Experience Food from Around the Globe in Okaloosa County, FL
Okaloosa County's diverse food scene includes restaurants serving specialties from around the globe.
Historically, port cities have been places folks can find adventure, either by boarding a boat headed out to sea or by taking advantage of different cultures that all find their way ashore. That’s still true in Fort Walton Beach and its surrounding communities, especially when it comes to cuisine. Mexican, Asian, Caribbean, American and European influences all converge on Okaloosa County, FL, resulting in a delicious range of flavorful food.
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Must-Try Mexican in Okaloosa County, FL
Fort Walton Beach’s Rockin’ Tacos occupies a spot on Okaloosa Island’s Boardwalk and serves up ice-cold margs, tacos with eye-catching fillings like alligator and lobster and even more stellar Gulf views. Farther east on the island, Pedro’s Tacos & Tequila Bar in Destin offers a more traditional Mexican menu, as do its mainland locations in Fort Walton Beach and Mary Esther.
Eastern Eats in Okaloosa County, FL
Those on the hunt for Asian food can find both East Asian and South Asian options, with one spot doing particularly unusual fusion dishes. Hill Monkeys Thai Cuisine in Crestview offers a concise, mostly traditional menu with a quintet of curries, salads and noodle and rice dishes. But visitors to Fire Thai Fusion in Fort Walton Beach may do a double take at the menu that includes both Thai and Japanese standards – and also a frankly unhinged (but delicious sounding!) section of Thai-Italian pizzas: Think pies topped with green curry and bamboo shoots, crab-cream cheese wontons, larb and fish sauce, and pad thai sauce, bean sprouts and mozzarella.
Also in Fort Walton Beach is Holi Indian Restaurant, which takes its name from India’s two-day celebration – the Festival of Colors – in which brightly colored powder is flung into the air and onto celebrants to mark the arrival of spring and victory of good over evil.
The menu is just as attention-grabbing and includes a section of Indo-Chinese entrees such as Hakka-style noodles (named after the Hakka people of China) and chili-garlic momo (dumplings). Just two miles from Holi is Sura Korean Steakhouse, an upscale restaurant offering banchan (a selection of Korean appetizers such as kimchi, stir-fried zucchini or seasoned bean sprouts), decadent bites (try the truffle seafood pancake or bone marrow and kimchi-bacon jam on toast), and in-table grills on which to cook perfectly marbled cuts of beef.
Continental Cuisine in Okaloosa County, FL
Old World flavors are on the menu at Pazzo Italiano Ristorante & Bar in Destin, where the chef draws inspiration from his hometown of Naples (that’s the city in Italy, not the one in Florida), as well as Clemenza’s at Uptown Station, which bakes its pizzas in a wood-fired oven.
The Aegean Restaurant, with locations in Shalimar and Mary Esther, serves Greek specialties like souvlaki and gyros, and visitors to The Bavarian’s Wirtshaus in Fort Walton Beach will be pleased to discover the restaurant serves only the best sausages, schnitzel and other German specialties.
Island Flavors in Okaloosa County, FL
With the Caribbean virtually next door to the Sunshine State, it’s no surprise flavors from the islands have made their way to the region. Café Rico is a food truck based in Niceville that pops up around Okaloosa County as well as neighboring Navarre and Eglin Air Force Base, turning out dishes featuring Jamaican jerk chicken, Puerto Rican-style roasted pork, chimichurri, plantains and mangos.
Island-inspired touches can be found in plenty of other eateries, too, even if they’re from the Pacific Ocean and not the Caribbean Sea. Shalimar’s Twisted Grape Wine Bar, for example, serves its burger on a sweet Hawaiian bun, while Helen Back Pizza in Fort Walton Beach makes a Hawaiian pie topped with Spam and pineapple (pipe down, pizza purists – it’s tasty).
In Mary Esther, Kalai’s Hawaiian Kitchen sells iconic Hawaiian dishes like kalua pork, loco moco (hamburger steak and runny eggs topped with brown gravy and served with rice and macaroni salad) and musubi (choose from Spam, Spam and eggs or chicken). And while The Gulf seafood restaurant isn’t specifically Hawaiian, it does serve poke bowls at its beachfront location on Okaloosa Island.
Pompano Joe’s Seafood House in Destin (worth a visit for its beachfront location and Gulf views) also adds island flair to its menu with Cuban sandwiches and Guadeloupe-style grouper. Finally, La Place BBQ in Fort Walton Beach augments its menu of burgers and barbecue with plantains, Cuban sandwiches and Caribbean-style pulled pork.
La Place BBQ is tiny – it has just seven tables inside and five outside, says owner Nina Selph – and that means there’s sometimes a wait at the modest Fort Walton Beach restaurant.
“People don’t mind waiting,” she says. “Sometimes they see people sitting at a table and say, ‘Hey, can I sit with you?’ They’re beautiful customers.”
If the eatery’s online reviews are anything to go by, Selph’s customers are equally enamored of her food. They rave about the ultimate burger (which is topped with a piggy trifecta of ham, bacon and pulled pork, Swiss cheese and slaw), Cuban sandwich and Caribbean delight (a plate of mojo-braised pork that’s then fried up and served with rice and red bean sauce, spicy cabbage, plantains and madongo dumplings). Loyal locals make up the majority of those customers.
“I have a gentleman who’s here about five days a week. For the first year, all he had was the Cuban sandwich. Then he ventured to the ribs, and then he ventured to the ultimate burger,” Selph says.
La Place’s brick-and-mortar restaurant, which Selph opened in 2020 after 27 years as a nurse, came about as a result of her love of cooking and travel. She’s traveled to Europe, the Caribbean, South America and Africa, and began sourcing spices from around the globe in 2011 when she launched a line of hot sauces. A customer soon encouraged her to buy a food truck to operate out of Eglin Air Force Base, and the rest is history.
“We offer a variety of cooking,” Selph says. “Caribbean, Cuban, Hawaiian pulled pork. We even have gumbo and quesadillas.”
Get to Know Okaloosa County, FL
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