You can get wild-caught seafood in a basket, a bowl or a taco at Timoti's Seafood Shak, 21 North 3rd Street, a block off Centre Street in historic downtown Fernandina Beach. The restaurant describes the Fernandina location as casual dining, with a playground for kids and a vintage red-brick patio.
Timoti's says all of its seafood is wild caught, and the menu stays compact:
- Baskets of shrimp, fish, oysters, clam strips or the fresh catch, blackened, grilled or fried, with fries, slaw and hush puppies.
- A tuna poke bowl with raw ahi, coconut rice, avocado, spinach and kelp seasoning.
- Rice boxes and Baja boxes topped with shrimp, fish, chicken or tofu, with cauliflower rice as an option.
- Tacos with shrimp, mahi, tuna, chicken or tofu, a crab burger with T's Bam-Bam sauce, and lobster rolls on New England-style buns.
- New England clam chowder, a tomato-based seafood stew, and a key lime cup for dessert.
A short cocktail list covers margaritas, sangria and vodka lemonade. Hours at the Fernandina shack are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, and you can order ahead online. The Timoti's site also lists a Nocatee location and Karibo Five Points in Jacksonville.
The restaurant ties itself to the island's shrimping story. Its site credits visiting fisherman Billy Corkum with inventing the otter trawl net here in 1913, and says it still serves shrimp harvested the same way. The Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival celebrates that heritage downtown every spring. Timoti's also made the Insider's list of family-friendly restaurants, and Cafe Karibo is up the same block of North 3rd if the group wants a full-service menu instead.