gastro & gusto
DINING OUT
Alice’s on Bayview
Restaurant makes going out feel like going home by STEVE BORNHOFT
E
verything changed once I learned she was from Wisconsin, the state where I started my decades-long newspapering career. I was trying to place her accent and guessed that she might be from Eastern Europe. Ashley’s manner was pleasant but efficient, meaning that I had but limited speech to assess. Alice’s on Bayview, located across from the St. Andrews Marina in Panama City, was busy this drizzly Friday night, leaving the two waitresses on duty with little time for small talk. The hostess led our party of four past an overdressed dude at the corner of the bar to a table within a few feet of bass player Jimmy Ward and guitarist Lowell Hopper, who were combining to provide chill music with a George Benson vibe. We had stopped by, in part, to enjoy the music but not to ingest it. We opted for a table on the porch. Separated from the players by a window, the music was perfectly diluted. Ashley greeted us promptly, introduced herself and asked us for our names. We would learn that she has been waitressing for 12 years and has long made taking names part of her way to establish rapport with customers, you know, as time permits. She mentioned that she has a boy named Maverick. Lot to live up to. The vino drinkers in our group were slow to pore over Alice’s impressive wine
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list, and Ashley, with other tables to tend, said she would be back with waters to give them some time. We’re deliberate. We’re senior. Alice’s attracts lots of long-established Panama City residents who are likely to know one another. Many are old enough to recall well the Harbor House restaurant where Alice’s owner Alice Masker and several of her siblings once worked. While it adjoined a Ramada Inn, that restaurant, too, catered to locals. It hosted service clubs, company luncheons and Chamber events. The bar on the property, the C-Shell Lounge, was notorious for its lingerie fashion shows. Long time ago.
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On her next pass, Ashley succeeded in extracting from us drink and appetizer orders. A cabernet, a sauvignon blanc, a whiskey. A wedge salad, she-crab soup and a dozen raw oysters. All would prove excellent. Never had I heard my wife praise a salad like she did her wedge. When the romaine was gone, she took after the remaining blue cheese dressing with a spoon. Between courses, Ashley stopped by, looking to freshen our drinks and to take our entrée orders. It was then that I popped the question: Where did you grow up? “Wis-cahn-sin.” A conversation developed. Ashley, a Packers fan and a Favre girl versus a photography by MIKE FENDER
