A few miles inland from Punta Gorda, you’ll find a house with the welcome mat out and something crawling out back.

“He’s a beautiful crab,” says Kelly Beall, using giant tongs to pull a squirming blue crab out of a bucket.

  • Peace River Seafood is in Cleveland, Florida, near Port Charlotte
  • Restaurant's menu items are all from Florida
  • Peace River serves large, family-style portions

In Cleveland, Florida, awaits a destination in good taste and personality.

“We’re going to see our crabs before we eat them tonight!” Beall exclaims. “They look amazing. They're nice, big, heavy crabs.”

A graduate of the University of South Florida, Beall wanted to be a dolphin trainer. Now, she's living a different dream.

“Now I run a fish house!” she say with a grin.

For more than a decade, the owner of Peace River Seafood has all of her porches covered. On one porch, she sells fresh Gulf seafood.

“We have fresh grouper,” she says, pulling a large fish from an ice covered chest.

On the other porch, she serves fresh crabs.

“Everything on our menu is from Florida,” Beall says.

The only thing fresher here are the koi swimming under the porch.

Peace River Seafood serves large portions family-style. Giant bowls full of fresh seafood arrive at the diner’s 16 tables, and then it’s all hands on deck as everyone reaches in.

“This is how I do it,” Beall says, grabbing a blue crab that has now turned red after it was cooked. “I go ahead and rip the top off.”

Just don’t compare Beall's Florida crabs with those from up north.

“I said, ‘If I had a dollar for everyone who comes in and tells me, ‘I’m from Maryland,’ then I would have a million dollars,” Beall says.

What started with one dollar hung on a wall grew to two dollar bills and now has spread through the former living room of this 90-year-old house. But use the décor to pay for dinner.

“If you don’t have any money, you better know how to do dishes,” she concludes with a laugh.

Tankful on Television
You can catch new Florida on a Tankful stories each Thursday and Saturday on News 13 and Bay News 9. New editions play at the end of each hour starting at 6 a.m. Classic Florida on a Tankful stories can be found each Friday and Sunday on Bay News 9 and News 13 at the end of each hour starting at 6 a.m.

Scott Fais joins Travel Monthly
Catch our own Scott Fais as the Florida Correspondent on the On Demand travel magazine, Travel Monthly. Each month, Scott joins other travel reporters from across the United States as they showcase a wide variety of attractions, diners, parks and landmarks from across America. See Travel Monthly nationally on Time Warner Cable channel 411. And here at home on Channel 999. Or see more of Travel Monthly here, courtesy of NY1, a service of Charter Communications.