Labor Day Weekend

Here comes Labor Day Weekend. It is always with some sadness we celebrate Labor Day because that is the unofficial end of summer. With all the rain we have had this summer it seems like we have not really had much of a summer. Hopefully our fall season will be nice as this is the best time of the year in Destin. Crowds are down and the temps are still nice and warm.

Sunshine Cindy and I only got out on Monday this week. It was a perfect evening so we headed to Landshark Pizza to get out of the house. Some of the usual suspects were at the bar including B and Kerby. T was waiting for some delivery orders while Stephanie and Jason were serving and cooking. Sunshine Cindy and I hoped they still had some of their Italian Sausage left. I have had this sandwich in the past and it is great. Brian was still there and he made us the sandwiches special. Thanks Brian! And they were just as good as always.

Landshark Pizza

It was fun hanging out with our friends. Kerby was his usual crazy self. We ended up on some strange conversations but that is not unusual for that crowd. Sunshine Cindy had a chance to talk to Stephanie about our upcoming wedding. Stephanie has a side business making cupcakes. I think we will have Steph make a “cupcake cake” for us. Stephanie is originally from Ohio and is a big Buckeyes and Browns fan. We usually suffer each Sunday during the season watching the Browns. LOL

Tuesday was spent at the house getting ready for the weekend. Wednesday we were planning to either meet up with Julie and her friend Dean who got into town from Louisiana earlier in the day OR maybe we were going to head to KC’s Sandbar to listen to Jan play OR we talked about meeting up with Wayne and Mike Nash. Mike got into town Wednesday also in advance of his Southern Drawl bandmates. Turns out both Sunshine Cindy and I ended up working late. By the time we both got home and changed it was getting later and we decided to just stay in.

Let's have a pool party

We have a full slate of activities planned for the holiday. Tonight (Thursday) Crab Island Mambo is helping promote the Southern Drawl Band’s show at Crab Island Cantina. They play starting at 9 pm. No cover charge and everyone is welcome! Then Friday from 6-9 pm The Calypso Nuts will be at the Cantina. Again we are helping to promote the show. These back to back shows on the harbor will be a lot of fun. Crab Island Cantina is at the far west end of the harbor boardwalk in Harborwalk Village.

Saturday we are invited to a pool party. That will be a lot of fun. Finally on Sunday Crab Island Mambo and Landshark Pizza will be hosting the “ETC at LP Party.” (Embrace the Chaos at Landshark Pizza) Jan Patton will be playing from 1-5 pm. Food and beer specials will be available. The party will be on the sidewalk in front of Landshark in the Old Time Pottery shopping center in Destin. We always have a great time at these parties. Again, everyone is welcome to join us.

Okay, time to head down to the harbor and get our Southern Drawl Band fix. Have a great weekend. I will have a full report on Monday of all the Chaos! See ya Monday!!!

Welcome Home Hoov...

This was a great weekend as we got to welcome home Hoov from Afghanstan. Hoov has been over there for 4 years helping protect our troops while trying to stay safe himself. I am glad to announce he is now home, hopefully for good. We got together on Saturday evening at the Tipsy Turtle. As I was driving over to the Turtle I saw Russ on his bike. As I was going by I hollered that Hoov was back and I was going to see him. I then just said, “Turtle” and hoped he heard me. He did and showed up a while later. Wayne, Julie, Cajun Mike, Terry, Kenny and Loujean all showed up at some point. Sunshine Cindy had her snacks and Matt took care of everyone.

Hoov with Wayne and Russ

Matt and Mindy were playing music. Sunshine Cindy and Laura, a friend of Mindy’s hit it off. Laura is going through some medical issues similar to what Sunshine Cindy went through many years ago. She was able to encourage Laura. We also watched a guy with a light up wet suit “water walk.” It is hard to describe but there are nozzle’s on their feet that shot out water propelling the person up into the air. We have seen it numerous time but this was the first time with a wet suit that lights up making a great visual in the dark. All in all we had a fun time welcoming Hoov back to the beach!

