Recap #3: Florida Panhandle Road Trip!

Hunt’s Oyster Bar and Seafood Restaurant

“Shut up and Shuck,” reads the sign in Hunt’s. This 46-year old, family-owned establishment specializes in wild caught Apalachicola oysters that are trucked in daily in 60-pound sacks.

Sit at a table or the bar and eat them raw, steamed or baked. There’s also Cajun steamed shrimp, fried shrimp, fresh seafood sandwiches or dinners, and sides of fries, beans, fried okra and hushpuppies.

Located in a bright yellow building on Beck Avenue in St. Andrew’s, the historic district of Panama City, Hunt’s has a national reputation and local devotees. “Most people have been coming here since they were kids,” said expert oyster-shucker Robert Daffin (who currently works at Bayou on the Beach in Panama City Beach).

“Ninety-percent of our customers come in with their kids and their grandparent," said Daffin. "They’ll wait two hours to get in here.” 

150 Beck Avenue, Panama City, 850 763-9645

Dusty’s Oyster Bar

“Hi, my name is Trouble,” said the woman sitting next to me at Dusty’s Oyster Bar in Panama City, the place where everyone in this beachside community gathers, trouble or not.

It’s the kind of sand-in-your-shoes place where graffiti-covered dollar bills are taped to the ceiling and walls, TV’s are tuned to sports, and the oysters, shrimp, and seafood can be baked, fried, grilled, broiled or boiled.

 If you like your oysters raw, they can shuck ‘em fast. Behind the bar on any given day you’ll find the top-ranked Florida state shuckers and national oyster-shucking champs, such as Scotty O’Lear (see photo, below). 

“It’s a little Southern honkey-tonk,” said the congenial hostess Carolee (“Everybody call me Mama”) Harper. (Pictured below with her award-winning oyster-shucking son, Robert Daffin.)

16450 Front Beach Rd, Panama City Beach, 850-233-0035