ROSEMARY BEACH – Caring & Sharing of South Walton is hosting an inaugural wine dinner, Pairing & Sharing, on Thursday, May 4 at Rosemary Beach Town Hall. Cocktail hour kicks off with passed hors d’oeuvres at 6 p.m. Guests will then enjoy a 3-course dinner by Swiftly Catered, paired with five wines from Dry Farm Wines. Tickets are $250 per guest.
Dry Farm Wines offers natural wines, grown in healthy soils, from family farms and lab-tested for purity. Founder Todd White will be on hand for this special evening to share his knowledge about the wines being offered.
Caring & Sharing is a local nonprofit organization providing food, financial and case management assistance to over 500 Walton County community members in need every month.
For more information on this fundraiser, visit the event page here. Tickets are available at the EventBrite site. For more information and sponsorship opportunities contact carly@caringandsharingsowal.org.
SOUTH WALTON – A trio of local eateries are welcoming guests for special Easter brunch Sunday, April 9, while WaterColor is offering holiday meals to-go or delivered.
Havana Beach Bar & Grill
9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Enjoy buffet fare featuring brunch specialties, a prime rib carving station, chilled seafood bar, kids’ selections, desserts and more. The price is $85 for adults, $45 for children 12 & under. Call 850-588-2882 to make your reservations and inquire about the full menu.
7 a.m. to 5 p.m. The culinary team is opening the restaurant early and offering a chef selection of springtime favorites, along with a Mimosa Bar and Dessert Bar. Reservations are not accepted; walk-ins welcome.
10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Enjoy an egg-travagant Easter Brunch at the WaterColor Lakehouse, including an extensive breakfast menu, omelet station, salad garden, seafood bar, carving station, hot selections and kids’ cuisine. Email WCISocialEvents@stjoe.com for reservations; cost is $85 per adult, $42.50 per child ages 6 to 12, and complimentary for children 5 and under.
Easter Brunch To-Go or home delivery within WaterColor
The WaterColor team is offering a family-style Easter Brunch for four to-go, and delivering within the WaterColor neighborhood. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. delivery or pick up; place your order by emailing WCISocialEvents@stjoe.com by noon on Friday, April 7. Price is $275. Pickup location is Gather Kitchen + Bar, at 34 Goldenrod Circle in WaterColor.
The meal starts with coastal greens salad, chicken and vegetable soup. Mains and sides include blackened shrimp with yellow grits and tomato gravy, roasted prime rib with horseradish cream and red wine jus, loaded mashed potatoes, honey roasted carrots and rolls. For dessert: carrot cake with spiced cream cheese frosting, French silk pie with Nilla wafer crust. Kids can enjoy carrots and celery with ranch dip, chicken tenders with BBQ sauce, Easter cupcakes and mixed fruit salad.
ROSEMARY BEACH – Havana Beach Bar & Grill’s new brunch and dinner menus are an ode to Hemingway’s Havana, celebrating the joy of living, eating and drinking well. The new menus debut this spring and draw inspiration from Ernest Hemingway’s favorite oldtown Havana haunt, El Floridita, after which the Havana Bar & Grill itself was modeled.
Much like Hemingway himself, the culinary team at Havana Beach Bar & Grill believe that dining should delight all of the senses. Equal parts Gulf Coast and Caribbean, with French-inspired techniques, our new menus feature cuisine as locally sourced as possible.
Consider each bite a story, each course a new chapter to dive into, and each visit a journey. ¡Salud!
The new menu’s section names take inspiration from Hemingway’s most famous works. Traditional breakfast selections are found on the menu under the headline “The Sun Also Rises,” sharable appetizers are under the title “A Moveable Feast,” “Green Hills” indicates the salad section, and “For Whom the Bread Tolls” are the handheld burgers and sandwiches. On the dinner menu, “Old Man & the Sea” indicates the seafood section, while the “Hemingway on Hunting” section includes the chicken, pork and steak entrees.
Highlighted brunch menu items include new offerings like the Stuffed Torrejas, made with vanilla-cinnamon custard brioche bread, guava cream cheese, fried plantain, caramelized pecan, and warm dulce de leche; the Carnivore Omelet is made with three eggs, Black Forest ham, bacon, Cochon andouille sausage, peppers, onions and pepperjack cheddar cheese. Sharable favorites will include the Mojo Pork Empanadas and Hot Grouper Bites, while the Pollo Frito Cubano sandwich is made with fried chicken breast cutlet, jalapeno, cucumber-jicama slaw, Swiss cheese and mojo aioli, served on a toasted Cuban roll.
