There may be plenty of fish in the sea, but only one roadside smoker can make your lunch plans abandon ship.
Red oak smoke drifts toward passing cars while racks of mullet and amberjack cook slowly beside the road. You may not have been hungry thirty seconds ago, but your appetite has already made the turn.
Then the menu starts piling on. Smoked-fish dinners bring German potato salad and coleslaw. The famous fish spread practically demands a takeout container.
Key lime pie waits nearby with the confidence of a dessert that knows restraint is already losing.
One quick meal can become lunch, tomorrow’s snack, and a car that smells wonderfully smoky for the rest of the drive.
So, are you pulling over for one plate or making room for the whole catch?
The Roadside Smoker Has Been Drawing Drivers Since 1951
The story began when Ted Peters entered the fish business with his stepbrother, known as “Red Hot.”
While working around the Fisherman’s Co-Op in Madeira Beach, Ted noticed that smoked fish was usually prepared out of public view. Smokers often sat behind buildings or farther from the road, where drivers could neither see the racks nor catch the aroma.
Ted chose the opposite approach.
He placed an old smoker on Blind Pass Road in front of the Blue Anchor, a restaurant he owned at the time. When cars passed, he opened the smoker so people could see and smell the fish cooking.
The idea was direct and memorable. Instead of explaining the process on a sign, he let red oak smoke carry the message toward the road.
By 1951, Ted Peters Famous Smoked Fish was operating at its current location. Ted’s half-brother, Elry Lathrop, joined him as a partner, and other relatives helped establish the recipes that became part of the restaurant’s identity.
The roadside method still defines the place. Fresh fish goes onto racks, the fire burns below, and passing drivers receive an aromatic reason to reconsider their plans.
Some restaurant signs ask you to turn in. This one has smoke doing the work.
The South Pasadena Address Keeps The Original Idea Alive
This roadside smokehouse keeps lunch simple, but the location makes it an easy stop during a Gulf Coast drive.
You will find it at 1350 Pasadena Avenue South, St. Petersburg, Florida, near the routes leading toward the beaches and surrounding neighborhoods.
Parking surrounds the building, and both dine-in and takeout service are available. You can settle in for a full smoked-fish dinner or head to the smokehouse for fish sold by the pound.
Current hours run from 11:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. The restaurant closes Monday and Tuesday, so timing matters when smoked mullet has taken over your thoughts.
The setup has changed very little in spirit. Drivers approach from Pasadena Avenue South, spot the smoker, and understand the appeal before reaching the door.
Fish rests on the racks, red oak burns below, and lunch takes exactly as long as the smoker says it should.
Red Oak And Time Shape Every Smoked Fish Order
Smoked mullet is the dish that put Ted Peters on the map, and it remains the one most first-time visitors feel compelled to order. Mullet is a fish that many people haven’t tried before, and some arrive genuinely unsure what to expect from it.
What they find is a bold, deeply smoky flavor with firm, satisfying texture. The fish comes as part of a full dinner plate alongside German potato salad, coleslaw, pickle, tomato, onion, and lemon, so you’re getting a proper meal rather than a small tasting portion.
Regulars point out that the portion sizes are generous enough to leave most people comfortably full.
One thing worth knowing: smoked mullet does contain bones, so eating it slowly and attentively is a good habit. Staff are used to guiding first-timers through this, and the friendly service makes it easy to ask.
The fish itself has a character that’s hard to describe until you’ve tasted it, which might be why so many visitors say the same thing afterward: they had no idea mullet could taste this good.
That kind of pleasant surprise is exactly what keeps the reputation alive.
Smoked Mullet Connects The Menu To Old Florida
Mullet remains one of the clearest links to the restaurant’s earliest years.
Ted Peters built its first reputation around smoked mullet and Spanish mackerel, and mullet still appears at the top of the current smoked-fish menu. Travelers who want the most direct introduction to that history can order it for lunch or dinner.
The dinner arrives with German potato salad, coleslaw, pickle, tomato, onion, and lemon. The lunch leaves off the two larger sides but keeps the fresh accompaniments.
That structure gives diners two ways to approach the signature fish. Lunch keeps the order more compact, while dinner turns it into a complete plate with the restaurant’s best-known side dish.
Mullet is not the only route through the smoker. Salmon and amberjack receive the same lunch-and-dinner treatment, allowing a table to compare several choices without changing the rest of the plate.
The restaurant’s history page notes that it once smoked only mullet and Spanish mackerel before expanding the selection. The current menu reflects that growth while preserving mullet as a constant.
First-time visitors do not need to understand every chapter of Florida fishing history before ordering.
You only need to choose lunch or dinner and decide whether one smoked fish is enough for the table.
Family Recipes Still Complete The Plate
The smoked fish may draw the first look, but two family recipes have helped shape the restaurant for generations.
Tilla Lathrop, known as “Mom,” ran the kitchen and created the German potato salad recipe that is still served today. Ellen Peters developed the smoked fish spread recipe, which became another signature item.
Both remain easy to find on the current menu.
German potato salad accompanies every smoked-fish dinner and can also be ordered separately. Coleslaw joins it on the dinner plate, while pickle, tomato, onion, and lemon appear with both lunch and dinner portions.
The smoked fish spread is served with saltine crackers or inside a sandwich. Takeout sizes include half-pints, pints, and quarts, giving travelers several options for carrying it home.
Manhattan clam chowder also appears among the sides. Diners can order a cup with the meal or take home larger containers listed on the takeout menu.
Key lime pie provides the dessert option, keeping the final course connected to Florida even when the main plate has already made the point.
The menu remains focused rather than sprawling. Fish, family recipes, a handful of sides, and one citrus dessert cover most of the decisions.
The hardest one may be deciding how much spread can disappear before the return drive begins.
Jumbo Burgers Give Seafood Skeptics Another Strong Option
Not everyone in your group will be a seafood fan, and Ted Peters has always known that. The menu includes jumbo hamburgers and cheeseburgers that have built their own loyal following entirely separate from the smoked fish crowd.
These aren’t token menu items added to keep the peace at the table.
The burgers are genuinely large and consistently described by visitors as flavorful and satisfying. Paired with German potato salad or coleslaw, they make a full meal that holds up on its own.
Families traveling together often find that the burger option removes the last remaining excuse anyone might have had for skipping the trip.
There’s also Manhattan clam chowder and Key lime pie rounding out the menu for those who want to explore beyond the main event.
The clam chowder uses a tomato base rather than the cream-based version many people expect, which gives it a lighter, more distinct character. Key lime pie delivers on the Florida classic without overcomplicating it.
For a restaurant built entirely on smoked fish, the supporting cast is surprisingly strong. Which item would you reach for first if seafood wasn’t on your radar? The burger might just change your answer by the time you finish it.
Five Generations Have Protected This Old Florida Tradition
Running a restaurant for over seventy years is remarkable. Keeping it in the same family for five generations, at the same address, with the same recipes and the same approach, is something else entirely.
Ted Peters Famous Smoked Fish has done exactly that, and the result is a dining experience that feels less like a restaurant visit and more like a living piece of Florida history.
The fifth generation of the founding family is now involved in daily operations, which means the people serving your food today have a direct personal connection to the person who first put a smoker near the road in 1951.
That kind of continuity is rare anywhere, and genuinely extraordinary in the restaurant industry.
The open-air dining area, on-site parking, and takeout service keep the experience accessible and unpretentious.
There are no reservations, no dress codes, and no complicated ordering systems. You show up, you eat well, and you leave understanding why people drive across Florida to do it.