When the Gulf calls, Atlanta answers.
That stretch of 30A and Highway 98 running from Pensacola through Destin to Panama City Beach is a well-trodden path for Peach State residents looking to escape late summer heat, close enough for a weekend escape but far enough to feel like a vacation.
Two restaurants anchor that longstanding tradition, both run by families who’ve been feeding vacationers for at least half a century: McGuire’s Irish Pub, with locations in Pensacola, Destin, and Panama City Beach, and Angelo’s Steak Pit, a Panama City Beach fixture since 1958.
Here’s how to eat your way through both in a weekend.
Friday Night: McGuire’s Irish Pub
Start in Pensacola at McGuire’s, the Irish pub-slash-steakhouse that’s been brewing its own beer since the late 1980s. Executive chef Jere Doyle has run the kitchen for about four years, but he’s been with the McGuire’s family of restaurants—which also includes Flounders Chowder House and Crabs on the Beach—for 25 years.
What keeps regulars coming back, Doyle says, is the value on the plate. Order a steak, and it still comes with soup or salad, sides, and bread service—no à la carte upcharges—a model that’s held steady through good economies and bad.
McGuire’s also keeps remarkably predictable hours: 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., seven nights a week, a schedule the restaurant didn’t change even during COVID.
What to order: The Reuben is the best-seller, and Doyle will tell you it’s the best in the South, maybe the country. Don’t skip the brown bread or the bean soup, priced at $0.18 per house tradition to match what it once sold for in the U.S. Senate cafeteria.
The Jameson-glazed pork chops are the server recommendation, and the smoked prime rib, only served Friday and Saturday nights, is Doyle’s personal favorite. Lamb stew and corned beef and cabbage are both under-the-radar finds in the chef’s opinion, and worth a detour from the robust steak-and-burger menu (McGuire’s lists 17 burger variations).
Know before you go: Everything on tap—root beer included—is brewed in-house; the Pensacola location is reportedly Florida’s oldest microbrewery. The Pensacola wine cellar holds roughly 8,800 bottles, one of the largest collections on the Gulf Coast. McGuire’s also turns 50 in 2027, so expect a blow-out celebration next St. Paddy’s Day.
Saturday: Drive (and Eat) Through Pensacola and Destin
Fuel your Gulf Coast drive with breakfast sandwiches and sweet pastries from Parlor Doughnuts. Boxes of mini doughnuts are on offer for those who can’t decide between flavors like bourbon caramel, raspberry pistachio, and maple bacon.
If time allows, stroll through the Saturday Palafox Farmer’s Market, then grab a quick pick-me-up at Alla Prima Coffee Roasters. Put your windows down and enjoy the sea breezes on your roughly hour-and-15-minute drive to Destin.
For lunch, you can’t go wrong with local seafood. Try Boshamps Seafood & Oyster House for casual toes-in-sand vibes, Lulu’s Destin for a Margaritaville feel (Jimmy Buffett’s sister owns it), or Dewey Destin’s Harborside for seafood with a side of ocean views.
When the sun starts to sink towards the horizon, hit the road for the one-hour drive to Panama City Beach.
Saturday Night: Angelo’s Steak Pit
Your destination this evening is Angelo’s, a Panama City Beach icon that has been serving steaks cooked over an open hickory pit since 1958. You can’t miss it: “Big Gus,” a fiberglass steer erected in the 1970s to catch drivers’ attention on what was then a newly widened four-lane road, still occupies pride of place out front.
The restaurant has stayed in the family for three generations. Founder Angelo Butchikas, a Greek immigrant who worked his way from delivering beer to running his own barbecue stand before buying the old “98 Club” building and opening Angelo’s at its current Front Beach Road address in 1958, believed live-fire cooking was the only way to go. He called it the oldest culinary method there is, and said it’s never been improved on.
Angelo’s grandson, George Butchikas, has run the restaurant for nearly 40 years, and George’s own kids now work the front of house, continuing a recipe and technique that George says has barely changed in 50 or 60 years: real wood, a marinade of lemon juice and butter, and a seasoning blend his grandfather mixed himself.
The ribeye, not the filet, has always been Angelo’s top seller, prized for how well the marbling holds up over open flame. Right behind the steaks: ribs and chicken, both finished in a barbecue sauce that’s still made in-house using Angelo’s original recipe.
What to order: Get the garlic cheese nuggets or the jumbo fried onion rings to start. The menu is built around USDA Choice corn-fed steer, with the filet mignon, the Kansas City-cut ribeye, and a 28-ounce T-bone as the headliners.
The top sirloin comes two ways—a 10-ounce cut or the 8-ounce “Ladies Top Sirloin”—both billed as Angelo’s favorite for more than 60 years running. Don’t sleep on the salads, either: George calls them the most underrated thing on the menu, especially the steak pit salad, a full dinner-sized plate topped with grilled shish kebab meat.
For dessert, the Angel Pie (apple pie finished with melted cheese, butter, cinnamon, and sugar) is the house specialty, alongside a bread pudding made with the restaurant’s own Big Gus Black Rye Bourbon caramel sauce.
Know before you go: Angelo’s is seasonal, typically open from late March through late October. The team announces the exact opening and closing dates on Instagram, so be sure to check before making the drive.
Sunday Morning: Breakfast and Beach
Rise and shine for a nice walk on the beach and a hearty breakfast before hitting the road back to Atlanta. Local favorites for a morning nosh include Andy’s Flour Power Cafe & Bakery for French toast and scratch-made biscuits, Dat Cajun Place for seafood-focused brunch fare (shrimp and lobster grits, anyone?), and The Pancakery for, what else, stacks of fluffy flapjacks.
Then it’s time to point the car north — well-fed, a little sun-kissed and already plotting your next trip back to the Emerald Coast.
