It’s hard to believe that Dharma Blue, the iconic restaurant in historic Pensacola known for its outstanding fresh local seafood and sushi, opened 29 years ago on February 15, 1996, and is just now hosting its first-ever wine pairing dinner on Thursday, April 10. The theme for this event is Five Flags Over Pensacola, and it should be interesting, educational, and a whole lot of fun!

Our hosts for the evening are Charles Morgan and General Manager Diana Mills. A native of Pensacola, Diana joined the Dharma Blue team in 2007 as the hostess before being named GM in 2013. In addition to fresh Gulf seafood that is caught locally through Harbor Docks Seafood Market in Destin and distributed to all of Charles’ restaurants, Dharma Blue has outstanding sushi.

Yoshie Eddings, mother of Cris Eddings, an operating partner with Charles, introduced sushi to Charles’ original restaurant, Harbor Docks in Destin years ago. Since then, Yoshie has been responsible for all the sushi bars in each one.  “Yoshie still comes to Dharma Blua every Monday,” says Diana. “We love her!”.

About Charles, she says, “Charles is the best man ever. He hired me with no restaurant experience. If you work hard and do your job, you will do well.” It turns out, that my daughter-in-law, Meredith Mayson worked at Dharma Blue when she and her husband, Frazer lived in Pensacola while he was finishing up his degree at the University of West Florida. 

“Charles called me and said, ‘I want you to hire this person I learned about from a friend,” Diana says. I told him, “We don’t have any openings.” “Sure you do,” he said. “It was Meredith, and she was wonderful,” says Diana.” She began as a bartender and quickly became a manager before they moved away after Frazer’s graduation. She was just a good person.” I agree wholeheartedly!

Diana goes on, “Our staff is incredible. The majority have been here for five years or more. It’s a very welcoming group. Each year Charles provides a fishing outing for the entire staff on his boat, Papi. After fishing, he hosts a fish fry and sends everyone home with freshly caught fish filets. He’s a special, generous person.”

Charles has been tremendously supportive of Scenic 98 Coastal from the beginning. I met Charles years ago when my son, Bryan, took me to the Sushi bar upstairs at Chuck’s Fish in Tuscaloosa. When he and Cris Eddings opened Chuck’s Fish in Mobile, we visited again and a friendship ensued.

When we launched Scenic 98 Coastal, he told me he liked what we were doing. “I don’t advertise, but I want to do a Sponsorship,” he told me one day during lunch in Pensacola. Chuck’s Fish and Dharma Blue brings The Top 5 Things To Do each month. When I mentioned we were beginning to put wine-pairing dinners together, he immediately said, “Let’s do one at Dharma Blue.” “Great,” I said and later found out they had never done a wine dinner before. So we were off to the races and I was excited!

If you’ve ever been to Dharma Blue, you know it’s located in a historic blue house at 300 S. Alcaniz Street across from Bartram Park. It has a casual but elegant feel with great art filling the walls. A cozy cocktail bar and a sushi bar separate three dining areas. This all comes together to create a wonderful atmosphere and a sophisticated dining experience. Diana tells me it’s casual coastal dining. That’s a perfect description!

Since Dharma Blue is in Pensacola’s Historic District, Diana and her team decided to go with the Five Flags over Pensacola theme. Diana hosted a meeting with Chef Brian Cukketon and Max Rowe, a wine rep for 12 years, now with Breakthrough Beverage to discuss the evening’s events. Pensacola, known as the City of Five Flags, also had the distinction of being America’s First Settlement, established in 1559 by the Don Tristan de Luna expedition, so a lot of history is at play.

The five ruling flags that have flown over Pensacola include Spain (twice), French, British, Confederate, and American (also twice). Max, who ran restaurants for ten years says, “We want to culturally marry the journey of Pensacola for this wine pairing event. Every part of Western Europe has brought influences here. French architecture, Spanish influences, and old Colonial England have made Pensacola what it is today. We want to celebrate that with fine wines paired with local fresh food.”

As a fine wine specialist, Max will entertain guests with the City’s history and the stories behind the menu he and Chef Brian have selected to pair with 6 outstanding wines. Matt was born in South Carolina and attended acting school in New York, where he first started working in the restaurant industry. He discovered Pensacola at age 9 when his best friend’s dad was getting married here and fell in love.

Regarding Dharma Blue, Max says he loves the whimsical feel. “It’s unpretentious. It can be your local watering hole or a destination place for fine dining. It is just a special place and I have a lot of great memories here. The restaurant is iconic.” He goes on to tell me he loves the Pineapple Jalapeno Margarita. “Dharma Blue is a nice respite, especially during festivals held frequently across the street at Bartram Park.”

We are all excited about the first-ever Five Flags Wine Dinner at Dharma Blue on April 10. After all these years, Diana says she’s excited. “It will be a great evening. Our staff is excited and it will be an all-hands-on-deck event.” I can’t wait. I hope you will make plans to join us. Tickets can be purchased at Eventbrite. 

Please let Diana know if you plan to attend with a group by calling Dharma Blue at (850) 433-1275. See you there!