3 Best Restaurants in The Everglades, Florida

Make a pit stop at Coopertown Restaurant for local flavor and delicacies sourced straight from the swamp. This eatery opened in the early 1960s as a sandwich stand, and it has long been a favorite among the famous and the humbly hungry. In addition to catfish and shrimp, house specialties include frogs' legs and alligator tail breaded in cornmeal and deep-fried. Sandwich options include burgers, hot dogs, and grilled cheese. Restrooms are outside. The restaurant is part of Coopertown's The Original Air Boat Tour business that dates back to 1945.

This popular "breakfast all day, every day" enterprise has two locations, only a few blocks apart, to accommodate a steady stream of customers who come for everything from omelets and pancakes to biscuits and gravy, plus salads, steaks, and seafood.

Although the antiques shop within White Lion Cafe's cottage is now history, this comfort-food haven, with outdoor seating, remains embellished with reminders of the past. From a 1950s-era wooden wall phone to a metal icebox and a Coca-Cola machine, you'll also find a mounted jackalope watching over a wide list of specials (Homestead crab cakes, burgers, fried chicken, and meat loaf). They do a fish of the day and specialties like Romanian tenderloin (skirt steak cooked to order). Vegetarians go for grilled veggies over angel-hair pasta. Best of all, fare includes potatoes that are mashed, salt-crusted, and baked and then stuffed with sour cream and cheddar. Layer cakes, pies, and cobblers offer a sweet finish. Dine inside or at picnic tables under a covered patio, but don't count on separate checks.