Restaurants in Destin

Alongside its Mediterranean platters, Jordan Valley Restaurant serves up ample hospitality. The restaurant strives to be a social space where friends and new acquaintances can mingle amongst Middle Eastern spices, or chat on the porch over hookahs. The kitchen’s staples include kebabs, gyros, and a variety of pitas filled with kafta, tandoori chicken, or meatballs.

Near the bustling intersection of North Davis Highway and Olive Road lies a tranquil temple. It's not an Egyptian ruin or a place of worship but a shrine to eastern Asian cookery. Inside, brothers Irwan and Christopher Wong whorl squid, smelt roe, and escolar into made-to-order sushi rolls and craft Chinese classics such as orange chicken and kung pao pork without MSG. Diners can gather at tables trimmed with fresh flowers or pull up to a plant-lined sushi bar, which doubles as a stage for sparring samurai and geisha dolls. Here, the Wongs embellish Amazon rolls with fresh avocadoes and dot grilled chicken rolls with eel sauce and sesame seeds. On-the-go diners can retrieve takeout at the handy drive-thru window rather than having servers shot-put it through the front door.

Chefs roll fresh salmon, scallops, and barbecued eel into sushi behind Fuji’s open-air bar and send elegant platters to diners watching every slice or parties gathered in private rooms. Teriyaki-chicken or shrimp-tempura bento boxes arrive filled with neat portions of dumplings and crab rangoons to ensure that meals remain perfectly organized on the trip to the stomach. Pork or chicken cutlets are breaded and fried in the tonkatsu style, and udon or soba noodles tangle with stir-fried vegetables and fish cakes. Hibachi chefs sear filet mignon, chicken, or lobster tails to perfection to complement glasses of Japanese beer, sake, or jasmine tea from the beverage list.

The open kitchen at Bruno’s Pizza reveals the cooking process for all to see. Before customers' eyes, pizza chefs toss dough into the air and whip up house sauces, using these as building blocks in pizzas, calzones, and towering crust castles. Their specialty pizzas are laden with toppings that include black olives, italian sausage, and portobello mushrooms; one pizza even comes with five types of peppers. Craft beer or soda accompanies each meal.

Brian, DR, and Lee at Dirt Road Cookers are a tight-knit gang of old-fashioned sausage-smokers and brisket-wranglers, and they have the cowboy hats to prove it. Now, within the trio’s shrine to all things sauce-slathered, customers dine on a menu tangy barbecue chicken, tender pork ribs, and spicy housemade sausage paired with summertime mainstays including potato salad, baked beans, and coleslaw. In addition to helping them hone their barbecuing chops, their years behind the smoker also taught them the value of efficient eating; all of their eats are available for munching on the premises or in handy to-go orders.

For more than 60 years, the Original Waterfront Crab Shack has peppered its patrons’ palates with steamed, grilled, and fried seafood, as well as juicy burgers and crisp salads. As chefs bustle in the kitchen, libation wizards behind two full-service bars dole out wine, beer, and liquor. Overlooking the Santa Rosa Sound, the eatery’s expansive outdoor deck boasts picnic-table-style eating and ample views of a trolling boats and the occasional waterskiing muskie.