Timbers Restaurant & Fish Market, Sanibel Island, Florida

This item is sold exclusively through Sand Castle Gifts. In 1991, The Timbers Restaurant & Fish Market opened in July at its new location, with the Sanibel Grill housed in the same building. The Timbers menu featured mostly steaks and shrimp, with red snapper being the only fish item. It didn’t take long for one of the owners to see that his customers wanted fish, and they wanted it fresh. He would drive his Toyota hatchback to the docks on Ft. Myers Beach, with cash in pocket, and buy whole fish off the boats. ‘Matt the Fishmonger’ was born! Guests would often inquire, “Is the fish fresh?” One night, the man who coined the phrase “We serve it fresh….or we don’t serve it at all” dropped a twenty-five pound grouper on the table of an inquiring patron. Soon other guests were requesting whole fish at their tables! The Grill was originally designed as a waiting area for The Timbers. The Sanibel Grill became less of a waiting area and soon established itself as one of the island’s busie