Bryce Jarvis

November 7, 2022

Slick Lips Seafood and Oyster House to open second location in Pensacola

Nov. 7, 2022
Special to 30A Food & Wine

SANDESTIN – The owners of Slick Lips Seafood and Oyster House, Bryce and Miranda Jarvis, along with Captain Gary Jarvis, mayor of Destin, will be opening a second location in Pensacola, at 102 S. Palafox Street.

Located in the Zarzaur Law building complex, Slick Lips Pensacola promises the same fresh seafood and family friendly environment that can be found at the original location, nestled in the heart of the Village of Baytowne Wharf at Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort.

The name “Slick Lips” was chosen from the popular nickname among fisherman for Amberjack fish, who don’t have any teeth. With Gary’s longtime experience as a boat captain and Bryce’s expertise in restaurant management and menu development, Slick Lips was created and developed as a seafood restaurant emphasizing local, sustainable seafood. The fish and seafood featured on the restaurant’s menu are locally caught, brought in fresh off the docks in Destin, and filleted in-house daily. Since opening their doors in 2018, the restaurant has been recognized with numerous awards, including “Best Seafood Restaurant,” “Best Chef,” “Best Oysters,” “Best Bartender,” and “Best Gumbo” by the readers of VIP Destin Magazine.

Slick Lips

The Pensacola location is currently undergoing a full renovation with brand new floors, finishes, and layout to offer plenty of indoor and outdoor seating options as well as a brand-new oyster bar.

“We always knew we wanted to be in the downtown area,” Bryce said. “After finding this space, we’ve been working hard every day to get our doors open as soon as possible so guests can come sit, relax, and experience what Slick Lips has to offer in their own neighborhood.”

Bryce Jarvis and his wife, Miranda, have strong ties to the Pensacola community so it only made sense that this would be the next place for their second location. Miranda was born and raised in Pensacola, and it is also the place where Miranda and Bryce met.

“Pensacola has become a second home to us. It just made sense to expand Slick Lips to the area and share our family founded restaurant with the community here,” said Bryce Jarvis.

Slick Lips Pensacola will offer lunch, dinner, and a weekend brunch menu utilizing the finest, locally sourced ingredients, including fresh produce and sustainable Gulf-caught seafood. Chef Jay Ammons, who serves as the director of operations for the company, has curated a menu for Pensacola that offers many of the same Slick Lips classics. There will also be a brand new weekend brunch menu.

Photos courtesy of Slick Lips Seafood & Oyster House

September 27, 2021

Sunset Bay Cafe: Sun rises on remodeled restaurant

Blog, Home Page Blog

By Michelle Farnham
Sept. 27, 2021

SANDESTIN – The 2020 offseason proved the perfect time for the sun to temporarily set on Sunset Bay Cafe. The restaurant was closed for a major remodel, modernizing the dining room of Sandestin’s much-loved eatery. Upon reopening, guests were welcomed into an indoor space as lovely as the waterfront locale the restaurant is named for.

“We basically gutted it,” admitted Bryce Jarvis, who co-owns the restaurant with his father, Gary. “All new walls, all new floors. We’re really excited.”

A palette of muted grays and weathered wooden floors really brighten up the space, highlighted by white shiplap accents. One wall of the dining room is adorned with a colorful mural, adding splashes of beachy seafoam, coral, yellow and blue.

“It’s actually custom-made wallpaper, it’s pretty neat,” Jarvis admitted.

The outside dining space uses the natural beauty of the Choctawhatchee Bay as its décor, surrounded by palm trees, blue skies and sunshine. A row of outdoor tables take advantage of the shade from the building’s awning, as guests enjoy cool breezes coming off the water.

Quenching that summertime thirst is no problem, with a selection of house cocktails – including five Bloody Mary options, three mimosas, a screwdriver and the Tequila Sunrise. The nearby outdoor Tiki Bar is open seasonally, positioned near the resort’s outdoor pool and the bay. You’ll find breakfast options like hot or iced tea, cappuccino, espresso, and iced coffee, as well as juices, milk and soda.

Crab cakes — Handmade crab cakes with slaw and a Jerk remoulade.

Now for the food

Once you’ve chosen a seat, the real decision-making begins. Like any good brunch house, the menu is varied, broken down into Starters, Benedicts, Breakfast Platters, Omelets, From the Griddle, Soups & Salads, and Lunch Plates & Sandwiches.

Get the meal started with a homemade cinnamon roll with Florida orange cream cheese icing or fried cheese curds with marinara.

Benedicts include favorites like the Fried Green Tomato, served with blackened shrimp and Old Bay Hollandaise sauce; or the Southern Boy featuring white peppered gravy and sausage atop homemade buttermilk biscuits.

Banana brulee french toast with spiced pecans, caramelized bananas and Grand Marnier maple syrup.

Hot off the griddle, diners can chose from pancakes, French toast, or waffles, adorned with fruity favorites like blackberries, peaches, bananas or strawberry cream cheese – all served with two eggs and choice of breakfast meat.

As with any good Southern establishment, there’s your Shrimp & Grits, Chicken & Waffles and Crab Cakes. You might not expect the likes of Shrimp Grilled Cheese (five cheeses, spinach, and Gulf shrimp) with a cup of tomato bisque, or the Seafood Tacos (fish or shrimp served your way with fried plantains and coconut pineapple dipping sauce).

