I have a new favorite restaurant in Key Largo, JJ’s Big Chill. Owned by former NFL coach, Jimmy Johnson, this place is worth the visit.
On one end is a sports bar with numerous flat screen TVs and small area with video games. Then there’s an inside bar area, an inside dining area, an outside dining area (on the deck), a huge tiki bar, and on the far end is a swimming pool. Purchase $10 in food and you’re welcome to swim. There are also several cabanas that you can rent for $150 for the entire day. And did I mention, it’s waterfront? Yes, you can sit inside or out, right on the shimmering Florida Bay, and endlessly gaze at sailboats, soaring birds, and parasailing bravehearts.
Appetizers
The first item we had to try was Tuna Nachos. At $13, I hoped they’d be spectacular. They were! Mounds of crispy wonton chips, heaped into an over-sized bowl, topped with freshly chopped, sushi-grade, barely seared tuna, noodle-y strips of seaweed (wakame) salad, and drizzled with a not-too-spicy wasabi sauce. Wow. A heavenly explosion of textures and flavors, indeed. You will crave these in your sleep.
They have a brick oven on premises for pizza and calzones but it also happens to aid in their delightful offering of brick-oven roasted chicken wings. Forget blue cheese and wing sauce, these crispy morsels are smothered in sauteed onions, garlic and rosemary. And they’ll make you give back things you never stole. Mmm. Mmm.
We also tried the fried shrimp, parmesan crusted snapper, slider burgers and several side dishes like Asian fried green beans and mashed sweet potatoes - all were generous portions and quite good.
Just Desserts
I’d like to be best friends with their pasty chef. The Ultimate Crusted Key Lime Pie and the Macadamia White Chocolate Cheesecake were so good, I’d drive to Key Largo just to get a slice, or two. And don’t get me started on the Apple Cobbler.
Yes, you will find me at JJ’s Big Chill often. I’m addicted. And the man himself was there. I happily ogled from a distance, as I enjoyed every last crumb of my ultimate-crusted key lime pie.
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