Highlighted dinner menu items include appetizers like the Mojo Pork Empanadas and Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes, Havana Ceviche Atún (key lime-coconut marinated tuna, with red onion, mango, sweet and hot peppers, fresh herbs, toasted coconut and fried plantain), and Oysters de Antigua (coconut-tamarind, jerk spice roasted oysters). Seafood entrees offered under “The Old Man & the Sea” include Grouper de Santiago (blackened grouper served with Carolina gold rice, sofrito black beans, fried okra, fried green tomato, and pickled corn relish), while the “Hemmingway on Hunting” section of the menu offers highlights such as Isla Chicken (made with mango-jerk BBQ sauce and served with pickled prickly pear), or the classic Center Cut Beef Tenderloin.
Havana Beach Bar & Grill is located in The Pearl Hotel, 63 Main Street, Rosemary Beach.
ROSEMARY BEACH – The Courtyard at Pescado, located on the ground floor of the Orleans Building in Rosemary Beach, is set to host a Mardi Gras Wine Dinner Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023, at 6:30 p.m.
The coursed menu, created by Chef Preston Trott, will consist of four carefully crafted courses paired with French wines from Breakthru Beverage. Guests will be welcomed to start the evening with a refreshing Nola 75 cocktail. Tickets for the event are $165 + 7% tax and 22% gratuity. Purchase tickets at rooftop30a.com/happenings/mardigras2023
Seventh annual event benefits Food for Thought Outreach
Special to 30A Food & Wine Jan. 17, 2023
ROSEMARY BEACH – Restaurant Paradis is pleased to announce their seventh annual Prohibition Repeal Wine Dinner, presented by 30A Luxury Vacations, raised $14,000 for Food for Thought Outreach.
Guests gathered at the Rosemary Beach fine-dining restaurant for a Gatsby-inspired evening. Upon entry, ticket holders made their way into the bar area to enjoy specialty cocktails made with Distillery 98’s Dune Laker vodka, each served in a commemorative glass courtesy of Buddy’s Seafood. Attendees then made their way into the main dining room where they were seated for a special four-course meal prepared by Paradis’ award-winning chef, Mark Eichin. Each course was expertly paired with wines by Vineyard Brands and sponsored by local businesses including Driftwood Wine and Spirits, Rosemary Beach Realty, SoWal House, and Swiftly Catered. Throughout the night, attendees were surrounded by live music from Christy Larsen, courtesy of Inlet Beach Real Estate, and photographed by Anthony Whittington, compliments of 30A Cottages.
“We would like to thank all of our loyal patrons and fellow community members for sponsoring and buying tickets to this year’s record-breaking dinner,” said Restaurant Paradis owner, Danny Cosenzi. “During the holiday season we always look forward to hosting everyone and raising money for a local cause that makes a huge impact in our area.”
The proceeds raised from the annual Prohibition event go directly to Food for Thought Outreach, a local 501(c)3 organization that works to bridge the meal gap in the lives of food insecure children in Walton and Okaloosa counties.
“We are so grateful to benefit from this event,” said Tiffanie Nelson, CEO and founder of Food for Thought Outreach. “Restaurant Paradis has been a generous partner in our work at Food for Thought Outreach and events such as this make a direct impact in our organization.”
Since 2010, Food for Thought Outreach has been dedicated to serving the food-insecure children in our community. Currently, over 3,000 children are enrolled in their year-round programs.
“We love to see our community come together in support of the children who need us the most,” Nelson said.
Seventh annual event benefits Food for Thought Outreach
Nov. 4, 2022 Special to 30A Food & Wine
ROSEMARY BEACH – Restaurant Paradis is proud to present its seventh annual Prohibition Repeal Wine Dinner, presented by 30A Luxury Vacations, on Saturday, Dec. 10, benefitting Food for Thought Outreach.
Beginning at 6:30 p.m., guests are invited to delight in a cocktail hour featuring a specialty cocktail made with Distillery 98’s Dune Laker vodka served in a commemorative glass, courtesy of Buddy’s Seafood. Attendees will then be whisked away to the main dining room for a Gatsby, Prohibition-era inspired evening.