The Jet Man during the day

Sunshine Cindy and I started the weekend off on Thursday by stopping at Millers Ale House. Alex was behind the bar and a decent crowd was around the outside patio bar. I saw Henri working. I knew he worked there but we have never ran into him. It was great seeing him and hearing that morning he got a promotion. Soon he will be traveling helping to open new restaurants for Millers. Good for Henri. A while later the manager Jared saw us and came over to welcome us and chat for a while. We told him he would see more of us now that the tourist were gone and the locals can get back into our favorite places! It was nice hanging out there and catching up with the staff.

Football kickoff party at Sago Sports Bar

Friday we held our “Football Kickoff Party at Sago Sports Bar.” We had a great time. Tommy and the staff at Sago took great care of us. We filled up the Super Bowl pool with Sunshine Cindy getting Denver and I got the NY Giants. Sunshine Cindy has Payton and I have Eli. I hope a Manning wins the big one this year! LOL We had a good crowd show up and everyone had a blast. This will be a great football season at Sago Sports Bar.

On Sunday Sunshine Cindy and I stayed home. With all the activities we have coming up next weekend we decided to relax a little. We were able to get a lot done around the house.

The soon to open Island Wing Co.

I was able to get out and ride my bike on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Saturday I rode over to Scenic 98 and rode along the beach for a while. Sunday I rode by the new Island Wing Bar & Grill. It looks like it should be ready to open sometime in September. They are supposed to have tons of craft beers. I will have to check it out.

There is a lot happening this upcoming weekend. Thursday we have the Southern Drawl Band playing at Crab Island Cantina. I will have a full wrap on Thursday before the show and highlighting all the other upcoming events. Have a great week. See ya Thursday!

No more tourist…

It is amazing how once schools open around the southeast all of us locals get Destin back to ourselves. It was obvious a few weeks ago things were slowing down but this week you can really tell the season is over. I have not had any problems getting home even if it’s raining. That is the sure sign for us.

Sunshine Cindy and I have not got out and about this week yet but that does not mean things are not happening in Destin. I have noticed a “sold” sign on some land on Airport Road. It turns out the Racquet Club and some raw land next to it has been sold for a new subdivision. It’s going to be called Destin Oaks and will have 40 lots. I guess they will be small lots as this is not a big piece of land. It will back up to the airport.

Harry T's, the new home of the ECPHC

I was surprised at how many people were excited about our first Dunkin Donuts opening in Miramar Beach. There were several people talking about having to head over there. I am not sure what the draw is but if donuts are your thing, get over there and check them out.

Chef Emeril Lagasse has been spotted around town again. There was a picture in the Destin Log of Emeril at Harry T’s having some food with Dan the owner. Emeril is spending more time in our area as he has a home here.

Great view from Harry T's

I saw a report that said Poppy’s Time Out Sports Bar at the Destin Commons is going to change its name to “Groovy Grouper Grill.” This is to take place September 2nd. I don’t know if they have new owners or if they are just trying to change their concept. We have not been in this place in a couple of years. The last time we were there they had done some false advertising and the management didn’t care so we stayed away. They claimed to be a sports bar but they marketed to the late night young folks crowd. It will be interesting to see how this shakes out.

The new Holiday Inn Resort that is being built on Okaloosa Island is right on schedule. They recently topped out the building. It will open next April with 152 rooms and great views of the Gulf of Mexico. Something else to add to the traffic woes on the Island.

2013 Super Bowl fun at Sago Sports Bar

This weekend we have a fun night planned for Friday. Crab Island Mambo will have a Football Kickoff Party at Sago Sports Bar. We will have a Super Bowl pool. Plus Sago has Happy Hour all day every day and a special on wings on Friday. Everyone is invited to come to Sago and “Embrace the Chaos!” with us.

Have a great weekend. See ya Monday!

Another wet weekend

I want to know who took the “sun” out of the sunshine state! Rain, rain and more rain. Ugh. We still got out and about but we had to dodge the rain to do it. Thursday night Sunshine Cindy went shopping with Tiffany so I had a free evening. After publishing the Crab Island Mambo Mullet Wrapper I headed out for a while. I was going to go to the harbor but the road was gridlocked so I went to Hogs Breath instead. Cam was not working but Becca was behind the bar instead. I asked her where Cam was and she said he was in the hospital. Turns out he was on a jet ski and got cut somehow. He needed stiches and everything seemed okay. A few days later he went back in the water and ended up with a steph infection. He has been in the hospital for a week now. Get well soon Cam. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

Chris Hays was playing music. I had not seen Chris for a while. He has a regular gig at the Swizzle Stick in Fort Walton. I used to live within walking distance of the place so I got to see Chris a lot. He is another former Ohio’ian and a big Browns fan too. I had one Hogs Blackened Fish Sandwiches. They have one of the best in town. I made a stop at Sago Sports Bar on the way home. I sat at the outside bar. Becky was working and a decent crowd was around the bar. There was a nice breeze and it was dry so that was a plus.

