My Destin Last Supper
October 24th, 2007, 10:17 am · 2 Comments · posted by patrickdonohue
Since reading about Melanie Dunea’s new book “My Last Supper,” where the author asks 50 of the world’s greatest chefs what they would want to eat for their last meal on Earth, I have been thinking about my own answer. Last night, I was in bed, reading Anthony Bourdain’s “The Nasty Bits,” when I thought of a way I could answer Dunea’s fascinating question. A better question for me, I thought, would be what would I want to eat if it were my last night in Destin. What would I want from the local culinary scene that you just couldn’t get any other place in the country. What follows is an artery-clogging five-course history of my life in Destin.
Course 1: Fried Sea Scallops - Dewey Destin’s - I’ve eaten a lot of fried seafood in my life, both here in Destin and elsewhere, and few have bigger or tastier scallops than Dewey’s rustic (and I mean rustic) restaurant down on Choctawhatchee Bay. Are they pricey? Absolutely but the scallops are enormous, beautifully done, and well worth it.
Course 2: Margherita pizza - Camille’s - I consider myself to be something of a pizza connoisseur and I’m not sure that I’ve ever had a better, lighter piece of pizza than Camille’s margherita. It’s not greasy, it’s not dry. It just is. I’ve been to Charles Morgan’s restaurant in Crystal Beach half a dozen times and my order has never deviated. Some might say that’s closed-minded but I know a good thing when it’s placed in front of me.
Course 3: Italian Sub - Callahan’s - Callahan’s holds a very special place in my heart as it was the first place that I ever lunched in Destin. I think that day, if memory serves, I ordered the mahi, which was fine, but the Italian sub is as good as any on the planet. Simply put, this sandwich is huge. You’d have to have intestines of steel to eat the whole thing in one sitting. I can put away some food but I would never attempt to eat the Italian sub all at once. It’s a fool’s errand. When the thing plops down in front of me, I’ve resigned myself to the fact that half of the thing is going home in a box. It just doesn’t get better.
Course 4: Seafood Pasta - Graffiti’s Baytowne - I think this dish really encapsulates everything that owner Chuck Stiles set out to do when he opened Graffiti’s, both the one now open at Baytowne Wharf and the flagship restaurant off 98 in Destin. It’s seafood, it’s pasta and it’s amazing. Big sea scallops, clams and shrimps all tossed with a spicy red sauce.
Course 5: Key Lime Pie - The Donut Hole - Simply, a Destin institution. Key Lime Pie is the official desert of the South and no one does it better or does it fresher than The Donut Hole. For me, heaven on a plate is an ice cold piece of key lime pie with a graham cracker crust from the Donut Hole, though Publix’s pie isn’t anything to scoff at.
So there it is. It’s not foie gras terrine as requested by Daniel Boulud or Scott Conant’s choice of a spit-roasted goat but the meal for me really represents Destin, my Destin, the once-sleepy fishing village that I came to a year and a half ago. Bon Appétit.
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October 24th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
Good Lord you made me hungry. I want one of those Italian subs now!!!!
October 28th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
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