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.”
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!
