Any visit to Florida is sure to involve some fantastic food from some of the state's many well-known restaurants. From north to south and east to west, there's definitely a lot of area to cover when getting to know Florida's dining scene. There's a full array of seafood options, of course, but you can't make a list of Florida's most iconic foods without Cuban sandwiches and Key lime pie. As for the restaurants, Joe's Stone Crab is a mainstay in Miami Beach, and locals love El Siboney in Key West. Yet for a venerable slice of Florida's culinary history, you have to travel up to St. Augustine, where you'll find the classic waterfront seafood joint, Aunt Kate's Restaurant. While it may not be the oldest restaurant in Florida, its history goes all the way back to 1900, when the ancestral namesake sold her first meal.

As the story goes, Frank Usina returned to St. Augustine (where he was originally from) with his wife, Catherine "Aunt Kate" Evans, in 1900, after a yellow fever epidemic shut down his work in Miami on Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railroad. Ironically, it was Flagler, an oil and railroad tycoon, who got Usina and his wife into the restaurant business that same year. While passing the Usina's small home with a sailing party, Flagler asked the couple if they would be willing to cook up some local oysters for the party. The Usinas agreed and were paid with donations from their guests that were so impressive — amounting to a week's pay — that they decided to go into the food service business.

Aunt Kate's Restaurant represents a piece of Northeast Florida's history

On the banks of the Tolomato River, the Usinas began to serve mainly out-of-state visitors wintering in Florida, often the financially elite. They specialized in local seafood and fried fish, fresh oysters, clam chowder, and a rice dish called pilau (Interestingly, pilau was brought to St. Augustine from Menorcan settlers escaping indentured servitude of English colonists in the 1760s). In 1910, the Usinas expanded their operation, building Usina's Pavilion, which eventually became Oscar's Old Florida Restaurant. The restaurant even offered boat transport from central St. Augustine to its outpost on the river.

Unfortunately, the original structure that housed Usina's Pavilion and Oscar's Restaurant burned down in 2001, but the property remained in the Usina family, and the restaurant reopened as Aunt Kate's in 2009. Today, the menu is still seafood-focused, with mahi, crab cakes, St. Augustine-style shrimp, fried oyster baskets, seafood boils, and even gator tail (aka Florida swamp chicken). Aunt Kate's Restaurant expanded its menu to include "turf" beyond the surf, like juicy burgers, tasty steaks, and fried chicken sandwiches. The Menorcan pilau may no longer be available, but you can still order Menorcan (red-style) clam chowder. Although the name has changed throughout the years, Aunt Kate's has remained a favorite for visitors and locals alike for over 125 years. And while the eatery may serve many more visitors than it did a century ago, the views from shore are just as tranquil.