local catch

June 3, 2023

Chanticleer Eatery: The locals’ hidden gem

By Lauren Sage Reinlie
June 3, 2023

GRAYTON BEACH – When locals Jimmy Hasser and Adam Yellin, the longstanding duo behind the popular Blue Mountain restaurant Local Catch, were approached about taking over Chanticleer Eatery, it was a no-brainer.

“It was a wildly successful local place, which fit in with what we were doing at Local Catch,” Hasser said. “We like the tourists, but we know that to survive, we have to have the locals. Our wives loved eating there. It was really a ‘Why not?’”

Chanticleer opened in 2012, tucked in an unassuming, off-the-beaten-path corner of Grayton Beach. Even so, the place was beloved by locals for its fresh-baked bread, delicious sandwiches, crisp salads, hearty soups, and more, all served up in a laid-back atmosphere a few minutes from the beach. (It’s fine dining in flip flops, as Hasser described it.)

Chanticleer Eatery

Over the past couple of years, the owners had struggled to keep the place open consistently, especially for dinner service. When Hasser and Yellin took over management in November 2021, one of their first goals was to re-establish consistent dining hours. They wanted people to know they were back in business.

“We didn’t really want to change much,” Hasser said. “We wanted to keep the same dishes everyone loved but add a few new ingredients or items.”

To head the kitchen, they brought in Chef Innocent Utomi, who has served as executive chef at Capital Grille in Miami, Fleming’s Steakouse, and Great Southern Café in Seaside.

“He wanted a change, and we were excited to bring him in with his recipes and his team of people that follow him,” Hasser said. “He is the nicest, sweetest chef I have ever known. No ego. He’s just a special, amazing person. He is the one who makes it special with so much talent, and he builds so much camaraderie.”

Jay Etheredge came on as general manager after holding that role at Bud and Alley’s Pizza Bar in Seaside for years.

“We really have the perfect team in place,” Hasser said.

The lunch menu has stayed almost the same with all the crowd-pleasing sandwiches, soups, and salads in addition to fine dining entrees, including the fresh catch of the day, filet mignon, shrimp and grits, and a soul-soothing, spicy Not Your Mama’s chicken and rice plate.

“The grilled cheese is honestly the best I have ever had,” Hasser said. Fresh slices of rosemary-sage bread are filled with melted cheddar, provolone, and mozzarella cheese and topped with bacon and bruschetta. Other options include the Reuben with house-smoked pastrami served on freshly baked farmhouse rye, melted Swiss cheese, and thousand island dressing; tomato soup; and a Southern summer salad with fresh fruit and Gorgonzola.

All the bread, desserts, and “those cookies everyone is obsessed with” are baked in-house. (Cookie options are chocolate chip or a coconut and white chocolate number, often hot from the oven.)

Chanticleer Eatery

One of Utomi’s menu additions is the Happy Tuna, a serving of raw ahi tuna poke, marinated in fresh ginger, soy, and pepper sauce, tossed with mango and avocado, and topped with pickled cucumbers and red onions. He brings his Fleming’s Steakhouse chops to their filet mignon. For dinner service, he’s added a lobster bisque, surf and turf with lobster, and more seafood options.

Hasser and Yellin opened Local Catch in a run-down, double-wide trailer in 2012, starting from scratch. It quickly became a popular staple of the Blue Mountain neighborhood. Hasser has four kids, Yellin has three. They are here to stay, Hasser said.

“We are fully inundated in the schools and the community. We’re in it for the long haul,” Hasser said. “We believe in this area and want it to work for us.”

Chanticleer Eatery is located at 55 Clayton Lane, Santa Rosa Beach. No reservations are accepted. The restaurant is open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Reach them by phone at 850-213-9065. Additional information, including a full menu, can be found at chanticleereatery.com.

August 25, 2022

Chanticleer Eatery: Something old, something new

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By Pam Windsor
Aug. 25, 2022

GRAYTON BEACH – Chanticleer Eatery has been a lunchtime favorite for years, with its gourmet sandwiches on homemade bread and popular desserts like fresh chocolate chip cookies and key lime pie. And now it’s becoming a hot spot for dinner with expanded nights and hours, and exciting new seafood dishes, as well as surf and turf.

When new owners, Jimmy Hasser and Adam Yellin (who also own Local Catch Bar & Grill), bought Chanticleer from husband-and-wife duo Sandro and Emily Wever, they wanted to keep everything that people already loved about it, but add and expand it just a little bit.

“We didn’t want to change a thing for lunch because of how popular lunch is with the locals,” Hasser said. “I would have no problem saying it’s the best lunch spot in or around 30A. So, when the deal was structured, we wanted to keep the people and the recipes. They had a lot of special ways they prepared some of the stuff. It was prepared with love, and we wanted to make sure we could do that.”

