Nearly a year ago I stumbled on an article about about Everglades Pizza in Ft. Myers, Florida. The pizza had all the best of the Everglades on it: snake, gator, swamp cabbage and frog’s legs. I promptly emailed a few friends about this and then began harassing them on Facebook about making the trip as a guys outing. One was tepidly interested, the foodie was sarcastically interested (which meant he wasn’t interested) and the rest shared varying levels of being grossed out. Those were my guy friends, quite the manly and adventurous bunch.
Last weekend Laura came to town. Somehow we started talking about Everglades Pizza, which we keep calling swamp pizza, and she was intrigued. Once we nixed a spontaneous day trip (Laura, unforgiving, didn’t think to bring her passport!) to the Bahamas, Laura suggested we drive across Florida to try the pizza. My guy friends have nothing on Laura.
I went back to that old Facebook thread and email list to let my buddies know we were actually going to do it. The one who was tepidly interested in the past decided to come on for the ride, along with his family, and no others joined. We did alert Jillian’s parents, who live in the area, and they met us as well. I made it clear that everyone agreeing to try the pizza, it is $45 after all, needed to commit to eating at least one slice. In the end that meant that of our caravan of 7 adults and 3 toddlers, only 4 of us were going to make the try. Oh, and we planned to have the kiddos each try one new meat….we were expecting leftovers and those kids eat ANYTHING! Needless to say, I was relieved when we arrived and learned that our pizza was a medium with 6 slices rather than a large with 8 slices, far less food to eat.
The pizza arrived, it clearly had frog’s legs on it but otherwise looked, more or less, like any other pizza. I dove in and found it delightful with just a hint of spice courtesy of one of the meats. The others did more or less the same but took the time to take apart their slices so that they could try each of the tastes.
Rob, the guy friend who made the trek, was surprised at how flavorful the whole thing was when he was expecting it all to be gamey. He thought the gator was the best part and thought the python was chewy but still incredibly flavorful. Jillian’s dad, Jimmie, agreed with Rob on the python and compared it to Rabbit. He also felt the Alligator was spiced just right. Unlike Rob though, he really enjoyed the ‘swamp cabbage’ which was hearts of palm. Neither seemed too entranced or offended by the frog.
Laura pointed out, and I have to agree, that it was a bit annoying to have actual bone (from the frog) on the pizza, which we all had to pick off. She had actual been quite nervous and non-committal toward eating the entire slice but loved it all and the frog best, pointing out the frog had a nice, crispy skin. If anything, she was disappointed that the gator reminded her of chicken.
As for me, I just ate the whole thing and didn’t look back. Had the frog not had a bone and you told me it was a meat-lover’s pizza I might not have known the difference.
We ordered three pizzas and some other food and the Everglades pizza was the first item finished. We all had our initial one slice and we dived up the leftovers as equitably as possible. The next day, no stomach ailments were reported.
Interested in trying it yourself? Head to Evan’s Neighborhood Pizzeria in Fort Myers, FL. Call ahead if you want the Everglade’s Pizza – it takes an hour to make.
American Airlines arena and cycled up US-27 all the way to Stirling Road (practically home) and then back again. The wind was strong as I headed out but on the way back to transition, with the wind at my back I practically flew. I averaged 17.2 mph which was excellent for me and the fastest I’ve ever averaged at that distance. A better bike might have increased my speed a few more mph but I was happy.
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