On Friday it rained on and off all day. Sunshine Cindy and I decided to head to the harbor as it looked like the rain had stopped for a while. We went to Crab Island Cantina. We parked in the parking garage. As we got on Harborwalk we saw Rick and a friend of his. They were on their out. At the Cantina Greg and Kyle were working the bar then Dominic joined them for the evening. Judy came over to say hello and then Carlos also did too. They had a good crowd there despite the threat of bad weather. A few times we saw streaks of lightning over the gulf.

The road was flooded in front of Wayne's condo

After pigging out on some great food and a shot of top shelf tequila, we walked down to The Boathouse. On the way there as we passed AJ’s. Many of the power boats were tied up to the docks in anticipation of the poker run on Saturday. A lot of money was sitting in the water right there. As we walked up to The Boathouse, Kerby was at the bar. Jager was behind the bar and told us how much he enjoyed the article I did naming him our Bartender of the Month for Aug. Kenny and Leanna were at a table with Tommy and a friend of his from California, Brian. At one point I hear a crash and Brian was on the ground. Someone moved off the bench he was on and over he went. Funny thing is he hardly had anything to drink yet. LOL Luckily he was not hurt.

More people came up that we knew. Bruce and Brian from Landshark were there. Coach was there. Suzanne was inside and saw us and came out to say hello. Courtney greeted me with a big hug. It was like a family reunion. While there it started to rain again. A heavy shower lasted for quite a while. We didn’t care. We were having fun. Finally about midnight the party was winding down and Sunshine Cindy and I headed home.

Jan playing in Wayne's condo

On Saturday we were supposed to have a beach cleanup. That didn’t happen due to the weather. It was raining when we woke up and it didn’t stop all day. We ended up with about 6 or 7 inches of rain just on Saturday. Some of us did get together at Wayne’s condo on the island. We had food and drinks so we made it a party. Jan even broke out his guitar and played a few songs. It was a fun “plan B.”

Steve and Debbie from Panama City

Sunday was a party at the Tipsy Turtle with Jan also playing there. We actually had the sun poke out a few times but then we also had some dark clouds and rain around us. We had a nice turnout despite the threat of rain. Steve and Debbie came all the way from Panama City too. It was great seeing them. Jan was able to play till about 3:30 when a big storm blew in. We managed to get all his equipment covered and nothing got damaged. It poured for about 20 or 30 minutes. We all huddled under the tiki hut and the few umbrella’s we had. I was soaked from helping Jan so it didn’t matter. One thing about Parrotheads and the Mambo’ians, we do know how to have a good time no matter what Mother Nature throws at us.

Later in the evening Julie, Kenny, Jan, Sunshine Cindy and myself stopped at The Boathouse for some food. It was a perfect cap to the day and the weekend. Have a great week. See ya Thursday!

This week in Destin

One thing about Destin, the rate of growth is amazing. Pretty soon there won’t be any open space. The changes continue. I have heard the Lighthouse Restaurant, which was forced out of their current location that they have had for over 20 years, is going to take over the old Calhoun’s Pub & Grub location. I have seen activity at that building so this makes sense.

Another place that has been closed for over a year is the old Fishlipz bar and restaurant in Fort Walton Beach. This is a place that is hard to find but it sits right on The Sound with great views of the boat traffic. I am hearing the original owner is reopening the place. I hope they get good management in place to run it. When it first opened, they had good business and were always busy. Then they tried to go more upscale and that fell flat. They lost the locals and that was the end. I hope they learned their lesson as it can be a fun place.

Fun at The Pointe

Last but not least I am hearing the old Freaky Tiki is going to reopen down on the harbor. All I can say is I will never set foot in there because of how they did the previous management.