Guests will experience a special, four-course meal presented by Driftwood Wine and Spirits, Rosemary Beach Realty, SoWal House, and Swiftly Catered, paired with wines by Vineyard Brands. Prepared by Paradis’ award-winning chef, Mark Eichin and his culinary team, each course will feature the local produce, fresh Gulf seafood, and fine meats that Paradis is known for. Throughout the night, attendees will be surrounded by live music, sponsored by Inlet Beach Real Estate, and photographed by Jennifer Filippone, courtesy of 30A Cottages.
Proceeds from the evening will be donated to Food for Thought Outreach, a local 501(c)3 organization that works to bridge the meal gap in the lives of food insecure children in Walton and Okaloosa counties and empower them to get the most out of their education.
The restaurant will be closed for the private event and transformed into an elegant event space that emulates the Prohibition era. In keeping with the night’s theme, guests are encouraged to dress in 1930s, Gatsby-theme attire. There are a limited number of tickets available for $200 per person that includes all food, beverage, and gratuity. Tickets can be purchased online at www.restaurantparadis.com.
INLET BEACH – Canopy Road Café’s new 30-A restaurant, located at 12805 US-98, promises to shake up the old breakfast routines of locals and tourists alike. This isn’t your grandmother’s bacon-and-eggs breakfast joint.
From whimsical dishes like Fat Elvis pancakes (in case you were wondering: peanut butter and banana pancakes filled with chopped bacon and topped with a peanut butter drizzle), to customized skillets with every ingredient under the Emerald Coast sun – Canopy Road Café has you covered.
From sweet to savory and everything in between!
Children will love Canopy Road Café because they aren’t treated as an afterthought. When they see that plate of Cookies and Cream French Toast headed their way, the expression on their faces is priceless. And when they take a picture of it and send it to their friends, you’ll know you picked the right breakfast spot.
But Canopy Road Café isn’t all sprinkles and whipped cream – there is something for the entire family. From five different “benedict” dishes to handhelds, omelets and house favorites, every breakfast base is covered.
And if the lunch hour has arrived, you can dig into an Angus burger, fries and wash it all down with a cold beer before heading back to work or the beach.
Many of the items served come from the Sunshine State.
Canopy Road Café is the creation of Brad Buckenheimer and David Raney, college buddies who worked at a Tallahassee diner but knew they eventually wanted to start their own business.
Now, Canopy Road Café is taking off with eight locations sprinkled throughout the state and more on the way.
“We love what we do, and we love making people happy,” said Brad. “Smiles and sighs are our goal – smiles because breakfast was fun and sighs because they were satisfied.”
Brad and Dave are Florida boys who honor their roots – all of the meat and produce served at the restaurant come from the Sunshine State.
“We use local art in the restaurants, local vendors and cater to locals first,” Dave said. “Local diners will find that it doesn’t take long for our staff to learn their names and what they like. We hire local people and treat them well to keep turnover at the minimum.”
Open from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily, Canopy Road Café is located at 12805 US-98, Inlet Beach, within the 30Avenue complex. Find them online at www.canopyroadcafe.com.
While there are a multitude of restaurants throughout South Walton, leaving the house for a restaurant-quality experience isn’t always necessary. But before you go hunting through your phone for takeout, consider the option of hiring a private chef to make your next meal something truly unforgettable.
Surprisingly, there are a number of private chefs in South Walton, many of whom have impressive resumes and a skillset that makes them highly in demand. From regular bookings to special occasions, these talented individuals are culinary masters whose abilities are yours for the asking.
Kyle Swift
Kyle Swift: Swiftly Catered
For Kyle Swift of Swiftly Catered and Blue Mountain Bakery, leaving the restaurant scene was inspired by his love for his guests and the desire to create a more personal connection with them.
“I did my first private dinner in 2015 and immediately fell in love,” said Swift, who worked in the kitchens of such restaurants as Christiano’s, Summer Kitchen, and Acme Ice House before becoming a private chef and launching his own businesses. “Direct interaction with your guests, more attention to detail, less room for error. You can’t send out a general manager from behind the kitchen doors when you make a mistake. The whole restaurant experience is on your shoulders, so you must deliver.
“Building long-lasting relations with our clients has been the best part. We have guests that have now been dining with us for seven years. We’ve had clients that had teenage children turn into young adults and we went from bringing them kid’s meals to cooking for their weddings. Interacting directly with our guests versus being stuck behind kitchen walls at a restaurant is so much more rewarding.”
