We have been home in the cold, snowy north for about five days, and I've been sick for 4 of them (I think I may have caught the bug on the flights home). To warm myself, and hopefully interest you, I present the highlights of the food orgy we enjoyed last week in SoWal. Full details and all of the photos are on my blog in two installments:
Fun Playing With Food: More Fun Playing With Food in Destin FL 2009, P. 1 and
Fun Playing With Food: More Fun Playing With Food in Destin FL 2009, P. 2
We arrived on Thursday 2/12 in time for dinner, so that's where I'll start.
Harbor Docks - kitchen under new management led to some highs and lows. The high was the shrimp on my plate - though cold (while the fish fillet was screaming hot) - best tasting and textured shrimp of the trip.
Friday morning, we returned to the Harbor Docks premises for our first Silver Sands Breakfast. The elderly gentleman who works such magic with his biscuit dough is still in the house.
Biscuit
Our next eats were at El Mercadito, highly recommended by this board.
House Made Salsas
These spicy condiments dressed our four selections: Tamale in Banana Leaf, Tamale in Corn Husk, Beef Burrito, Chicken Taco. All four items shined deliciously!
Tamale in Banana Leaf
As we returned to Destin on 98 - we saw the same truck farmers we'd purchased from last winter, in front of Beall's (and Hooters). We bought strawberries and oranges and they were simply exquisite!
Our next foray was a re-discovery of Callahan's, which we had lost our love for before they moved. Don't know why I wanted to try them, but I was glad we did!
Soup of the Day - Potato, Sausage, Kale
We also shared a burger and fried grouper sandwich.
Valentine's Dinner at Cafe Tango was perfect - except that we sat out on the porch, where the light is poor for point-and-shoot photography. I was thrilled to see the Tuna Mojama back on the menu.
We all enjoyed our fish dinners - pistachio-crusted grouper, dancing grouper and grouper with horseradish - all delicious and perfectly prepared, if inadequately photographed.
On Sunday, we agreed to accompany a large group of friends to Kenny D's, which had been "off our list" for a while; our one previous visit hadn't impressed. I have to say - we had a great time this visit. Though the first plates containing rice (2 cups of gumbo) suffered from the hard rice we remembered from before - everything else was terrific. Our party sampled raw oysters, fried crabclaws, red beans & rice, fried oysters, hushpuppies, and other items.
Three of us had the crawfish etouffee; it was very good. But I wished I'd known that crawfish weren't due into season for another couple of weeks - these had to have been frozen - but the dish was so zesty that it didn't matter. Fortunately, they'd made some fresh rice by the the time they served these!
Monday was our bittersweet final meal at D&K's Cafe - we will miss you!
Smoked Tuna Dip
We ate it all, right through the lettuce leaf.
I had the House Salad with Grouper, 2000 Island Dressing, Blueberry Mini-Muffin; Bob had the Grouper Po Boy, also yum.
Our dinner at Skinky's Fish Camp with friends was also most yummy.
Stinky's Stew
My only complaint was that the crab in the pressed po boy that accompanied the stew was off (and I loved that component of the dish last year). However, with this much food to eat, it really was a "no worries" moment. The Stew, Frog's Legs, Fried Seafood, Chicken with Pasta and Fried Fish we shared were all fabulous, as were the oysters and the oyster chowder others started with.
Our lunch at Dewey Destin's was terrific - the best parts were the hush puppies (best of trip) and the fried craw claws:
Tuesday night, we decided to do a "food crawl", rather than a sit-down dinner. SoWal had other ideas - everyplace we entered was pretty empty!
First stop: La Botana. Andy treated us well, suggesting a fabulous wine and snack combo during the 1/2 price Happy Hour:
Combo Platter ($10 during Happy Hour) Plus Left Front Ramekin of Snapper Ceviche
The ceviche was exquisite; everything on the plate tasted freshly made and delicious. As we were enjoying Andy's hospitality, we made the acquaintance of Chef Thomas Finch, Sous Chef at the newly opened Commander's Palace in Destin. We had a nice chat, and he invited us to check out the new Commander's. Though it hadn't been on our radar - we decided to try to work it into our plans.
Continuing on our crawl, we made stops at Bud & Alleys and Hurricane Oyster Bar. We missed the upstairs kitchen at B&A by a few minutes, and shared a tuna appetizer in the [empty] restaurant. We also enjoyed some oysters at the empty Hurricane. Folks - we need to get out and support the local restaurants - Applebee's parking lot was full!
