Dining Out Gulf Coast: Capt. Anderson's, Panama City Beach, FL

If you've visited Panama City Beach, Florida in the last 54 years, you've certainly heard of or enjoyed a meal at Capt. Anderson's. The Patronis family owned restaurant has grown through the years to seat 725 patrons.  During their six night a week service, they serve over 250,000 meals during their 8-month season.  

It's a long-standing tradition with our family to dine at Capt. Anderson's during our vacations to the beach.  The restaurant opens early at 4:00 p.m. and it's fun to come about that time to see the fishing boats come in and watch them unload their catches of the day.

Even though the crowds arrive early to dine, Capt. Anderson's has the seating situation down to an art form.  While waiting for your table, the lobby is full of numerous historical nautical displays.  If you're a WWII history buff, the huge propeller from the sunken Empire Mica is on display in front of the restaurant.  Indoors, there are several displays with artifacts recovered from the wreckage.  There's also a gift shop for browsing.

For our dining experience, we were very fortunate to have Madi as our server.  She was extremely knowledgeable of the menu and the nightly specials.  She made sure we had drink refills in a timely manner and brought extra silverware when (oops!) a fork was dropped.

We both selected a tossed salad with blue cheese dressing to begin our meal.  The salad was fresh and crisp and loaded with vegetables.  The dressing was full of blue cheese.  Yum!

Check out the bread basket!  Of course, softened butter was available.  Y'all know one of my pet peeves is "hard as a rock, just removed from the refrigerator butter."

Sweet Harold selected the Char-Grilled Jumbo Shrimp with house seasoning, lemon, and drawn butter. The shrimp were cooked perfectly with a nice char.  

We both had a laugh when we saw this shrimp!  Doesn't it look exactly like a seahorse**?  **No seahorses were harmed in the enjoyment of this meal.

We both selected the loaded baked potato to go along with our meal.  Why a "loaded" baked potato?  We heard a rumor that there are no calories or carbs at the beach!

There were also hush puppies!

I enjoyed the Greek Style Open Hearth Charcoal Broiled Filet of Snapper.  If you have never enjoyed a Charcoal Broiled piece of fish, please choose that option if you're ever presented the opportunity.  The snapper was not overpowered by the seasoning; it was there to enhance the natural flavor of the fish.  Absolutely amazing entrée.

When we mentioned to Madi that we were at the beach for our anniversary, she offered to bring us a dessert to share.

This delectable dessert is named "Feud Cake."  The story goes that two families both claimed the original recipe and a great feud began.  The cake is full of chopped pecans with a creamy frosting.  Delicious!

Again, Happy Anniversary to us!