Dan Vargo
Dan Vargo: Fine Coastal Cuisine
Making the change to the private sector in 2021, Dan Vargo left a prestigious career that took him all over the country and even across the Atlantic. Having come back to South Walton after years away, Vargo’s skills brought him to Seagar’s Prime Steaks and Seafood before he became the executive chef of the Hilton Sandestin. Still, Vargo realized he needed a change.
“I have done many private dinners over the years, and I really enjoyed the way each meal was custom-made for the guests,” he said. “I loved being able to focus and personalize each culinary experience. After achieving the corporate goals I had set for myself, I decided to make the change to private chef and launched Fine Coastal Cuisine.
“Making custom menus for guests is my favorite part of being a private chef. Every meal is tailor-made and catered to each client. I have menus, but they serve more as an inspiration. In a restaurant, you can run features and change menus a few times a year, but I enjoy how each event as a private chef is unique. I also enjoy how much interaction I have. I get a personal experience at every event.”
Making it in the private realm
Clearly, there’s something to be said for the private experience. There’s a quality to the work and an attention to detail that isn’t always possible in a restaurant environment, where time, volume, and expediency can overrule. Naturally, it takes a skilled chef to make it in the private realm. All eyes are on them, their techniques and ability to create set squarely in the spotlight, with expectations high. Their ability to adapt and pivot when needed is also key, though keeping their clients happy can be a challenge when things don’t go according to plan. In those instances, private chefs show their true acumen, rising to the challenge and creating masterpieces.
Boasting an ability to pair flavors, to bring out the subtleties and nuances of their ingredients, to conceptualize and construct a dish that is both flavorful and beautiful, private chefs take pride in sharing in their guests’ enjoyment of their creations.
“I love getting people together, putting flavors and ingredients from all over the world into a dish and then sharing that experience together,” said Swift. “Once it’s all been cooked and cleaned up, there’s nothing left but the experience. It becomes about more than just the food.”
“Cooking is like an open-ended book,” added Vargo. “There is always so much more to learn and perfect. There are so many cultures, all with foods that tell a unique story and that create an experience.”
Creating an experience is the very thing that drives a true chef. From first bite to last, every dish is a masterpiece to be appreciated and savored. And for private chefs, that masterpiece is personal.
ROSEMARY BEACH – Restaurant Paradis has a warmth and elegance that welcomes guests as soon as they walk through the door. This fine-dining restaurant, led by Executive Chef Mark Eichin and his talented culinary team, is a local favorite for its unique approach to coastal cuisine, as well as its popular wine and dinner pairings.
Everything at Paradis is made in-house.
Everything on the menu is fresh and new, with locally sourced ingredients.
“I like to try to buy local as much as possible because it supports mom and pop shops, as well as the local economy,” Chef Eichin said. “And also, why do I need to get tomatoes from California if I’ve got them growing right here and they taste even better? We also make everything in-house, like all of our stocks. When we’re in our busy season, I re-prep the entire menu from scratch every single day.”
The menu often changes depending on what’s in-season, but there are some mainstays that are usually available. Those include dishes like diver scallops, tuna tartare, beef & blues cheese tortellini, and Chef Eichin’s award-winning cast-iron filet seared in duck fat with lobster tail tempura.
Chef Drew draws from a global inspiration.
Eichin, who has been with Restaurant Paradis since the beginning, credits an attention to detail for the success of most dishes. But he also has a vast and interesting food background that tends to influence many of his creations. As a military brat (both his parents served in the Air Force), Eichin grew up living all around the world where he got to sample many different types of cuisine.
“I was actually born in England, my oldest brother was born in Germany, and my little brother was born in Texas,” he said. “Then, when we came back to the states, we went from Texas to Georgia to East Tennessee. My dad was always a foodie from living in Europe, so we were exposed to quite a bit of different types of food.”
His mother grew up on a farm in Minnesota, made a lot of home-cooked meals and taught him the value of using fresh ingredients.
“I used to always love being in the kitchen and cooking with my mom. My philosophy is that cooking is like the wheel: everything’s already been done. So, I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel, just take aspects of it, along with influences from a little bit of German or English or finding a dish I like and recreating my own way of making it better.”
He also values the creative input of others on his kitchen staff in trying new things for some of the specials on the menu.
