You know when you are en route home from a trip and you are so bummed it is ending? That was me yesterday. It was bad. We were driving along I-95 home from the BEST TrulyFlorida trip (I’m so stoked for the upcoming posts!) and my guys patiently allowed me one last stop to the Ocean Grill in Vero Beach. We were so glad we did. Nate said it reminded him of restaurants in the 80’s because the dishes were thoughtful, the service was abundant and well, it is just that intangible nostalgia you get if you were an 80s era Floridian kid who occasionally went to seafood restaurants in your Sunday best. I can’t describe it any other way. But our nostalgia was only for a few decades ago. We had no idea that just below the waves is the remains of the Breconshire shipwreck. Oh yes, I see another TrulyFlorida post about this.
The local flounder was amazing. The Ocean Grill sources some of their best fish locally unlike the oxymoron practice of some Florida oceanfront restaurants offering only thawed fish flown in from Maine or Korea. Ocean Grill’s owner Charley Repogle says it best when he points to the water outside saying, “literally this fish was out here swimming yesterday morning,” to chef Emeril Legasse in this episode of Emeril’s Florida. A family owned, historic restaurant that serves locally sourced ingredients is TRULY FLORIDA.
PHOTO SHOT WITH Canon Mark III and Canon 50 mm
Written & photographed by Molly Dempsey