As fishermen, the Jarvises understand the importance of fresh seafood, and source as much sustainably caught seafood as they can get, delivered straight from the Destin docks.

Breakfast bagel with egg whites, turkey, avocado, served with breakfast potatoes.

They’re famous for their Sidewinder Fries: curls of fried potatoes with the perfect amount of seasoning. Off the Starters menu, they come topped with white pepper gravy, bacon, chives, and cheese curds. The side is also available at sister restaurant Slick Lips Seafood & Oyster House, located in the nearby Village of Baytowne Wharf.

Sunset Bay Cafe is located at 158 Sandestin Blvd. North, near the Linkside Conference Center within the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort in Miramar Beach. Visit them online at www.sunsetbaycafesandestin.com or call 850-267-7108. Breakfast and lunch are served seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

September 9, 2021

Slick Lips previews tasty plates, divine drinks

Blog, Home Page Blog, Uncategorized

Barbecue oysters appetizer

Barbecue oysters with pepper jack cheese.

Crawfish beignet appetizer

Crawfish beignet with remoulade.

Maggie White

Maggie White mixes up one of her new cocktails.

Burnt ends appetizer

Glazed pork belly burnt ends.

It's Always Sunny in Sandestin

Moscow Mule with blood orange and Florida sugar.

Fried snapper Pontchartrain entree

Snapper with gouda grits and collard greens.

Fried pork chop entree

Fried pork chop with sweet potato mash.

Crab pesto pasta

Angel hair with fresh pesto and jumbo lump crab.

Executive Chef Jay Ammons

Executive Chef Jay Ammons (standing) checks in with the dining room.

By Michelle Farnham
Sept. 9, 2021

SANDESTIN – A new season calls for new flavors, and the crew at Slick Lips Seafood & Oyster House is gearing up for fall in a big way.

Co-owner Bryce Jarvis welcomed a crowd of industry taste-testers to the Sip, Shuck and Savor menu tasting Sept. 8, explaining they were there to help shape the new menu, which should be available in about six to eight weeks.

Maggie's Margarita — Maggie’s Margarita is topped with butterfly pea flower tea.

Bountiful beverages

Maggie White, community relationship ambassador for Slick Lips and sister restaurant Sunset Bay Cafe, kicked the night off with the first of her 10 selections from behind the bar. She said she’s trying out these new offerings to see what she wants to make a permanent part of the beverage menu.

“I tried to implement a lot of Florida spirits,” White explained as she poured samples of the Jai Alai IPA by Cigar City out of Tampa.

She had the cocktail shaker working overtime, mixing up the “Razzle Dazzle,” a gin and tonic featuring Old St. Pete, blueberry, and edible glitter. The “Slick Lips Hand-shaken Piña Colada” is deliciously creamy and served with an edible flower. Her strawberry daiquiri, affectionately named “Tuck’s,” included spiced rum for something a little different.

The “It’s Always Sunny in Sandestin” is White’s take on a Moscow Mule, this time done with blood orange and rimmed with Florida sugar. Another crowd favorite, the “Kiwi Go Again,” is her own strawberry-kiwi mojito.

When concocting “Maggie’s Margarita,” she elevated the classic drink by adding butterfly pea flower tea, which creates an intriguing blue layer floating on top.

“If you haven’t tried it yet, you should, quite frankly,” White quipped as she showed off the libation, poured in a lowball, finished with a tropical paper umbrella.

Those who enjoy a drier drink should look to the “My Paloma,” which combines pink grapefruit Fever-Tree soda and Black Sheep Tequila, served with a dehydrated dragonfruit garnish. The “Something About Miranda” mixes bubbles with the relaxing aroma of lavender, served with a rock candy swizzle stick.

Fried green tomato crab cake appetizer with Creole sauce and feta cheese.

Plates aplenty

The kitchen kept up with the drinks, giving guests a first look at seven new dishes from the recipe book of Executive Chef Jay Ammons.

“I was thinking of flavors from the South, something light, and something new!” explained Ammons.

He started the evening with his take on barbecued oysters, topped with New Orleans-style barbecue sauce, pepper jack cheese and fresh-sliced jalapeño for some zing. He continued with appetizers including his crawfish beignet – served with a zesty remoulade; a fried green tomato crab cake with Creole sauce and feta cheese; and pork belly burnt ends glazed in a honey-sriracha-lime sauce.

“You’re going to get a lot of smokiness, a lot of depth in this dish,” Ammons said of the burnt ends.

Perhaps the stars of the night were his fried pork chop and fried snapper Pontchartrain entrees. The chop is plated with peach chutney and a sweet potato mash that earned literal applause from the crowd among comments like, “I don’t even like sweet potatoes, and those are delicious!” and “This is a home run!” The snapper is delightfully mild – not at all “fishy” – and expertly fried, served alongside smoked gouda-cheddar grits and collard greens.

“It comes with a Tasso shrimp cream sauce, and it’s really, really good to be brutally honest,” Ammons added with a smile.

The chef rounded out the night with a crab angel hair pasta dish, highlighted with house-made pesto – a good option for those looking for a lighter meal.

Ammons said his dishes will be available as nightly specials until the new menu officially debuts this fall.

Slick Lips Seafood & Oyster House is located at 140 Fishermans Cove within the Village of Baytowne Wharf, Sandestin. Open for lunch and dinner seven days a week, reach them online at www.slicklipsseafood.com or call 850-347-5060.

Photos by Michelle Farnham