From raw honey to artisan bread to wholesale seafood, there’s a lot more to Pensacola than turquoise waters and miles of white sand. Here’s a look at what we found to love in The Emerald City, which is home to great food as well title-holder for being America’s oldest settlement.
We made the plans to visit Pensacola months ago, in December, back when we were drowning in cookbook details and nothing sounded dreamier than the idea of sugar-white sand and palm trees. Of all the cities in Florida, Pensacola is one of the closest to Nashville, accessible in just over 7 hours by car.
It also has sugar-white beaches, a killer farmers’ market, and a rich history, the kind of history that truly wows you with its Spanish Revival-style Florida History Museum, charming buildings, and sweet lighthouse guides who are dying to tell you that some people consider Pensacola to be older than St. Augustine (because, technically, it was settled first! see the link in the subtitle above!).
During the last four days, while we’ve had a lot of time to think about the gift that a trip like this is—such a good gift, I have felt guilty getting to have it, truth be told—I’ve realized again how little we control what is placed in our hands.
Just as foolish as it is for me to fight the hands taking away a house or our baby or some relationship I want, so it is foolish for me to fight what they give, to try to decree what good things we should or shouldn’t receive.
“We take what he gives us,” Tim said to me last week. He was responding to my question about a hard future, should that be what God allows, but his words are just as true about the comforts and providences that are easy to delight in, too.
All these things are smaller than He is; He is the great gift; we take what He gives us because we know Him, and He is good.
This past week, we’re thankful to have seen that through the beauties of a city in Florida’s Gulf Coast.
Below are some highlights of what we saw and ate and enjoyed in Pensacola:
GREAT FOOD //
Adonna’s Bakery and Café: Friday night was one of Pensacola’s Gallery Nights, a event that draws the community out in droves (more info here), and while we were wandering the crowds in the open air of music and art displays, we wandered into Adonna’s for a couple French macarons.
Al Fresco: Al Fresco is Pensacola’s food truck park, made up of food purveyors in super slick airstreams. When the wait was too long at the tapas place downtown, Global Grill, we beelined for the taco truck, where I had the Mahi Mahi and Tim had avocado.
Palafox Market: Saturdays in downtown Pensacola are market days, with food-filled tents lining the center of North Palafox Street in Martin Luther King, Jr., Plaza, from Wright Street to Chase Street. In our stroll through the market, we spotted pesticide-free produce, raw milk, raw cheese, kefir, bread, pastries, fresh juice, jalapeno apricot hummus, and fruit trees being sold for $7. We left with a squeeze bottle of East Hill Honey and a fresh loaf of Sunne Joy Bread Co. sourdough, which we immediately broke open and ate for breakfast.
Restaurant IRON: Set on a golf course, Restaurant IRON is a short drive from downtown Pensacola, but we made the trip because of the on-site garden from which much of the menu stems. As evidence of the thriving herbs outside the dining room, our salads were high stacks of lettuce, roasted peppers, and feta, with finely chopped herbs all over the top.
Taste of India: We splurged on Indian food because of the high ratings at this restaurant, which everyone online seems to love, whether or not they already liked Indian food when they first came.
Ever’man Natural Foods: While we will say that the Pensacola Publix stores had large organic sections, much bigger than the Publix groceries near us, we also loved Ever’man Natural Foods, which stocked everything we wanted by way of snack items, from chia kombucha to fresh fruit to packaged einkorn cookies.
The Grand Marlin: Tim and I split some perfectly cooked Mahi Mahi, drizzled with brown butter caper sauce, at The Grand Marlin, which overlooks the water and specializes in a wide range of seafood.
J.W. Renfroe Company: Stop by this brown building Monday through Friday for a gift shop filled with many varieties of pecans, available shelled or unshelled.