Wednesday morning, I brought in a half dozen Donut Hole donuts, which we'd never had before. Our friend Niki was right that these donuts are awesome!
Key Lime Donut - Donut Hole Destin
Our next stop was Nick's by the Bay off Rt. 20 in Niceville. Last year, we did dinner and they were out of crabs; this time, at lunch, the beasties didn't have a chance!
Words do not describe the heavenly nature of these crabs!
After 2 hours of stuffing myself on crabs (with my husband's help), we decided to check out Happy Hour at Senor Mojitos. There's been a bit written about them on this board, pro and con, and we wanted to see for ourselves.
Among other things, I enjoyed a delightful cocktail served in a whole, hollowed out pineapple. We sampled the best oysters of the trip here, also:
We chatted with one of the owners. Senor Mojitos hopes to get bigger, but for now is a two-unit, locally owned operation featuring local fish and seafood, freshly made sauces and salsas, and lots of smiles. The Tikki motiff is a little touristy, but the people we met and the foods we sampled were local and genuine; we look forward to enjoying a full meal there next year.
As had happened the night before, we were too full to seek out a full sit down meal after sunset - so we planned to graze. Our first stop, Graffiti (Destin location), was completely forgettable. Our second stop, which wound up entertaining us for the rest of the evening, was Commander's Palace, 34 Harbor Boulevard, Suite 230, Destin, FL 32541-2310, (850) 337-8555.
We tasted several savories, including these:
DIRTY DUCK AND FOIE GRAS SLIDERS: Chicory coffee braised duck debris, pickled mirlitons and foie gras mustard with sweet potato chips
Delicious!
Turtle Soup
And this signature sweet:
Creole Bread Pudding Soufflé with Bourbon Sauce
Both the turtle soup and the souffle were better than the ones we'd had at Commander's in New Orleans in July 2005! Perfect! Delicious! Did I say we liked it? We also enjoyed a small plate of SHRIMP & TASSO CORNDOGS with Five pepper jelly, pickled okra, chicory greens and Crystal hot sauce beurre blanc, and APALACHICOLA OYSTER BLT: bacon & caramelized onion mousse, winter greens, smoked grape tomatoes and horseradish agave glaze. So - ignore the ugly mondo condo building it's housed in, and go enjoy Commander's Palace's wonderful hospitality, y'hear?
Thursday, we lunched at Wine World Wine Bar, in Chan's Wine World. I've been wanting to try this place since it opened, and I was little disappointed. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. And that's a shame, because it seemed like it should have been great. Crab cakes were
meh, fried grouper, good but undistinguished, service indifferent.
For dinner that evening, we finally got to try Enzo's! We were most delighted with our dinner.
Bob's House-Made Sausage with Pasta and Sauce Rustica
My Sauteed Grouper Topped With Ricotta, Fried Eggplant and Mozzerella
Magnifico! The fish was fresh and delicious, and the eggplant and cheese toppings sublime. I only wished I could have finished it!
Flourless Chocolate "Cake"
This dessert, decorated with fresh fruit, finished us up and then some. We loved the rich, but not overly sweet chocolate and how it paired with the fruits. Enzo's rocks!
Our final outstanding meal, Friday Lunch, came at Destin's Jasmine Thai. We asked for our food spicy, and spicy was what we got:
Tom Yum Gai
Chicken, mushrooms, tomatoes accented with lemon grass, green chili, fresh lime juice and exotic spices. This dish was loaded with tart flavors and sharp spices.
Noodle Curry
Rice noodles with Shrimp, bean sprouts, onion and potato in yellow curry/coconut milk sauce - the most exquisite, complex yellow curry I've ever eaten. The solids were mere foils for the richly seasoned, intensely spiced curry sauce. It was an extraordinary dish, even if the shrimp was ordinary (and at the modest prices they charge, you can't complain if the seafood is ordinary; nothing wrong with it, just ordinary).
We ate dinner at Harbor Docks - and for the first time in seven years as regulars there, were served something inedible, and they made no effort to make it right. 'Nuff said. Dudes - get your act together!
For our last breakfast, we returned to Silver Sands for a last taste of cheese grits and biscuits.
As I said above, these are only the highlights (posts are limited to 20 photos) - to see everything, please check out my blog.
We are already missing South Walton and planning our next visit! Thank you to all of the local restaurants who treated us so well - we look forward to enjoying more on our next trip!
Kat
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