CUISINE
HOOKED
ON FISHER’S PHOTOS BY MATT GATES
W
hen you walk into Fisher’s at Orange Beach Marina, the restaurant’s namesake, Johnny Fisher, wants you to feel welcome—as if you’ve just stepped into his living room. A natural host, he enjoys “putting on a party every night.” The building that houses Fisher’s, which sits alongside Orange Beach Marina, is a restaurant two-fer, with casual, open –air “dockside” dining downstairs and a luxurious, elegant dining room upstairs. Everything about the place is unexpected. If you remember the colorful, Caribbean-themed Calypso Joe’s that used to be in that space, and was fun in its own right, forget it. Fisher’s was completely renovated, from top to bottom, to bring Johnny Fisher’s unique vision for his first restaurant to life. The colors are seaside shades of blue and sand, with hints of coastal charm—a rustic driftwood chandelier, framed photos from the Bertram Yacht archive, brass portholes providing a peek into the kitchen. White linen curtains softly frame the windows that line the dining room. White tablecloth-topped square tables mix with large round wooden tables; slipcovered chairs coexist with wooden ones. A coffered ceiling, soft lighting, wall sconces, candelight and fresh flowers add even more texture and interest to the dining room. “It’s one of the most beautiful restaurants I’ve seen,” Fisher says. “I wanted it to feel like home.” Just inside the entrance to Fisher’s upstairs is a seating area with a slipcovered sofa and chairs covered in throw pillows, one of which is emblazoned with the words “Hello, Beautiful.” Response has been so strong to the sentiment that customers can now purchase “Hello, Beautiful” T-shirts. Fisher worked with Orange Beach interior designer Melanie Martin—with whom he felt like “two peas in a pod”— to create a restaurant that would be “upscale yet very approachable.” The smooth, wide-plank floors came from the mule barn of a sugarcane plantation in Louisiana. “I love it,” he says. “It’s almost like the wood is alive.”
18 | APRIL JUNE/JULY 2014 2014