We call them, endearingly, fish shacks – plain, sometimes rustic throwbacks to simpler times when seafood went straight from bait to plate, and the linen thread-count was zero. Almost every Florida beach town has one. Some have gone a little dressier as the years have passed and their popularity has grown. Others remain chic in their own willfully shabby way. Here are some favorites and secrets – served up like raw oysters – by the dozen:

Crabby Joe’s, Daytona Beach
Restaurants perched upon fishing piers practically guarantee seafood and character. Caribbean style accents and airbrushed sea scenes prettify the inside at Sunglow Pier’s popular Calypso Bar and Crabby Joe’s restaurant. Get crabby breakfast, lunch or dinner.

What’s chic? Grilled fish, eggs and grits with a Bloody Mary.
Contact: 386-788-3364, www.sunglowpier.com

Flora-Bama, Perdido Key, Pensacola
You’ve gotta love a place known for flying mullet. Host of an annual Interstate Mullet Toss in April, it straddles the Florida-Alabama line beachfront, looking like a good wind could send it over to either side. Although it started mostly as a drinking bar, its oyster bar serves well-appreciated Cajun-accented sandwiches and munchies, including its signature baked Oysters Perdido with chipotle, jalapenos and pepper jack.

What’s chic? Its annual Songwriters Festival in November.
Contact: 850-492-0611, www.florabama.com

Frenchy’s Rockaway Grill, Clearwater Beach
Sailboats and pirate ships (okay, faux excursion pirate ships) sail through your live beach-cam view of wide white sands and slappy gulf waves. Could there be any doubt the fish is fresh? Frenchy’s is the first name in seafood in the Clearwater area. Try the fish tacos, grouper sandwich or Greek-style grouper Santorini.

What’s chic? The entertainment: live music, volleyball on the beach and gorgeous sunsets
Contact: 727-446-4844, www.frenchysonline.com 

High Tide at Snack Jack, Flagler Beach
Dude! Look what washed up on the beach! A prototype for classic flotsam-and-jetsam surf bum shacks, this place has fed surfers since the 1950s. License plates, surfboards and beach paraphernalia decorate (perhaps actually hold together?) the walls while fish tacos, Ahi tuna and local shrimp fill stomachs.

What’s chic? Uh, well, the view?
Contact: 386-439-3344, www.snackjacks.com

Marlins Good Time Bar & Grill, Cocoa Beach
Another pier, another fishy joint: This one affords grand views of surfers, fishermen, volleyball players, and sundry other beach types. Seafood splatters the menu, heavy on typical fried fish fare.

What’s chic? Order the Pain in the Butt (your bartender will remind you why it’s called that) and score a pina colada and rumrunner in one – poured in layers.
Contact: 321-783-7549, www.cocoabeachpier.com/food_spirits.html

Morada Bay, Islamorada
Didn’t you dream this just the other night? With live music, tiki torches and tables planted in the sand, it epitomizes Florida dining fantasy. Food comes a bit fancier than in many Keys’ fish houses – tapas, roasted dolphinfish and caramelized jumbo sea scallops, for instance.

What’s chic? Adirondack chairs for sipping and toe-sand digging.
Contact: 305-664-0604, www.moradabay-restaurant.com

Salute Ristorante Sul Mare, Key West
Do not be fooled by its crayon box-explosion color scheme and squatty beach stance. This is serious seafood, Italian-style, so close to the sea that on windy days you won’t need to salt your food. How about some spicy cappellini with calamari, capers, olives and tomatoes?
 
What’s chic? The pasta is homemade.
Contact: 305-292-1117

Sandbar Restaurant, Anna Maria
At what exact moment will the sun drop from view? It’s everybody’s guess each night at The Sandbar, and the most accurate guesser scores a bottle of champagne. The original bareboard shanty dining room spills onto the popular beach deck where lunch and dinner mean everything from crab-crusted scallops to Szechuan tilapia.

What’s chic? The daily specials – orange sesame salmon, for instance.
Contact: 941-778-0444, www.groupersandwich.com

Siesta Key Oyster Bar, Sarasota
The sands are whitest and oysters cheapest on Siesta Key. Get a dozen for five bucks during happy hour, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. daily, at SKOB in Siesta Village. Stay for seafood dinners and lively times in this classic good-time shanty.

What’s chic? Listening to live music on the streetside deck.
Contact: 941-346-5443, www.skob.com

South Beach, Boca Grande
Proof conclusive that even the wealthiest cherish a good ol’ down-to-sand beach bar: Here’s where the locals celebrate the end of a work day and visitors join them for wow-worthy seafood chowder, rum-and-pepper sea bass, signature Grouper Gaspar piccata-style and sunset.

What’s chic? Arriving by golf cart, rentable on the island.
Contact: 941-964-0765

Toucan’s, Mexico Beach
Colorful as its namesake bird, it nestles right into the sand. Folks come for the day to sun, play volleyball and bite big juicy burgers (order Vidalia onion rings on the side), local Apalachicola oysters and pasta.

What’s chic? Pick-your-own live Maine lobster.
Contact: 850-648-8207, toucansmexicobeach.com

Woody’s Waterfront, St. Pete Beach
It started as a bait house selling burgers and dogs to fishermen at Blind Pass in the 40s. Today it bills itself as “an authentic 1960s beach bar.” Not actually on a beach (though I remember a time when it had one), it still does burgers and dogs but more famously fish dinners and sandwiches, grilled crab cakes, and spicy crawfish spread.

What’s chic? The chilled coconut mango sauce with the crab cakes.
Contact: 727-360-9165, www.woodyswaterfront.com