Florida Dining: Little Moir’s FOOD SHACK

Food Shack
103 S US Highway 1, Jupiter, FL
(561) 741-3626
http://www.littlemoirsfoodshack.com/

For the most part, the Palm Beach County area is not a foodie-friendly destination. Sure, you can get some good seafood, and there is some decent ethnic eats to be found if you look hard enough, but primarily the popular vacation spot is devoid of restaurants that are doing things that are “interesting” from a culinary standpoint. One such exception to this sort of homogenized restaurant atmosphere is Little Moir’s Food Shack, on US 1 in Jupiter.

For a little restaurant in an ugly strip mall that has such an unpretentious and lowbrow name, FOOD SHACK is probably producing the best pan-ethnic casual dining cuisine in the entire Palm Beach county area. And while it took us a bit of prodding of local resources to find out about the place, it’s not exactly what you would call a secret — the place is consistently packed requiring half an hour to hour waits for a dinner table every night, it has “Outstanding” ratings from the ZAGAT survey and the restaurant has been profiled in the New York Times as well as the Boston Globe and Southern Living Magazine.

The restaurant’s chef and owner, Mike Moir, hails originally from Toronto, Canada, and has travelled across Asia and has been exposed to many international cuisines. He’s assembled a kitchen team from Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, Italy, Greece, Mexico and Guatemala, all who contribute to the restaurant’s cuisine, resulting in an eclectic menu that looks like it’s completely all over the map. The result is absolutely delicious. Additionally, the restaurant is one of the prime consumers of fresh vegetables and fruit in the entire area — Chef Mike bragged to me that his daily produce bill is over $600. That number doesn’t surprise me, considering the amount of fresh fruit and vegetables the restaurant uses in every dish. You’re definitely going to get your veggies if you come here for dinner.

The waits outside the Food Shack can be long, sometimes up to an hour. But don’t worry — go inside for a minute, put your name on the list, and grab one of the 25 types of beers available and mingle outside.

This is what the restaurant looks like every night of the week.

This is the specials menu, which changes very frequently. There’s also a regular menu that’s pretty comprehensive as well.

Wanna head on over to the FOOD SHACK? Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below.

The kitchen is completely open and you can watch the magic from a bar stool.

Chef/Owner Mike Moir

Chef Tim, another valuable member of the crew.

Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Turkey, one of the daily specials.

Deep Fried Oysters over Greens, Fruit and Gorganzola Cheese.

Pineapple Shrimp Fritter with Peppers, Onions and Herbs over Mango/Pineapple Salad

The “Shack Bowl”, one of the regular menu items. This is a huge bowl of Thai/Vietnamese-style coconut noodle soup with Gulf Shrimp and dry day boat scallops.

Thai Sriracha Sauce, for spiking your soup.

Corvina fish, with Yuca/Garlic crust

Wahoo fish with sweet potato crust over greens and fruit

A side order of sweet plantains (maduros)

Raspberry Key Lime Pie

Chocolate Mash dessert, like a chocolate mousse in a rocky road style with fruit.

We liked the restaurant so much we went the next day for lunch.

Corn and Shrimp chowder, one of the daily special soups.

Fried Tuna and Basil Roll, with Wasabi dipping sauce

Food Shack’s burger, big enough to split.

Coconut Shrimp