschool and I am also the...”
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