Laurenzo's

Tonight we went to dinner at Laurenzo's on Washington. Apparently it used to be Laurenzo's Sports Bar, but now they have converted it into a casual yet business atmosphere. I wore a sundress and D had a polo shirt and shorts on. The feel is a little more upscale yet it's totally comfortable dressing more casual so either way of dress will work. The reason we chose this place is because D found a deal online where they offered a $60 gift card for the price of $30. We love a good deal so no complaints on having a meal half off.

We started off ordering drinks. Many people online recommend the Lemon Drop Martini $10 and say it's one of the best in town so I had to try that. D ordered a Mojito $8. Both drinks where really good and you can tell they used more liquor in them then other places.

We also ordered an appetizer of Spicy White Chile Con Queso with beef $9.75. I wouldn't say it's spicy, but at least it wasn't watered down. The beef I don't think was worth the extra $1 they charged for it. The cheese portion was a really large size.

They are known for their Prime Rib (All Natural 12 ounce slice of Prime Rib with Au Jus) so D ordered a medium cut which came with your choice of side. The meat was really tender and the Au Jus was amazing.

I went with another popular choice which was a Jalapeno Filet Cheese steak Sandwich (Grilled Tenderloin Medallions with Caramelized Onions, Gruyere Cheese, Russian Dressing and Pickled Jalapenos)with a choice of side. As many reviews said it is a messy sandwich, but the flavors where really good. They also used fresh jalapenos instead of jarred which was a nice choice. My only comment is I wish it had more meat on the sandwich.

We also had enough of the gift card to get dessert so we picked the New York Cheesecake (Blueberry Compote and Fresh Whipped Cream). I love that they went the extra mile to make fresh whipped cream there's a huge taste difference between the two. The serving size was huge (I'm sorry no picture because we got it to go then I forgot to take one when we got home). The cheesecake had a little too much orange flavor in it and when you add the blueberry compote (which also had orange flavor) it was a little much. Otherwise texture was great and I liked the blueberry compote.

Catfish Mike's - CLOSED

Catfish Mike's is a new little gem that opened in Katy. I had a coupon for buy one entree get one free so we gave it a try at lunch. To give it all a try we both ordered the Catfish and Shrimp Basket for $10.95 which had 2 catfish fillets and 6 shrimp. The first thing I noticed was how big the shrimp and catfish where. Both where cooked to perfection and had flavor. I can't tell you how many times I've had catfish at places and it just taste like a fried mess. This coating had a little spice and just enough to still enjoy the flavor of the catfish itself. I highly recommend this place to anyone. Their menu can be found on their site and if you sign up for their email loop they will send coupons. Don't expect a huge selection they only carry the basic seafoods and it's almost all fried.

Destin, FL - Day 8

Today we got up and made breakfast for the last time before packing up the truck for our long 9 hour drive back home. Despite all the issues we had with the condo we actually had a really good time. I wish the water would have been a little clearer, but who can predict Mother Nature?

We knew we where back in Texas once we crossed over the state line and the outside temp changed to 100!

Destin, FL - Day 7

Another large mass of green algae this morning. :(

By lunch time D was able to take the rest of the day off so we tried to enjoy our last day out in the sun. That didn't last too long as we where chased in by some angry looking dark clouds, thunder and lightening.

We headed back to sit on the patio since it didn't really rain just a couple of drops.

After enjoying the rest of the afternoon we headed in for a quick shower then walked down to Pompano Joe's for one last meal out on the town.

I started out with an Emerald Coast Margarita, which was ok, but not worth $6.50. This wouldn't be such a complaint if we had our friendly waitress Kim we had the first night. Tonight's chick could care less we where there. She ignored us then got an attitude having to take our order.

We used our free appetizer for Crab Claws (sautéed in garlic oil). They where small, yet really good and as a bonus we didn't have to crack any shells!

As an entree I ordered the Amberjack sandwich. The fish was cooked well, but everything had no flavor. Even the coleslaw. I soaked up the garlic juice leftover from the crab claws and it tasted much better.

D ordered the Island Cheeseburger (Certified Angus Beef Grilled & served on a toasted bun with cheddar,lettuce, tomato & onion). One of the better burgers we had. (The folks at Cheeseburger in Paradise need to taste these to see what a real burger is supposed to taste like!)

So it comes time to pay the bill and I hand the coupon and credit card to our super annoyed waitress she sets down the paper and rings up the bill. When she comes back I tell her "I hope you took off the appetizer since the coupon is for a free one". Her response was an eye roll and a rude "I'm sorry, but we normally don't serve food at the bar". Uh well now, not my fault we sat down and even made sure it was ok seeing as how there where other people eating at the bar and we ate there on our first night. Another 5 minutes so comes back with it corrected and throws it down. My response.....$2 tip on a $30 something tab. If I wasn't so annoyed and ready to leave I would have left her a comment on the receipt!

After dinner we walked back to the condo and relaxed by taking M on a long walk. Poor baby has been stuck in the condo so she was super excited to play in the ocean and try biting the surf. We where even able to get her to sit still long enough to get some new family photos, so it was a good day.

Destin, FL - Day 6

Today started out a little like the days past with green in the water. About 9am the water started clearing up.

The puppy and I decided to go lay out while the hubby was inside working.

Every couple hours a helicopter would fly over. I assume this was in effort to keep an eye out for oil. Sometimes it looked like this one other times it was a army one with camo all over it and other times it was a coast guard one.