Guests enjoy expert wine pairings with their dishes.
Eichin enjoys collaborating when creating specific dishes to pair with different types of wine available.
“Our wine program is really, really, really incredible and I wish I could take a little bit of credit for that, but I can’t,” he said. “That comes from Michael Wood, our general manager. I’ll sit down and figure out what our main wines are by the glass, then I’ll start building things off a round to accommodate them. You always want one thing to complement another.”
It’s made Restaurant Paradis a popular stop for wine enthusiasts.
Chef Eichin is proud to be part of the amazing group that’s so dedicated to creating a one-of-a-kind experience that keeps guests coming back again and again.
“The one thing I’ve always loved about this industry is, it’s kind of an instant gratification type of deal. You don’t need anything to be said, you just walk around and see the smiles and people enjoying it and it makes the work you put in during the day all worth it.”
Restaurant Paradis is located at 82 S. Barrett Square, Rosemary Beach. The restaurant is open for dinner-only seven nights a week from 5 to 10 p.m. Reservations are required and can be made by calling 850-534-0400. For more information, visit www.restaurantparadis.com
ROSEMARY BEACH – Spanish for fish, Pescado is a name befitting of the restaurant whose location at the uppermost point of the Orleans building in Rosemary Beach affords sweeping views of the Gulf. Views that change with every hour of the day and every turn of the tide, with sunsets that keep it incredibly in demand. Featuring a menu of seasonally-driven featured dishes, small plates, and shareable entrees that pair with a wine list that also changes with the seasons. The underlying theme of this beautifully designed venue is to create food worthy of that view, food with spectacular flavor and presentation that showcases the Gulf. Whether guests choose to dine indoors or venture out onto the rooftop patio and bar area, that famously jewel-hued water is always in view, the fresh sea air like seasoning to every single bite in Pescado’s exquisitely created food.
Both indoor and outdoor dining are available.
Since opening in early spring of 2018, the menu created by Executive Chef Ken Duenas is respective of freshness in every aspect, from the house made sauces drizzled colorfully on the plates to the local seafood, freshly caught fish, and premium proteins used as the focal point of the dish. Each is a work of art, a carefully executed display of what results from focusing creativity, passion, talent, and technique together in cohesion.
A 30-plus-year veteran of the kitchen and former executive chef at Cafe Thirty-A, Marina Café, and Destin Chops, Duenas is a self-taught chef, building a career from a passion that was instilled in him by his grandmother in Guam. Along with partners Joseph Freer, John Freer, Greg Wakeham, and Steven Sapp, Duenas is part of the Last Call Restaurant Group, a partnership that has proven quite successful in creating a concept that will not only bring people in, but also bring them back. “We’re booked out six months in advance,” said Duenas. “People love to come here because of the view, the food, and the drinks.”
The Pescado menu wanders the globe.
The perfect blend of farm-to-table and tide-to-table, there is a dedication to using the best, most fresh ingredients available in season. Guest favorites include Steak Tartare, Filet Mignon, the Seafood Salad, and the Cantonese Whole Lobster. Interestingly, the menu wanders the globe, taking inspiration from France, the Mediterranean, Asia, and – of course – Duenas’s childhood in Guam. In each of his dishes, Duenas takes particular pride that he is creating an experience for his guests. “I love making people happy as they’re having a meal,” he said. “When you walk outside and someone pulls you over to tell you that they’ve just had one of the best meals of their lives, that’s really satisfying. Hearing that from them, it’s better than any kind of fame.”
Pescado is known for both its food and beverages.
Still, fame is lavished on the dishes created at Pescado, as well as the drinks created by their mixologists. Served up with a twist of creativity, each drink shows that the minds behind the mixing know their flavor profiles as well as what makes the perfect sip. “We have an incredible team here that makes amazing drinks,” noted Duenas.
A restaurant that certainly achieves the vision of what Duenas and his partners had in mind when they opened, Pescado is “casual fine dining that has the best views in the area, with food, drinks, and service to match.”
Pescado Seafood Grill & Rooftop Bar is located at 74 Town Hall Road, Suite 4B, Rosemary Beach. The restaurant is open Monday to Tuesday 4 to 10 p.m.; Wednesday to Saturday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday 9:45 a.m. to 10 p.m. Reservations accepted. For more information, call 850-213-4600 or visit www.rooftop30a.com.
