Royal Reds: The Gulf’s Deep-Water Secret

Ask a longtime Eastern Shore local what to cook the first night of a trip, and there’s a good chance they’ll point you toward something most visitors have never heard of: **Royal Reds.** They look almost too pretty to be shrimp, they taste a little like lobster, and you can barely find them anywhere outside this stretch of the Gulf. If you’re staying on the water, they’re worth the short drive.

What makes a Royal Red different

Royal Reds (Pleoticus robustus) aren’t your average Gulf shrimp. They live in cold, dark water 800 to 2,500 feet down, hauled from far offshore between the Florida Panhandle and the Alabama–Mississippi coast. That deep, cold habitat is the whole secret. They come up an unusual rosy-red before they’re ever cooked — which is how they got the name — and their higher natural fat content makes them sweeter, richer, and more tender than the shallow-water shrimp most people know. The comparison you’ll hear again and again is lobster, and it’s fair.

A few things worth knowing before you cook them: they’re naturally salty, so they need very little seasoning — a little butter and lemon is plenty. They cook fast, just a couple of minutes, and turn tough if you overdo it. And their season runs from late summer into late fall, peaking around September — which happens to be one of the loveliest times on the Eastern Shore. (One quick myth to bust: a Royal Red is a true shrimp. A “langostino,” which you’ll sometimes see sold as budget lobster, is actually a little squat-lobster cousin of the crab — a different animal entirely.)

Where to buy them fresh

The real treat is buying them off the boat and cooking them yourself. Three good options, all close:

Lartigue’s Seafood Market —
420 Eastern Shore Shopping Center, Fairhope, AL 36532 · (251) 517-7299
Right in Fairhope, a local institution since 1978; their cases usually have Royal Reds alongside oysters, snapper, and crab.

Billy’s Seafood —
16780 River Road, Bon Secour, AL 36511 · (251) 949-6288
A fun open-air market on the Bon Secour River, family-run since 1975. Worth the trip just for the experience.

Aquila Seafood —
17309 River Road, Bon Secour, AL 36511 · (251) 949-6658
Family-owned since 1971 and known as “the home of the Royal Red,” with no imported shrimp.

Bon Secour is about a half-hour down toward Gulf Shores — an easy, pretty errand that turns into part of the day.

Where to let someone else cook them

Not in the mood to shell shrimp? A couple of waterfront spots do it beautifully:

Sunset Pointe at Fly Creek Marina —
831 N. Section Street, Fairhope, AL 36532 · (251) 990-7766
Casual, on the water, and made for a slow evening.

Southern Roots at the Grand Hotel —
One Grand Boulevard, Point Clear, AL 36564
A more polished night out, with a kitchen that leans hard on local Gulf ingredients.

Bring a haul back to the house

This is where staying on the canal pays off. Grab a couple of pounds on the way in, and the house does the rest — two full kitchens so nobody’s waiting on the stove, a screened porch over the water to eat on, and no reason to rush. Shell a pile of Royal Reds, pour something cold, and let the evening go long.