<h1>Old Florida resides in Cortez</h1></b>
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Pelicans and herons dip to the dock at the Star Fish Co., where the smell of fresh seafood permeates the air by north Sarasota Bay and frequent chopping sounds come from the kitchen behind the bar and blend with dozens of mellow conversations. <p>
Milton Comer and "Shelly" Weber need a place to sit. Pearl Lighter and Audrey Berman, busy munching on grouper, ask them to join them at a table. <p>
And they do. <p>
"Where are you from?" Weber asks. <p>
"We're from Canada," Lighter replies. <p>
"Oh . . . my ex-father-in-law is a lawyer who lived in Montreal," Weber says. "That's all I know about Canada." <p>
Lighter, who happens to be from Montreal, took a wild guess and said: "Yeah, he's married to my cousin." <p>
"What's his name?" Weber says. <p>
"Oscar Respitz," she says. <p>
Bingo. <p>
"I couldn't believe it," Lighter said. <p>
This is the way it can go at the Star Fish Co., located at the end of 123rd Street Court West off Cortez Road. The shorts-and-flip-flops atmosphere that embodies the proud tradition of commercial fishing in Cortez invites a variety of folks from around the world. And they all sit together, enjoying some of the best food in Florida and sometimes realize how small of a world it really is. <p>
"Pretty soon," Berman said, "they wanted to share their french fries with us. We were family." <p>
Just west of the Star Fish Co., the real operation is going down at the A.P. Bell Fish Co. This giant garage of fish packing and distribution, which was opened in 1940 by Aaron Park Bell, is where the food is supplied for the Star Fish Co., not to mention places around the world. <p>
A.P. Bell Fish Co. has supplied food to Italy, Spain, Taiwan, Haiti and ships to New York and Georgia twice a week. <p>
"It's amazing to me," says Star Fish Co. owner Karen Bell, "that this little village is such an important part of what makes the world go around." <p>
It starts with guys like Danny Barrett, a humble, hard-working packer who's been at the company for 17 years. <p>
"It's OK after you get used to lifting stuff all day," says Barrett, a stout man clad in jeans and a thin yellow tank top. "I bust this guy's chops. He sits behind a computer all day, and he says, 'Oh, I had a hard day.' I say, 'Get outta here.' "<p>
Back at the Star Fish Co., patrons often notice the signs that dot the bar and patio area that overlook the bay. <p>
One bumper-sticker-like sign on the bar says, "Friends Don't Let Friends Eat Farm Raised Imports." <p>
True enough. No farm raised food here. This seafood comes straight from the waters that the restaurant overlooks. <p>
Other signs carry educational messages - and some not so educational - in the form of colorful wooden blocks that are posted about. Rhonda Kitchens, who crafts the signs, leaves the Star Fish Co. with an armful of signs that pile to her chin. <p>
"Birds poop on the signs," she says. "So I take them and sand them down, touch them up. These are the worst conditions to post signs in with saltwater, birds, the weather, the whole thing." <p>
One of her original messages went like this: "Walk a mile in my flip-flops and bring me back a beer." <p>
On Saturday and Sunday, this area will be located at the heart of the Cortez Fishing Festival, and what a better place for seafood and fishing lovers to gather and immerse themselves in Old Florida. <p>
"This really is Old Florida, and this is why we love it here," said Lighter, seated on the bench just after her newfound friends with the Canadian connection left. "No one's pretentious, and they're not tearing this place down for new condos." <p>
Nick Walter, outdoors writer, can be reached at 745-7013<p>