When the hubby got off work the water was super choppy and it looked like it was gonna try and rain. We tried to go out in the water and float on our floats but after 15 minutes of feeling like we where getting beat up by the waves we gave up and went in to shower and head out to dinner. Tonight we picked The Back Porch. We got a free appetizer coupon the other day when I signed up for Pompano Joe's email loop. The Back Porch is one of 5 sister restaurants of Pompano Joe's.

There was a 10 minute wait so we headed to the bar. I tried the Pina Colada. It was ok, but I don't think worth the $6.50 price I paid.

Next thing we knew our name was called so we headed to our table upstairs. Most all of the tables are along the back side of the restaurant so you have a good view of the ocean. We started out with the Smoked Tuna Dip. uhhh yeah it's totally not what you think, in fact it was a little nasty. I like tuna salad, but this was just plain funky. The waitress saw me taking pictures of everything and when she asked how we liked it, both my hubby and I said "uh not at all". She quickly offered to take it back and asked if we would like something else instead. Hubby had a hankering for onion rings so we settled on that.


The basket of onion rings was huge. We had so much we took home half of the basket.

For the entree I ordered the Grouper Florentine (grouper loaded with their popular crab meat and spinach stuffing, baked golden brown). We both liked this one even though we had to sprinkle a little extra seasoning on it.

He ordered the Lobster Stuffed Mahi-Mahi (Mahi-Mahi wrapped around lobster stuffing, broiled and topped with their signature lobster cream sauce). The whole fish....I'm talking sauce and all had no flavor it tasted like nothing.

We gave this place one last chance by taking home a slice of key lime pie they had on special. This was another disappointment.

My overall reaction to this place? Don't waste your time or money here. Stick to Pompano Joe's where the food is much better.

We headed back to the condo to walk the puppy on the beach and enjoy the sunset.

Destin, FL - Day 5

This morning the water was green with algae again but the winds where calmer then yesterday. We headed out at 5:45am to catch the sunrise and try to get some family pictures on the beach before everyone came out for the day. After that we headed back in to fix breakfast and start another days work.

Lunch time came around and the water started to turning green again out 20 ft past that it was crystal clear.

About 3:00pm the clouds started rolling in. It didn't rain, but it did put a damper on us going out to swim in the ocean so instead we decided to get ready for dinner.

We headed back to Marina Cafe to take advantage of their 1/2 off martinis, 1/2 off sushi and 1/2 off drinks. All of the martinis came down to $5 D's Makers Mark and water came to $4. I started off with a Lemon Drop Martini (Citrus vodka, Cointreau, sweet & Sour served in a sugar rimmed glass).

We ordered 3 rolls to start out with. They wheren't as thick as they are at other sushi places we've been too. The top left one is a Spicy Tuna Roll (tuna, green onion, spicy sauce), to the right of that is Destin (soft shell crab, applewood smoked bacon, cream cheese, green onion, steak and avocado on top), at the bottom is a Red Rocket (soft-shell crab, cream cheese, avocado, with spicy crab on top). Our favorite was the Red Rocket the others where just ok. The steak one was interesting and the meat was very tender.

I then tried the Pineapple Express martini (vanilla vodka with a splach of Butterscotch Schnapps and pineapple juice). OMG this is soooooo good!!!!

We ordered one more roll which took at least 15 minutes to come out. The Black Dragon (soft shell crab, avocado, green onion, eel on top). This was ok the eel was a little chewy. The sauce splashed on the plate is syrup which was interesting with sushi, but that was the only flavor on the roll.

I'm a fan of Key Lime martinis so I wanted to try theirs. It was ok I would have rather stuck to the Pineapple Express. The Key Lime had Licor 43, Rose's lime and cream.

We split one last dessert the Chocolate Kiss Martini (white and dark Godiva Liquor and chilled vodka).

Destin, FL - Day 4

Today we woke up to the ocean clear and pretty. I forgot to take pictures as I thought it would stay that way, but by lunch another wave of algae was headed our way. So we are glad we got to swim for an hour in the clear water before the green moved in. Here's how the water looked at lunch time:

Tonight's dinner is another special I found online. Marina Cafe has a daily special between 5 and 6pm of buy 1 entree get one free and a 1/2 off sushi and pizza happy hour. They also have 1/2 price drinks 5-7pm. They describe themselves as having "an eclectic menu of classic Creole, Mediterranean, Pan Asian and American cuisine in addition to gourmet pizza and sushi bar". So basically they have something for everyone!

My first impression when we walked in was man we are under dressed this is a fancy place. The website said resort casual so I was excited when other people walked in wearing t-shirts and shorts at least we where dressed a little better then them. They had a nice view of the marina and it was nice to sit and relax watching the boats come in for the day.

They brought us some bread and dipping oil while we decided what to order. We also started out with an order of calamari which was cooked perfectly.

I ordered the Pan seared yellowedge grouper with a blue crab meat crust, lemon buerre blanc, basil mashed potatoes. The sauce was amazing and everything was seasoned well.

My husband ordered the grilled fish of the day which was Red Fish. This was served with sauteed vegetables. The sauce was really good on this dish as well.

We tried to get some pictures on the beach when we got back to the condo of the dog, but there where too many distractions for her to focus. We walked around a little and headed back in for an early night.