This week was spent working on the Crab Island Mambo Mullet Wrapper for August. It is now published and ready for your reading enjoyment! http://www.crabislandmambo.com/Mullet-Wrapper-August-2013.html

Destin sky

I did get out to Landshark Pizza on Tuesday for a while. The place was packed. I could not believe it. Tourist everywhere. I sat at the bar with Steve. Brian was trying to leave but they were so busy he had to hang around to help out. Stephanie and I talked about how the Browns are still undefeated. Okay, it’s only one preseason game but we have to hang on to anything we can with that team! After a while “B” can and sat with us. Once again we solved all the world’s problems. It was a nice evening.

It’s a busy weekend coming up. Saturday we have a beach cleanup on Okaloosa Island at Beachwalk #2. It starts at 9:30 am and we party all day afterwards. Sunday there is a luau on the harbor. The Sinkin’ Weenie and Tipsy Turtle are co-sponsoring this fun day. Jan Patton will be playing music, the “Weenie” is supplying the food and the Turtle will have the ice cold beer. The fun starts around noon. Everyone is welcome to both events.

This weekend is also the Emerald Coast Poker Run. This is one of the largest powerboat poker runs in the country. Hundreds of boats including many “go-fast” boats enter. The poker run is Saturday with stops from Pensacola to Niceville and everywhere in between. On Sunday they have a raft-up at Crab Island. This is always a fun time if you are on the water as these boat buzz by with their trophy wives/girlfriends on the bow. I hope the weather holds for us as we continue to get a lot of rain.

Poker Run boat

Get out and enjoy the weekend. A full report on Monday. See ya then!

Destin Parrothead fun

The weekend fun in Destin continued this past weekend. The weather stayed hot and humid with the occasional afternoon thunderstorm which is normal for us. Friday night I headed to the harbor. Sunshine Cindy got home from work late and decided to stay in and relax. My first stop was the Tipsy Turtle to grab a beer from Matt. I talked with him for a few minutes before I headed down to the Parrothead meeting at Harry T’s.

There was a big crowd of folks there. I did my walk through greeting all of our friends. I talked to Michele the bartender for a while. Michele has taken care of us for several years now. She is a hard worker. The Parrotheads donated $1000 to the USO at the meeting. We really do “Party with a Purpose.”

$1000 check for USO

Wayne was there at Harry T’s and we decided to head to Crab Island Cantina. There was a nice breeze coming through the Cantina. Greg and Mike were working the bar. Judy came over to give me a hug and say hello. A big crowd was starting to fill the place. We are looking forward to having Southern Drawl Band play at the Cantina on Aug. 29th and the Calypso Nuts play there on Aug. 30th. That will be a fun couple of days!

We hung around there for a while then walked back down to the Turtle. Matt was in rare form cutting up and making jokes. A good cross section of locals were hanging around. Tourist were stopping to grab a beer. A good vibe was in the air. Brian from the Sinkin’ Weenie brought over some smoked pork with a special luau sauce. He was experimenting for this coming Sunday’s luau and party we are having at the Turtle and the Sinkin’ Weenie. Jan Patton will be playing music and it will be a fun time. The smoked meat and the sauce were great. I can’t wait. Everyone is welcome to join us.

Baby Girl at the Turtle

Kenny and Leanna stopped by for a while. It seemed like everyone that had a dog also walked by. Some guy kept riding a bicycle up and down the boardwalk ringing a bell to get people to move. He was annoying and at risk of hurting someone. He was lucky no one knocked him off that bike. Kenny and Leanna went to the Boathouse but I headed home for the night.

Saturday I had a guy come to the house to detail both our cars. While he was doing that I worked on the Crab Island Mullet Wrapper for August. It will be published later this week. Sunshine Cindy did some house work. Yes, we have to do that once in a while! LOL We did this till the early afternoon where we started to wind down. We had several options for getting out in the evening but we were tired and decided to stay close to home. We went to Hooters for some food and a beer or two.

Capt. John at Harry T's

Our Destin Hooters has a good selection of craft beers. We were sitting in front of the board that had all the different types listed. Looking at the different types of beer I decided to try several of them. I started with a Sweetwater 420 out of Atlanta. I have had this beer before and it is excellent. I then had a Pensacola Bay Sawgrass. It had a wheat flavor and was very good. Next beer was called Shiner Wildhare that also very good. Finally I had something called “Rouge Dead Guy.” With a name like that I had to have it. This was also good but not as good as the previous beers. Anyway, it was fun having a pint of these craft beers with the food.

