The super-skilled Sandor Zombori, who spent last winter at Chicago's top-rated Le Francais braving 50-below temperatures, is going to be in Paris this winter working the back room at fab chef Alain Ducasse's new restaurant. Criolla's indefatigable chef-proprietor Johnny Earles, who's on duty seven nights a week, initiated his own online wine shop (www.bluechipwines.com), specializing in the harder-to-get California vintages. In addition to overseeing Marina Cafe, Jim Altamura keeps busy with two new operations in his Harbor Restaurant Group, Destin Chops and Trattoria Borago, competing with neighbors old and new:
AJ's Seafood & Oyster Bar
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Harborfront
850/837-1913 Destin (1/4 mile east of bridge)
Waterfront family feeder with lively Club Bimini on second deck and the "Sea Blaster," billed as world's biggest and fastest speedboat, docked alongside for rapid rides before or after meals built around seafood broiled, grilled, fried, steamed or stuffed. The same menu is served day and night, entrees $7 to $15.
The Boathouse
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126 John Sims Parkway
850/678-8839 Valparaiso
Ragin' Cajun on Boggy Bayou from red beans and rice to blackened prime rib, but the back room also stages nightly pasta parades, treats its chicken to Jamaican jerk spices and stacks its fresh Gulf shrimp on toasted French pistolettes. Sunday Brunch, dinner, entrees $8.50 to $15.50, Monday through Saturday.
Buster's Oyster Bar
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& Grill 125 Poinciana Blvd.
850/837-4399 Destin
Start with award-winning gumbo or a mess of "Sea Gull Legs" (chicken wings) with fried dill pickles or frog legs, then return to reality with giant garlic-buttered Gulf shrimp, imported Dungeness crab, broiled fresh catch or their own version of the Philly steak sandwich. Lunch and dinner, entrees $8 to $15, served daily.
Caf? Thirty-A
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3899 East Scenic Highway 30 A
850/231-2166 Seagrove Beach
Opened in June 1995, this indoor-outdoor bit of understated elegance mixes marvelous martinis, pours excellent wines and takes full advantage of its wood-burning oven, grill and rotisserie, turning out peerless pizzas, spit-roasted fowl, fish fresh from Gulf waters, along with al dente pastas and vegetarian delights. Dinner, entrees $14.50 to $28.50, Monday through Saturday.
Destin Chops
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Destin Yacht Club
850/654-4944 Destin
Gracing the former site of Marina Cafe, the area's first big-city steakhouse features USDA Prime all the way, but it's much more than just a Ruth's Chris clone or a mimic of Morton's. This stunner from Altamura's Harbor Group also has a reliable seafood menu and such stellar starters as medallions of eggplant filled with a saute of lump crab meuniere with hollandaise and pepper-sprinkled yellowfin tuna with braised spinach. The view out the wall of windows is sensational. Dinner, entrees $14 to $28, nightly.
Destin Diner
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1083 Highway 98
850/654-5843 Destin
Budget-stretcher with everything, including a spiffy wait staff, that's usually found in this kind of American institution, but with some Southern twists like biscuits with sausage gravy, grilled corn beef hash, country-fried steak with a coating of white sauce, deep-fried catfish and grits. Breakfast, lunch and dinner, entrees $4 to $6.50, daily.
Giuseppi's Wharf Restaurant & Marina
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821 Bayshore Drive
850/678-4229 Niceville
Dockside delight on Boggy Bayou with fun menu of 18 snacks and starters, including oysters raw, fried or steamed, smoked tuna dip and clam strips, wharfburgers, baby back ribs, chargrilled pork loin and everything out of the water, from deviled crab to farm-raised catfish, Boggy Bayou mullet to "gigunda humongous man-eating shrimp" and "Forrest Gump's Platter." Lunch and dinner, entrees $9 to $20, daily.
McGuire's Irish Pub And Brewery
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Destin Pass Bridge
850/650-0000 Destin
A striking tropical spinoff of the Golden Spoon-winning parent pub in Pensacola, with panoramic views, a pipeline direct from the brewmaster 50 miles east, and a kitchen well-schooled in grilling great steaks and burgers, preparing Irish steak and mushroom pies, Irish fisherman's platters and bouillabaisse, plus scampi O'Fettuccine and Senate bean soup, Irish honey black bread and other imports from Pensacola's Auld Sod. Lunch and dinner, entrees $7 to $22, daily.
The Summerhouse
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2 S.W. Miracle Strip Parkway
850/244-1553 Fort Walton Beach
A well-dressed hideaway featuring what the kitchen proudly proclaims to be Gulf Coast Regional Cuisine, a cross-cultural combination of American, Creole and Mediterranean, using fresh Gulf harvests treated to overdoses of TLC. The Sunday brunch is a real groaning board beaut. Lunch, Monday through Friday; dinner, entrees $12 to $19, Monday through Saturday.
Strudel's
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205 Mountain Drive
850/650-1010 Destin
Gott sei dank! for the Riederer clan, who offer wunderbar alternatives to all that fresh seafood from local waters. Here you fill your face with Kassler Rippchen, schnitzels of all sorts, super sauerbraten and the best of the wurst, all accompanied by gallons of kraut and red cabbage. You're finished off with strudel, of course, but there's also Black Forest cake. Lunch, Tuesday through Friday; dinner, entrees $6 to $14.50, Tuesday through Saturday.
Trattoria Borago
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80 East Highway 30-A
850/231-9167 Grayton Beach
Opened in April as the newest of Altamura's threesome, this is the most ambitious of local Italian-American operations. The menu features a fair selection of traditional northern Italian dishes, with noteworthy veal and grilled fillets of fresh fish, but there is also a serious effort to be contemporary with dishes with lighter sauces prepared with finesse and imagination. The shrimp and angel hair pasta with a light sprinkle of capers and a splash of white wine is a favorite. Dinner, entrees $12 to $23, Monday through Sunday.
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Restaurants
Around The State
Southeast
Palm Beach
Palm Beach Tavern
251 Royal Palm Way 561/832-0385
A value for the money and a fine staff and chefs that handle a continental menu with great competence. Lunch and dinner, entrees $16 to $24.
Southwest/Tampa Bay
Port Charlotte
Pepin's on the Water
5114 Melbourne St. 941/629-0007
Fresh seafood, lamb and imports such as cod with tomato sauce served in a sensational waterfront setting. Lunch and dinner, entrees $12 to $24.
Central
Flagler Beach
Topaz Cafe and Porch
1224 South A-1-A 904/439-3275
Dine on impeccable fish and produce, quality meats and decadent desserts amid antiques and collectibles in a grand hotel facing the beach. Dinner, entrees $16 to $25.
Northeast
Jacksonville Beach
Raspberry's on the Water
2321 Beach Blvd. 904/247-8720
Creations such as fresh fish coated with crushed hazelnuts in pesto or an Angus filet doused with brandy-spiked hunter sauce. Dinner, entrees $11 to $17.
Northwest
Panacea
Angelo's
Hwy 98 (at the bridge) 850/984-5168
One of the best waterfront settings in the state, overlooking Ochlockonee Bay, and some of Florida's best seafood. Sunday brunch and dinner, entrees $15 to $18.