It’s been my experience with so many Southerners possessing a discerning palate, that your average restaurant will be just a flash in the pan, or part of a conversation that goes something like, “What was that place before it became whatchamacallit?”

On the waterfront in downtown Pensacola, one of the city’s most popular entertainment establishments, The Fish House Restaurant and Atlas Oyster House sit. The brainchild of the Merrill brothers, Collier, Burney, and Will, they formed Great Southern Restaurants seeing the need for new and exciting restaurants to revitalize the downtown waterfront area.

With our four-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter, Penny, Linda and I ventured to Coden, Alabama, to visit an oyster farm operation. It was fascinating, to say the least! Penny was visiting for a few days from Athens, Georgia, and we were taking her to stay with her other set of grandparents after spending five days in Fairhope with us.

With the Fourth of July celebration behind us, we are in peak grilling season, and nothing says summer like hamburgers and hot dogs. If you are looking for a good hot dog or hamburger in the Pensacola area without having to fire up the grill, look no further than The Dog House on Palafox Street.

I was recently introduced to an Orange Beach entrepreneur, Angelo DePaola, and among his many talents and interests is his love and appreciation for the best hamburger found along the Scenic 98 Coastal area. He even goes so far as to have his own YouTube channel, Cheeseburger in Paradise, to tout his latest finds.

Forty-five years in the making, local author Theresa Jensen Lacy is publishing her 21st book, a family cookbook. “It was back in 1982 that I realized none of my people used a cookbook,” she said.

Meeting a friend for lunch is always a good plan on a hot Summer day. On a tip from a friend, we decided Kingfisher Craft Sandwiches on Barrancas Avenue in Pensacola was the ticket, and the restaurant was calling my name.

Tucked away under the Theo Baars Bridge that crosses the Intercoastal Waterway from Perdido Key to Innerarity Point is an old bait shop turned restaurant that will knock your socks off.