The food scene in Panama City

I have been back in Panama City for 6 years now and maybe I'm spoiled or maybe my standards are too high, but I have a problem with most restaurants here.  Lets face it.  The restaurants at the beach have a philosophy of feeding the masses, and feeding them at a reasonable price.  Quality is not part of the equation.  I have two hard and fast rules that have been true of every buffet I have ever eaten at, which includes a $60.00 a person Champagne brunch in New Orleans and Shoney's breakfast bar.  1.  You will never eat your moneys worth period.  You can't eat $4.99 worth of grits and eggs or $60.00 worth of Champagne and prime rib.  Buffets make money.  2.  When you cook in bulk as apposed to cooking per order the quality looses.  I remember Capt Anderson's when it was small and the food was good.  Now they are feeding hoards of people and as I said, when you cook for the masses, and not per order, the quality will always suffer.  I don't like the noise and I don't like the food.  Angelo's used to be a place where you got a good steak (not a Ruth's Chris) but a decent steak, cooked over real wood.  Now with the size of the restaurant and the size of the crowds, I prefer Outback if I have to have steak out.  Montego Bay's "fresh catch of the day" is Talapia.  Really?  Really?  I guess we haven't shaken that redneck riviera persona yet, despite those new high rise Miami style condos.  The food here has no personality, no style.  The French, Spanish, Native Americans, and the African Slaves have contributed to Cajun and Creole cuisine.  The Spanish inhabited Florida, but when you think of our food it is influenced more by the country cooks of Alabama and Georgia.  You have to travel up hwy 30A to find any inspired food.  In November I ate at Fish out of Water.  What a refreshing experience.  Incredible food prepared by hands who care and a chef with a vision.  Our back yard is the Gulf of Mexico for Gods sake.  We have access to fresh seafood and produce from local growers.  In the right hands this could be awesome.  I guess nobody cares.  Certainly not the tourist.  My mother has had a house on the beach since 1966.  I can't tell you how many times I have had to clean up the beach after a busy day.  I can't tell you how many times people have relieved themselves under her house, used her shower, sat on her deck at night thinking no one was home, or parked in her driveway.  Really?  Do they do that in your hometown?  If you go on the web site Urbanspoon.com the number one fine dinning restaurant in Panama City is Pineapple Wiley's.  Really?  Really?????  Is that where we are.  We will never get our beach back thanks to the money hungry commissioners.  Unless we demand better, we will never get better.  If gambling is brought here we will see more high rise buildings and long buffets.  I shutter at the thought.  Come on people, wake up. 

Tonights dinner 8/7/2001

Tonight's dinner with an Asian theme.  Thai chicken satays with pork pot stickers and lo mein noodles.  The chicken strips were marinated in coconut milk, fish sauce, honey, garlic, scallions, and lime juice, grilled on bamboo skewers.  The lo mein noodles were whole wheat linguine with carrot, scallions, garlic, celery, and soy sauce.  The Satays were wrapped in bib lettuce leafs and dressed with a Thai peanut sauce.  We washed it down with some Strawberry Daiquiris.

Tonights dinner.

I had to work today.  Last Sunday of the month.  It was good. I sold two cars.  Tonights dinner is grilled shrimp and Grouper with grilled Asiago/Parmesan/garlic cheese grits.  This morning I made the cheese grits and when they were sufficiently cooled I poured them in a cake pan lined with plastic wrap, placed in the refrigerator and let them set up.  I seasoned the fish and shrimp with my Bubbaque seafood seasoning.  Grilled over hardwood charcoal and served with a lemon buerre blanc sauce.  You have to try the grilled grits.  They were awesome.  I brushed olive oil on the outside.  They did stick a little, but the outcome was delicious.  Creamy exterior, grilled exterior, warm and cheesy.

Grilled Pizza

If you haven't grilled pizza, you need to try it.  The smokey flavor adds a great edge to the crust and toppings.  Tonight I grilled two pizzas.  One a traditional pepperoni, meatball (homemade), black olive, and onion.  The other is my Cajun pizza.  Shrimp, Andouille, Artichokes, and onion.  The Andouille was sliced thin like pepperoni, and the shrimp were sauteed in my seafood seasoning before hitting the pizza.  The local grocery store has pizza dough in the bakery.  I use a pizza stone purchased on line at Red Sky Grilling. You must let the stone pre heat like the oven.  I have had some difficulty getting the pizza to slide off the peal.  I use corn meal, but it has been a struggle.  The outcome has been delicious.  You must try this pizza. 

Simply Thai

Tonight I took my cousin Pam and her mom, my Aunt Betty to a new Thai restaurant on the beach.  I have been visiting My Thai in the Cove for some time and have reviewed it here.  I have come to enjoy the fresh flavors Thai food brings to the table.  I do enjoy Chinese cuisine, but sometimes I get stagnet with it. 