So, they kept what already worked and just added a little seafood to the menu, with lunch additions like the new Mahi Sandwich, served alongside the popular Reuben, the Turkey Avocado BLT, and the chicken salad sandwich on homemade bread.

And while Chanticleer was previously only open for dinner a couple of nights a week, it is now open seven nights a week with an expansive menu.

“What we did was we kept a couple of the most popular items from dinner (like the hand-rubbed pork chops), then we added seafood to it,” Hasser explained. “And we added a great executive chef. His name is Innocent Utomi.”

A native of Nigeria, Chef Innocent is a French-trained chief who has served as executive chef at prestigious restaurants like Capital Grille in Miami, and Great Southern and all the Seaside concepts in Santa Rose Beach.

“He’s so highly qualified and we think he does such a great job,” Adam Yellin said. “And we think he’s a great person, as well.”

Chef Innocent’s influence shines through the diverse dinner menu such as the Fresh Catch with Tomato Butter, Smoked Filet Mignon topped with demi-glace, served with mashed potatoes, green beans, and garlic butter sauce, and the Lobster Bisque Soup.

And during both lunch and dinner, the desserts that help make Chanticleer famous, are always available.

“Gourmet desserts made from scratch, like the key lime pie,” said Hasser, “and the cookies are exactly the same. The key lime pie is the same recipe, the carrot cake is the same, and we also have the fudgy brownie. People love those cookies and buy a dozen on the way out. It is the owner’s original recipe and she was kind enough to give that to us.”

Guests can also enjoy Happy Hour seven days a week from 3 to 6 p.m. at their full bar with craft cocktails, draft and bottled beer, and an extensive wine list. Menu items include burgers, wings, and poor boys, just to name a few.

Chanticleer Eatery has struck a unique balance: keeping what has worked so well for so long and creating new and exciting things that only add to the experience. It’s a win-win combination.

Chanticleer Eatery is located at 55 Clayton Lane, Santa Rosa Beach. Open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., reservations are not accepted but you can reach them at 850-213-9065 or visit www.chanticleereatery.com.

August 1, 2021

Local Catch: Coastal Cuisine with a Southern twist

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Aug. 1, 2021
By Laura Holloway

BLUE MOUNTAIN BEACH – When in Rome, do as the Romans do, and when on 30A, do as the locals do and pull up a chair at Local Catch Bar & Grill. Coming up on its 10th anniversary in 2022, Local Catch has become a 30A staple, offering not only a flavorful menu of favorite feasts but also a home for live music and good times, for both locals and area guests.

“It’s the kind of place that makes you feel at home the minute you enter.” – Jimmy Hasser and Adam Yellin, co-owners

Co-owners Jimmy Hasser and Adam Yellin (who is also the restaurant’s chef), said, “From the outside it appears to be a dive bar but as you enter the building the clean, comfortable feeling and amazing aroma of fresh food and smiling faces immediately lets you know that there is love put into every detail, from the personnel to the fresh, locally sourced ingredients. It’s the kind of place that makes you feel at home the minute you enter.”

Located on 30A between Blue Mountain Beach and Gulf Place, Local Catch simultaneously feels like the place you can dine with family after church and the location for a full bar and live music kind of Sunday Funday. It’s a pregame spot, an after work hangout, and a meetup space for so many because it’s vacation, or because it’s a day that ends in ‘Y.” It’s the place for everyone, and the menu reflects that.

Yellin sees the restaurant’s fare “as a mix between Baja Mexican and Cajun cuisine. We call it Coastal Cuisine with a southern twist.”

There’s a full menu of appetizers, salads, entrees and desserts. Starters include a traditional Grouper Ceviche (made with local Gulf grouper, green tomatoes, onions, jalapeños, and lime), Crab and Cream Cheese Wonton (served with a sweet gastrique and cabbage salad), and their infamous Gumbo (made with house-made Andouille sausage and Gulf shrimp).

Salads don’t feel like salads at Local Catch, as evidenced by the Mile 4 Fish Salad (a spring mix topped with local Gulf grouper, pico de gallo, pineapple and homemade tortilla chips), which is so good it was featured in Southern Living.

Entrees (which all come with one side), invite a quick return to the restaurant, because selecting something for just one meal might be impossible. Caribbean Shrimp Tacos (with grilled coconut rum marinated shrimp, pineapple salsa, cabbage, house white sauce, and roasted red peppers), Buerre Blanc Chicken (served with mashed potatoes, green beans, citrus beurre blanc, and a picco de gallo garnish), and the ambitious and delicious Seafood Sampler for Two, which includes (hold onto your napkin) 6 ounces of fresh Gulf fish, six Gulf shrimp, six fried oysters, six ounces of fried crab claws, a crab cake, French fries, and one additional side of your choice. And the sides? They can be a meal in themselves, including Candied Sweet Potatoes and Cheese Grits.

