Thursday, September 25, 2008

Bayside Grill

Looking for some dining ambiance? Sitting directly on the Perdido Pass Waterway,
Bayside Grill has it.


We requested to be seated outside. This was our view from our table:



Overlooking the Perdido Pass Bridge in the distance and Orange Beach.
Entertainment was provided by a seabird on a "tightrope" ("tightrope" was the rope of a ship that was tied to the dock).

A most delectable dinner was had. Colorful to the eye and equally entertaining on the palate.
Poppy (my Dad) started his meal with a fried green tomato salad ($7.99). Green tomatoes are slightly breaded in cornmeal and deep fried. Served over a bed of fresh lettuce leaves and tossed with chopped tomatoes, fire roasted corn, applewood smoked bacon, blue cheese and sweet Bermuda onions, tossed in a whole grain mustard vinaigrette.


He followed his salad with the fresh catch of blackened Mahi-Mahi with steamed vegetables and Caribbean rice (market price on the fish).

My mother and I both chose the Southbeach Salad. The salad consisted of applewood bacon (I omitted the bacon from my salad), blue cheese, roasted pecans atop baby field greens and crisp romaine lettuce tossed in a raspberry vinaigrette dressing ($8.99) . My mother added grilled shrimp added to her salad for an additional $3.59.

Big Daddy had the Cajun Platter. It came with a cup of creole gumbo,fried softshell crab, fried crawfish, fried shrimp, Florida slaw and "the best blackened grouper" he has ever had ($17.99).

(We all had water to drink.)
Once again, we splurged by getting dessert (something we rarely do when we eat out). We ordered three and shared them all:
Pineapple Bread Pudding (French bread baked in a sweet vanilla custard with caramelized pineapple,and topped with coconut rum sauce $4.99)

Homemade Key Lime Pie $4.99

And what we agreed was the best dessert at Bayside Grill, the Banana Caramel Ice Cream Pie-vanilla bean ice cream and fresh bananas layered in a rich caramel sauce with a vanilla wafer crust $4.99

While we dined on our feast, it was nice to look into the waters at the boats. Poppy realized that the boat directly out from our table was special and pointed it out to us.

It required proper documentation (I refer to my husband as Big Daddy)! It was meant to be!

We finished our meals just after the sun had set, casting a soft hazy purple hue onto the waters that reflected the sky. The perfect end to a perfect supper.

We decided to try and walk off our meal by cruising the marina.

The Pass Bride in the distance. Lights begin to bounce off of the water.

I liked the name of this boat and the little graphic put in with the name.

As darkness began to settle around us, the quiet was almost deafening, with exception of the waters that occasionally lapped at the hulls of the boats parked in the marina.
It was a lovely way to end the evening.



The Bayside Grill

27842 Canal Road
Orange Beach, Alabama 36561
251-981-4899
http://www.al-baysidegrill.com/
"serving the gulf since 1995"

9 comments:

Keetha Broyles said...

You're making me drool over here!!!

Just one question - - - - I got soft shell crab one time, and then I didn't know how to eat it - - - - I mean, what was I SUPPOSED to eat? I could see too many "things" in there. Yucky looking "things."

Kristin - The Goat said...

Yum! That place sound spectacular. I'm going to have to come to your neck of the woods sometime!

Kristin

"J" said...

You ALWAYS make me so HUNGRY when you post about food!!! lol =) Looks like a WONDERFUL dinner!

I want some Pineapple Bread Pudding!!! That is the BEST looking bread pudding I've ever seen!!!!!!!!!! YUMMERS!!!!!

Valarie Lea said...

Ok, I have to know was the keylime pie better than LuLu's?

Leigh of Tales from Bloggeritaville said...

Keetha- To answer your question:"Soft-shell crabs are among the most delectable, and the most seasonal, of sea creatures. crabs molt saesonally, and for only a few days the crab's brand-new shell is as tender as a fresh basil leaf. Besides being succulent, soft-shells are clean: they stop eating three days before molting, so their digestive systems are purified when the watermen retrieve them from the floats where they're kept. And, yes, in case you wonder, you do eat the whole thing.

Kirby-I recommened!

J-it was the banana icecream pie that got us. Delicious!

Valarie-Honestly, it would be a toss up. Key Lime pie is my favorite dessert-well next to AShley Macs Strawberry cake!

Keetha Broyles said...

OK - - - I understand about their shells being soft when they molt - - - I do teach Life Science after all - - - but I just can't bring myself to eat intestines and rectums and stomachs and livers and all those other little squishy viscera.

I just can't do it.

:-(

Looks good though - - - and that blackened Mahi-Mahi - - - to DIE FOR!!!

Leigh of Tales from Bloggeritaville said...

Keetha- NOw I have to tell you that I wouldnt eat it...I am a vegetarian so I completely understand where you are coming from. And I have seen the green under the shells...ewww. But it is considered a delicacy.

j said...

As ALWAYS the photography is outstanding!!

Anonymous said...

Leigh- Why do you have to put maouth waterin pics of food on here?
Don't you know that I am starving!