Shopping and Dining in Destin

I’ve got one more post to share with you about Destin, since I was down there a few weeks ago.  I’ll be sharing the trip I’m on now in Gulf Shores soon too, so stay tuned for that.  Beach towns are so much fun. I’ve been to Destin many times and have found some great shopping there, with the help of some of my friends and just scouting around.

One of the stops Beth and I made while there was to the Haven House thriftstore in Destin.  There are two locations and this one is closest to the downtown part of Destin on Hwy. 98.

The thrift stores and consignment stores down here are full of fun things to look at, with the abundance of redecorating that goes on with all the condos on the Gulf.  I saw some pretty good items while we were browsing.  The store has furniture on one side and clothing on the other.  Lots of bargains to be found.

This green sofa was pretty, but the arms were faded.  Of course recovering is an option.

I loved this glass table and rattan chairs and even loved the leopard print on the pillows.  It was $500 for the set, which really isn’t bad for all these chairs.  I just love rattan anything!

This is where I picked up the brass planter with bamboo and lion head detail for $3.  Love this little piece!  This is also where Beth and I found all the black dresses from the Little Black Dress post.  We were in here for awhile!

Next stop was Ava’s Attic, a very fun consignment store for furniture and clothing.  My friend, Vickie, had shopped in here for her beach house and they did have some neat stuff.

We enjoyed browsing the furniture and the clothing too, but I didn’t find anything I had to take home.

Now, we’ll move on to the restaurants we ate at while in Destin.  The first night, we met up with my family for dinner at the Marina Cafe.  It backs up to the water and there’s a nice view of boats outside the windows.

We found out they offer a 2 for 1 special if you get there and order before 6 pm, so we did that.  The food was absolutely delicious.  I got a Mahi-mahi dish that was outstanding.

One of the places that I found out about years ago was Dewey Destin (Crab Island) on the docks.  It’s a hole in the wall, but the fried shrimp is wonderful.

One of my favorite pics that I’ve taken was shot on the docks at Dewey Destin on a beautiful sunny day a few years ago.

It’s not for those on a diet or faint of heart, but the basic basket of fried shrimp with fries and hushpuppies is so tasty.  It was great to go back.  Yum, this is making me hungry all over again.  This was a lunch stop.

Another lunch stop was The Back Porch, which I had also been to many times.

The outdoor area sits right on the beach, so the perfect spot to enjoy the ambience of being at the beach.

I always get the grouper sandwich when I come here, with the usual of fries and cole slaw.

Beth had never been to Destin and she loved it.  I took her to another favorite restaurant, The Red Bar in Grayton Beach.  It’s so dark in there, so unique and hard to get photos, but the food is outstanding.  Take cash, they don’t accept credit cards.  Totally worth the wait.  I got the crab cakes for the first time and I will definitely get them again.  We found out that the restaurant, Louie Louie, is owned by the same group and they have a very similar menu.

The Red Bar is such an eclectic experience and I love going there. Sports bar, live music, and great food!   In fact, there was football on all the TV’s while we were there and we witnessed a whole table of women cheering for the Tennessee game.  They ended up losing at the last minute and the entire table of 12 stood up and sang Rocky Top to all of us in the room.  Too funny, that’s SEC football for you!

On our last night there, I got to meet up with my longtime friend, Kat, from Just a Beach Kat. She’s been a sweet blog friend since 2007, when we first met up in Birmingham and we’ve been friends since.  I always try to see her when I’m down there and this time it worked out.  She had played a long tennis tournament that weekend and was worn out, but we managed to have dinner at Mimmo’s a great Italian restaurant.

I got one of my favorite Italian pastas, Pasta Carbonara.  It was yummy!

Our last stop in Destin, was breakfast on the way out of town at the Donut Hole, a long established favorite in Destin.  I’ve been before and it is always delicious. The homemade donuts sell out early.  Beth got a whole dozen to go and we snacked on them.  I got a wonderful omelette for breakfast and hitting the road wasn’t so bad after that.

So, that’s a wrap up on shopping and dining in Destin.  We had a fun and memorable time.

I took some beautiful shots of sunset from our condo so I’ll leave you with these!

If you get a chance to go to Destin, I’d highly recommend it.  It’s definitely my favorite beach getaway!   If you missed my first beach post, I shared the condos we stayed in for the weekend.

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