“We just want to serve a fresh, delicious product in a clean and comfortable atmosphere,” Yellin said. “As a chef, I like to use fine dining techniques for common food like tacos and po boys. We use a lot of classic flavor combinations. For example, our pork tacos are topped with a sweet pineapple salsa, so a classic play on sweet and savory, like prosciutto and melon.”

A children’s menu is even available, offering popcorn shrimp, crab claws, cheese quesadilla, chicken tenders, cheeseburger, and kids-portion shrimp. And of course, don’t dare leave without sampling the dessert menu, even if you have to order the Fried Oreos to go. A full bar is available, and signature cocktails invite guests to stay just a little longer.

Hasser added, “The front of the house provides a relaxing atmosphere with a great happy hour to make sure our patrons feel welcome and never leave with an empty stomach.”

Local Catch is open Sundays 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday to Thursday 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., and Friday and Saturdays 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Located at 3711 W. Co. Hwy. 30A in Blue Mountain Beach, you can find out more about the restaurant or daily specials by calling 850-622-2022 or visiting localcatch30a.com.

March 24, 2015

Catch Praise

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Story by Sarah Murphy Robertson

Local Catch Bar & Grill in Blue Mountain Beach is quickly becoming a 30A institution. How have they garnered such a great reputation in a relatively short time? Since opening doors in March 2012, co-owners Jimmy Hasser and Adam Yellin credit one key to their success: consistency. It is the common denominator for all aspects of this thriving business, and diving into their fourth tourist season, they are determined to keep it up. Like clockwork, cars line 30A on Sundays to catch live music as locals and visitors alike are embracing this gem on the westside.

Local Catch's Caribbean Shrimp Tacos — Local Catch’s Caribbean Shrimp Tacos

Cordon Bleu trained Executive Chef Adam Yellin partnered with college friend, Jimmy Hasser to establish Local Catch. Their longtime friendship is another telling example of consistency working to their advantage. They ebb and flow well together and have found a great rhythm to their ownership style. Adam will woo you with his delicious food and Jimmy’s positive energy and hands-on attitude keep this operation running smoothly. Their collective enthusiasm for this popular restaurant they’ve created together is evident.

Check out the Mile 4 Salad at Local Catch in Blue Mountain Beach.

“We wanted the food to always be the focus. Fresh and local fare is the reputation we have sought since day one” explains Jimmy. Local Catch is certainly also a great place to have a good time, but the consistent excellence of their southern-inspired coastal cuisine has kept customers coming back.

A chief food philosophy for Chef Adam is balance. His dishes exhibit flavor profiles perfectly balanced and thus take his creations to another level. He credits his culinary career spanning time in New Orleans and San Diego for the Creole and Baja influences on the menu. Their crab cakes are sauced with both sweet and spicy elements. Likewise, the pulled pork tacos are served with a fresh homemade pineapple salsa. Each individual ingredient shines and the result is elevation for the entire dish.

Many of their plates are built entirely from scratch – dressings, sauces, seasonings, even in-house butchering and smoking of meats. And again, Local Catch prioritizes quality and consistency in their food service. The shrimp and grits, variety of stellar tacos, and pork nachos are all customer favorites and serious good eats. I could devour those nachos every day of the week and never tire of them. Crunchy, airy flour tortilla chips are topped with braised pulled pork, Monterrey cheese, pico de gallo, pickled jalapenos, and homemade white and hot sauces. Jimmy and Adam met at the University of Alabama where regional barbeque is a religious experience, so it seemed only appropriate for their version of a pork sandwich to grace the menu. Served up with a nod to the white BBQ sauce tradition of Northern Alabama, this sammie is going to make a lot of folks full and happy this summer.

Versatility is another facet the Local Catch has in spades. The space accommodates both larger boisterous porch-side gatherings as well as dining indoors for quieter dinners. Families with children can enjoy upscale yet approachable cuisine in a casual environment, and sports fans can cozy up to the bar for banter and beverages.

Make sure you try the bacon-wrapped jalepenos the next time you stop by Local Catch in Blue Mountain Beach.

So what’s on deck? In the works for next fall are plans to start serving brunch. It will be the perfect marriage to their Sunday live music tradition. Start dreaming now about crispy golden Bananas Foster pancakes – are you hungry yet? I have a good feeling once you try them you’ll be hooked.

Located at 3711 W County Highway 30A Santa Rosa Beach, Fl 32459 (850.) 622.2022. Open 7 days a week ; 11 am – 10 pm.

All photography provided courtesy of Local Catch Bar and Grill.