Joe Patti’s Seafood Market: Led by our sweet 92-year-old tour guide Mr. Perry (“I’ve known the Pattis since the ’40s!”), we toured all parts of this Pensacola fish market, from the shiny front retail space to the giant back freezers to the fish-packing stations and everything in between. We learned it’s pristine (“Mr. Patti doesn’t want to see a single piece of food or anything on the floor,” Mr. Perry told us, explaining why someone was hosing down the back rooms and pointing out the lady with a broom popping in and out of the gift shop). We learned grouper is huge (I mean, this eye!). We also learned that a mullet is more than a tragic hairstyle; it’s a fish that nobody should buy outside the Gulf Coast, at least if you’re asking Mr. Perry what he thinks. Joe Patti’s is a wholesale market, so restaurants pay the same prices people do, but it actually has a lot more than fish—from a wine shop to a sushi station to a gourmet food/gift shop, which offers everything from coffee and gelato to packaged mustard and local honey.
GREAT SITES //
Downtown Pensacola: As mentioned above, downtown Pensacola is filled with historic buildings, unique architecture, and tree-filled parks. We liked walking around and soaking it all up.
Pensacola Lighthouse & Museum: Climbing the 177 spiral steps to the top of this lighthouse gave me a completely new appreciation for what lighthouse keepers used to do (every two hours and while carrying a lamp!). From the top, you also have incredible views of the bay. Bonus: The lighthouse is located on a naval base, so you’ll see some cool military sites, too.
Hyatt Place Pensacola Airport: Built about a year ago, this Hyatt Place is still new and feels like it. It’s right at the airport and yet you hardly hear the planes at all. In fact, I’m pretty sure we hear the airplanes in Nashville, living a good 15 minutes from it, more than we did at this hotel, right off the runways. Some of our favorite features were the glass-enclosed shower, the bright and spacious surroundings, free wifi, free parking, and a way to watch airplanes from the window in our room.
Thanks for letting us share these little windows into our trip; the more we travel, the more we realize the value of capturing memories like these in photographs and the more we realize what a small place we occupy in this world. We are seriously so thankful for the opportunities we’ve been given to see more of the natural beauty and cool food businesses that are out there, and we’re especially thankful to get to share them with you.
Our accommodations were provided by Hyatt Place. Special thanks to manager Adam Emling, as well as to the super helpful Brooke A. Fleming at the Pensacola Visitors Bureau, who not only gave us plenty of recommendations but also accompanied us through Joe Patti’s, which was a highlight of our visit.
About Shanna Mallon
Shanna Mallon is a freelance writer who holds an MA in writing from DePaul University. Her work has been featured in a variety of media outlets, including The Kitchn, Better Homes & Gardens, Taste of Home, Houzz.com, Foodista, Entrepreneur, and Ragan PR. In 2014, she co-authored The Einkorn Cookbook with her husband, Tim. Today, you can find her digging into food topics and celebrating the everyday grace of eating on her blog, Go Eat Your Bread with Joy. Shanna lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with Tim and their two small kids.
sandy beach and a little getaway sounds perfect..i have never been to Pensacola but sounds like a great city to visit.
Dixya, It’s lovely! It will be even nicer as the spring turns to summer, but you can’t beat the history combined with beaches combined with that farmers market!
It sounds and looks amazing! And I appreciate your balanced look at giving. I so often focus on the “takes away” part of “He gives and takes away.”
Me too. It’s strangely an entirely new kind of humbling to realize I don’t get to pick what I’m being given and that when I act guilty about it it’s a form of unthankfulness. Ew. Thank God He is gracious!
Fabulous write up on your travels. It’s a spot I’m going to bookmark… as it may be a destination with my foodie/travel buddies in the future.
Oh, I hope you do, Shelley! Such a great area!
I love the dreamy light you capture in these photos. It makes me want to run away from everyday life and find solace in wide open beaches and all that sky.
Thanks, Kathryn! I have been finding such joy in dreamy light lately. It makes me want to run away, too, even when we just did. : )
Oh, my! I love so many of the photos from this post – beautiful, beautiful!
Thank you so much, Meredith! That’s way kind of you aaaaand pretty flattering coming from a photographer like you!
This looks so amazing. One of my dear friends from college grew up in Pensacola, and we always talk about planning a trip. Now I have to go! 🙂
Fun! Oh, I hope you do!