Simply Thai is located at 944 Thomas Drive across from the Navy Base gate.  It's in a strip shopping center there.  The location has been home of other restaurants to no avail, so I don't know how long it will be there.  The service was friendly although the food arrived too quickly for me to enjoy the appetiser of chicken Satay's or my bowl of Tom Yum soup.  The chicken Satay's were good.  The peanut dipping sauce was not too salty or too peanutty.  It was spot on.  The Tom Yum was delicious, full of flavor from the chili oil, fish sauce, and Kafir lime leaves.  I did find the occasional tough lemon grass shoot that I had to remove from my mouth.  For dinner I tried the Drunken noodles.  The description said it is made with wide noodles which were like Lasagna noodles rolled up.  It also had vegetables, chicken and shrimp.  This is the first time I have tried this dish and I would recommend it to you.  My wife stuck with the classic Pad Thai noodle dish.  I tried a small sample and it was what I expected of it.  As you know I normally like to test a restaurant three time before a review is written, but with this place being in a location that other have failed, I wanted to let you know so you could try it.  I will not rate Simply Thai until I tray it two more times, and I will.

Dee's Hang Out revisited

If you haven't visited Dee's in a while, he has moved several doors down from his original location.  The new digs are larger but not too large, and the decor is not overstated with the same throw back pictures of old Panama City Beach.  The menu remains the same, a good variety of seafood dishes with a New Orleans theme.  The daily specials on the chalk board are inventive and delicious.  Recently he offered fried Snapper topped with a fried soft shell crab, then topped with an etouffe sauce.  You know I love soft shell crab.  This was truly spectacular.  The wife had the shrimp etouffe.  It satisfied her Creole craving with gusto.  The gumbo remains satisfying and flavorful.  On a recent trip I called ahead to find out if they had any soft shell crabs.  He said he did and when I arrived the chalk board had a soft shell crab sandwich on special.  I was not in a sandwich mood so I asked Dee to fix me some soft shell crab meuniere.  Meuniere is a brown butter sauce with lemon and parsley.  I also had the blackened grouper as well.  As a side I tried the fried cheese grits and the collard greens.  The fried grits were creamy in the middle with a crunchy exterior.  You really have to try this.  I like them better than the hush puppies.  The greens are torn so they can be difficult to eat.  I prefer them to be smaller in size.  The pot liqour is great sopped up with the hush puppies.  My only disappointment with Dee's is the seafood platter.  For the money I expected more.  I guess I've been spoiled by Deanies Bucktown Seafood in New Orleans.  All in all Dee's remains at the top of my list of resaurants in Panama City. 

Old Florida Fish House and Bar

I normally don't review a restaurant until I've tried it at least three times.  This is more for consistency of food and service, which I believe is imperative in the restaurant business.  My personal view is great service will overcome mediocre food, but bad service will not overcome great food.  We eat out because we want to be served and we want something we probably wouldn't cook at home, i.e. a seafood platter.

Friday night I took my wife and some friends to "Old Florida Fish House and Bar" located at 5235 E County Hwy 30A in Santa Rosa Beach.  It sits back from 30A so the only landmark to notify you of it's location is a sign on the road.  The parking is a little hard to find as it sits behind a small business center.  It sits on one of the many lakes you will find on 30A and has a picturesque view of the lake from inside the restaurant.  The decor is upscale but not pretentious.  It is definitely not a shack as the name might imply.  We arrived at about 6:00 and were greeted promptly and seated next to a window that looked out over the lake.  Our  server promptly greeted us, took our drink choices and told us about the nights specials.  The menu is simple but ample with choices depending on what you are in the mood for.  The only thing that baffles me is at the "Old Florida Fish House" there were no oysters on the menu.  Not raw, baked, fried, or in the gumbo.  We do have oysters here in Florida.  Famous Apalachicola oysters.   Go figure.

As always I tried the seafood gumbo, shared a wedge blue cheese salad, and a fried seafood platter of shrimp, scallops, fish, and a soft shell crab.  I asked the waiter if the soft shell was fresh.  He asked what I meant by fresh.  I asked if it had ever been frozen.  He said yes.  I don't understand with all the seafood harvested here in Northwest Florida why blue crabs are not more prevalent in the markets.  In New Orleans you can go to a seafood market and order a hamper of crabs to take home a boil.  The most I have ever seen here is about six.  Soft shells are a seasonal thing so it's hard to find fresh ones anywhere here.  I do love me some soft shell crabs.  If you ever attend the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, and you should at least once, try the soft shell crab po-boy.  The seafood was fried perfectly, not over battered, and had a good crust.  It was served with the obligatory french fries.  My wife ordered the crab cakes served over pasta with a lemon caper cream sauce.  The crab cakes were nicely sized with a crusty exterior and  full of crab meat on the inside, not too bready as some crab cakes can be.  The lemon caper cream sauce was a perfect accompaniment to the dish.  The chefs special was a blackened Snapper topped with crab meat.  This is a classically simple dish that can goo bad fast if the seasoning over powers the fish and the crab meat is not lump.  I have seen this dish done with claw meat.  No no.  My friends wife tries the Grouper Fish House. Sauteed grouper with topped with shrimp, crab meat, and a beurre blanc sauce.  Again a classic presentation of a simple dish, but full of texture and flavor.

To cap off the night we moved to the bar.  By this time the restaurant was filling up and the band "The Fish House Band" started to play at 8:00.  The band consisted of a keyboardist, sax player, and a conga drum player, all of which took turns at vocals.  The music was great and a fine way to end our outing.

At this point I will not assign "Old Florida Fish House" any stars until I go back two more times, but at first glance, I will return.  I hope you try this establishment.

Good eating.