Sunday we went to Sunshine Cindy’s parents house to do some clean up at their dock and seawall. The June Grass seaweed is pretty bad right now. It is piling up along their seawall where it decomposes and starts to smell. We spent several hours in the sun cleaning it up. It looked good when we were done but I could see more coming in. Ugh! We had lunch and visited for the rest of the afternoon. We were pretty wore out by the time we got home so we had to skip JB’s birthday party that was going on down at The Monkey Bar. Oh well, we will make the next one!

Have a great week. See ya Thursday!

Mimmo's in Destin

It has been a good week so far in Destin. We are finally back to a normal weather pattern with afternoon thunderstorms passing through but no day long monsoons. The traffic is also way down. With schools starting in Georgia there has been a marked difference in the traffic. We are slowly getting our town back.

Monday Sunshine Cindy and I stayed in. We worked on straightening up around the house and catching up on Crab Island Mambo paperwork. Sunshine Cindy did stop at Chicken Salad Chick to pick up some food. This is a new place in City Market. She got sandwiches and pasta salad. It was all good. Sunshine Cindy had a type of Chicken Salad while I had roast beef. They did not skimp on the portions. I am sure we will hit them up again.

Cajun Mike

Tuesday I had a dentist appointment with Dr. Corley. It was a normal cleaning and everything was fine as usual except for the guy in the room next to me who was hollering and whimpering. What a baby! LOL I stopped home and Sunshine Cindy was not wanting to go anywhere. It was early so I headed to Landshark Pizza for a while. Brian was just finishing his shift and Sue, Stephanie and Becca were starting. Brian sat at the bar with me and we talked about the upcoming “E.T.C. at L.P. Party” (Embrace the Chaos! at Landshark Pizza) that will be Sunday September 1st from 1-5 pm with Jan Patton playing. I gave them some flyers to post about the event and Brian was going to get Budweiser to make up some banners. Everyone is welcome to join us for this fun party.

Sitting there I decided to have some wings. These were probably the biggest wings I have ever had. They were great. The bar filled up. Some friends of Brian’s sat next to him. They gave him a bag of Ghost peppers and some others that are just as hot if not hotter. These are some of the hottest peppers known. Brian uses them to mix up his Liquid Death sauce for his hot wing eating contest. Brian gave me a small piece of one of the peppers. It was like someone put a hot iron into my mouth. I don’t know how anyone can eat a whole pepper but one of the guys did. Wow! It was a good time there. We had a thunderstorm pass and it cooled everything down before I left.

The Boardwalk

Wednesday Sunshine Cindy and I hit a new Italian restaurant in Destin. Mimmo’s is the place that I found when I was riding my bike last weekend. Wednesday was exactly one month since they opened. Chef Mimmo La Innusa is the owner. We were sorry he was not in the restaurant as he was visiting with his brother. I understand this was his first day off since they opened.

The place is decorated nicely with a big brick oven in the back corner for authentic brick oven pizza’s. The staff was attentive and Cindy took good care of us. The food was great. We started with a garlic roll appetizer. It was a great start to our meal. Sunshine Cindy ordered Pasta Carbonara and I had Chicken Parmesan. The portion sizes were huge. I had two big pieces of chicken. I could only finish a little more than half. We finished with a desert that was as good as everything else.

The Monkey Bar

We both had wine with our meal. The bartender turned out to be the wife of Mimmo. Meghan checked on us and everyone in the place several times to make sure everything was okay. There was a good crowd in the place. Prices were very reasonable. I believe as the word gets out about how good it is the place will stay packed. They are located in front of Winn Dixie next to Another Broken Egg Café in the heart of Destin. We will be back for sure.

This weekend we have a Parrothead meeting at Harry T’s on Friday. That means a harbor crawl will take place after the meeting! lol Don’t forget we still have a few of the Crab Island Mambo Aqua tee shirts in large. Get yours ordered today before we are out again. Click here: http://www.crabislandmambo.com/Crab-Island-Mambo-Merchandise.html

Fun at the Tipsy Turtle with a new Mambo Tank

Get out and “Embrace the Chaos! this weekend. See ya Monday!