I am glad you had a good time. I haven’t been Pensacola but I do want to visit there. I visit Florida often I am and always on the east coast.
Oh, I hope you do, Aqiyl!
I’ve never been to Pensacola but your pictures are beautiful and make me want to visit! They are lovely. Thank you for the details and recommendations you provide. I hope you had a relaxing time- you deserve it! Thank you for the reminder, “We take what He gives us,” both the good and the bad. I wish I was better at practicing gratitude on a daily basis, and for both the good and tough things. Your words and thoughts are a good reminder and provide encouragement- thank you.
Fresh from vacation, your handwritten note was one of the first things I read in the mail, Allison, so I want you to know that your gratitude is already evident to me. Thank you for your sweet support and kindness!
Yay, Pensacola! Some time, you need to come again and tell me so that we can say hi! I would love to see you, meet Tim, and introduce you to my sweet little family. (Although I certainly understand the quiet, “alone together” benefit of vacations, of course.)
I’m half surprised we didn’t run into you while you were here, because you went to many of our favorite places. One of our favorite, favorite, favorite things to do is go to the Palafox Market on a Saturday morning to get our groceries, buy lunch either there or along the way (such as Al Fresco or one of the other charming places nearby), and eat our lunch at the Palafox Pier. I generally make a silly fool of myself with how many times I express joy at how much I love it, haha! Fortunately, J and E are enjoying it just as much and are as happy as I am. 😉 Often, somewhere between the market and the pier, we come across things that would happen only in a small-city downtown–favorites have been students practicing Shakespeare in a park and a “funky bike fest” at the pier. Never dull!
So, you got a tour of Joe Patti’s while it wasn’t open? How fun! If you are ever here again, go while they’re open, also. You’ll feel the thrill of how crowded it is, packed full of people who are excited to be buying the very finest food. I like to wonder what they’re planning to do with all their beautiful ingredients. After we get our fish, we love to buy some of their velvety clam chowder from the gourmet shop, take one of their free samples of fresh bread loaded up with their amazing roasted garlic spread, and enjoy the lunch by the water.
We’ve been wanting to try Taste of India ever since we saw their menu in our hotel lobby just hours after getting married. Their food sounded absolutely delicious. How was it?
Wow, I’m excited to learn about Restaurant IRON! Considering how close it is to where we work, it’s amazing that we haven’t heard of it before. It looks expensive but amazing! Maybe for a birthday dinner . . . (we’ve had birthdays at the Grand Marlin before, by the way.)
Ever’man expanded and remodeled in the last few months, and it is absolutely amazing now. Poor little E tends to get a too-late nap whenever I stop by there because it’s hard to tear myself away from looking at everything on every shelf.
Anyway, I’m glad you enjoyed our quaint little town and many of our favorite haunts! I bet you practically drove right past our house, considering where you visited. Thank you for making me smile as I read about your trip!
Loved all your thoughts, Jennifer! We thought of you while we were in town, and I’m sorry we didn’t run into each other! So fun that you live around all these places, and I love that you’re a regular at the market (I would be, too!).
On Joe Patti’s — Believe it or not, it was open! We were just there pretty early in the day, so things were still slow. You confirmed what we kept hearing though, that people flood the place in busy hours. And truthfully IRON wasn’t too pricey, especially because we went at lunchtime, and because it’s a golf course restaurant it’s not too fancy. For fancy, I totally get why you’ve picked Grand Marlin before. So good! Oh and last thing: The Indian restaurant was great! I was feeling a little off that night so I didn’t enjoy it as much as normal, but Tim can vouch for the fact that they knew what they were doing. : )
Thanks for your comment!
I am new to your blog. I was looking for Einkorn recipes and happily stumbled onto it. (Just printed your pizza crust recipe) I was born and raised in Pensacola and now raise my boys here. I love my home so much and I am so happy you enjoyed your visit! Seeing your beautiful, amazing pictures make me even more appreciative! I am looking forward to reading more of your blog….after I make pizza!
What a sweet comment, Gina — Thank you! That pizza crust is a staple in our house, so I hope you enjoy it, too. And we loved your town! What a great place to call home. : )