Tales from the Road: Discovering New Restaurants to Add to the Rotation
(Due to technical difficulties, Tales from the Road was delayed)
It was decision time. Should I have she-crab soup from Firefly? Oh, wait a minute – look at those hush puppies at Pier 77! Now, those look good. Wonder if I can just have an order (or two) of those? There’s the Boatyard, but oh no, they didn’t bring their frozen key lime pie on a stick, but their shrimp and grits martini sounds quite interesting.
But wait - there’s more to see.
Oh, look, there’s Hammerhead Fred’s, and what’s that over there? Someone serving the “original Krabby Patties.”
What I’m I going to try (or maybe the question should be what aren’t I going to try?)
There’s Reggae J’s with a great looking display of food options. Oh, a mahi mahi taco sounds delicious. The Back Porch is here, but no seafood nachos. Too messy to serve, I guess. What’s this place – Hook Wreck Henry’s in Panacea, Fla.? Haven’t heard of them, but their chargrilled mango shrimp like something I should definitely try.
So many places and so little time…
It was a seafood lover’s dream come true at the Seafood, Wine and Music Festival, held on October 10-12 at Frank Brown Park, and the main reason I was in the area. 
Now, growing up I knew this event as the Indian Summer Seafood Festival when it was held around the public pier (the one that is currently be rebuild across from Pier Park.) So, yes, it has been quite a few years since I’ve been to the festival, and I had no idea what to expect.
There were things to appeal to every age. For the young ones and the young ones at heart, there were carnival rides, including a fairly-large looking Ferris wheel, a fun slide and nearly every type of bouncy that any kid could ever ask for. 
There was also events, such as sand castle building instructions, led by Mark Flynn, and performances by different groups, scheduled throughout the weekend.
For adults, there was an on-going arts and crafts 
marketplace as well as local chef demonstrations in the afternoons and wine tasting in the evenings. And if that wasn’t enough, featured musical acts capped off the festival each night.
However, the highlight had to be the food. Whether you were in the mood to try some grouper tacos from the Boatyard or a seafood platter from another vendor, there’s no doubt about it that you were in for some tasty regional dishes. From oysters to scallops to even shark, there was a little of everything. And don’t think the young ones were left out. Beef O’ Brady’s has some dishes (chicken fingers and the like) that the non-seafood-eating kid (or adult) couldn’t refuse.
What did I finally decided on? Well, after some internal struggling and realizing that I had two days at the event, 
I chose the shrimp and grits martini from the Boatyard one day, and fried scallops 
from Hammerhead Fred’s the next day. Would I say one was better than the other? No. They were both great choices on my part. I also had the opportunity to try (okay, to devour) five of Pier 77’s hush puppies.
Perhaps the best part of the festival was discovering new places, such as Pier 77, which falls under the old-school category since it’s been in Panama City Beach for 24 years. May I suggest (aside from their hush puppies) 
the fried or broiled seafood combo platter. You create your own platter by selecting two of the five different items: oysters, stuffed crab, scallops, grouper filet or gulf shrimp. I also tried the super Greek salad (at their restaurant) and decided to add it to my rotation of dishes that I must eat during my next visit.
Other places for me to add include Firefly, who according to their menu, offers an interesting sounding tempura fried Apalachicola oysters. And then there’s Hook Wreck Henry’s, which I didn’t get to try, but I hope to on another trip. Not only do they have their own version of seafood nachos, called Harbor Nachos, but also Scallywags, that is oysters with garlic butter, bacon and jack cheese among other items.
While a lot has changed since I’ve last been to the festival (of course it has, I was about seven years old), some things remain the same: good food and fun activities for everyone.
4 Comments
Yum, yum ,yum yummo!!!!!
Thank you! I made myself hungry just writing that post.
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