Dining Out Gulf Coast: The Grand Marlin, Panama City Beach, FL

For my birthday dinner, we drove eastward to Panama City Beach.  The Grand Marlin is located on beautiful St. Andrew Bay.  We made reservations and specifically requested a window seat.  Here is the view while we were dining.

It was our first time dining here and to say we were excited is an understatement.  

We were warmly greeted and promptly seated at our reserved table.  Alicia was our server for the evening and she was great.  She was familiar with the menu and answered all our questions without hesitation.  

I even had a personalized menu for my birthday!

Sweet Harold picked the Dirty Blue Martini for his cocktail tonight.  It's made with Absolut Vodka, Lillet Blanc, splash of olive juice, and blue cheese stuffed olives.

I selected the Lemon North Drop:  New Amsterdam Lemon Vodka, raw sugar, lemon squeeze, sugar rim, and lemon twist.  Y'all knew I'd choose the lemon drop, right?

Now we were ready to celebrate!

We sipped our drinks and enjoyed the ambiance of the dining room.  There were three other tables celebrating birthdays so we were quite a festive group.  

The appetizer selections include BBQ shrimp, blue crab claws, smoked fish dip, shrimp cocktail, and several more delicious sounding choices.  But when we saw Crispy Lobster Fingers, our decision was made!  Three pieces of fried lobster served in the tail section along with a vanilla bean honey mustard sauce.  Oh, the decadence and deliciousness of this dish.  The presentation of all our dishes was exceptional, but this is a show stopper.  The lobster was tender and moist and the sauce was the ideal accompaniment. 

I love She-Crab Soup so I placed an order for a cup.  It's made with local blue crab, heavy cream, sherry, and topped with chive oil.  It was super rich and creamy with an ample amount of crab.

Sweet Harold spied the Iceberg Wedge salad on the menu and hasn't stopped talking about this.  Again, a beautiful presentation and loaded with blue cheese and bacon.  

Now, on to the main event!  

Sweet Harold's entrée:  Ginger Soy Yellowfin Tuna with spicy baby bok choy, wasabi whipped potatoes, shiitake mushroom jus.  He followed the Chef's recommendation and ordered the tuna rare.  This will be a meal he will fondly remember for quite some time.  This dish deserves pictures from all the angles!

Here's the birthday girl's meal!  Grouper Piccata with a parmesan crust, sauteed spinach, whipped potatoes, with crispy capers, and a brown butter sauce.

There are so many positives about this dish.  The whipped potatoes and sauteed spinach were both well seasoned and there were generous servings of each.

The light parmesan coating on the grouper complemented the fish and didn't overpower it at all.  But the crispy capers and the brown butter sauce is amazingly delicious.  I could drink this.  Seriously.  Next time, I'll ask for extra.  This dish exceeded all of my expectations.

At some point during this course, a new cocktail made an appearance.   The Cat 5 Hurricane is made with Wicked Dolphin Aged Rum, Pineapple, Mando and 151 Rums, orange, and pineapple juice.

This one was a winner as well!  Light, fresh, and so tropical, it was great with my meal.

Lest you think we're almost finished with this meal.....wait!  There's more.  Dessert that is.

Sweet Harold loves key lime pie and we knew that The Grand Marlin's version would be a treat.  It certainly was. The crust was light and buttery and the filling had just the right amount of tart lime flavor.

For my birthday, I had a Praline Basket filled with vanilla bean ice cream, house caramel and chocolate sauces, and then topped with blackberries, strawberries, and blueberries.  So pretty and yummy as well.

This was such a wonderful and memorable evening and I thank the Grand Marlin for a delightful meal.