Pensacola's dining scene is exploding. Our Pensacola Eats newsletter will help you keep up
“Where should I eat in Pensacola?”
That’s the burning question everyone seems to have for me after learning I’ve been a dining reporter for the Pensacola News Journal since 2021.
While people always crave a recommendation, it’s almost impossible to answer. Do you want to try an old-school diner that’s cozy and nostalgic or a sandy tiki bar that makes you feel like you’re on island-time? A hole-in-the-wall only the locals know or somewhere so iconic-Pensacola that people will say you haven’t really visited here if you haven’t tried it?
There’s such a beautiful mix of timeless places and exciting new start-ups in Pensacola’s dining scene right now, and we believe there’s room and reason to honor them all.
Our new free Pensacola Eats newsletter is putting a spotlight on all the need-to-know information regarding Pensacola’s dining scene to give you a more complete answer to the question: “Where should I eat in Pensacola?”
Since my first article written for PNJ that featured Native Café’s expansion plans in 2021, I’ve boarded the back of countless food trucks on hot and sweaty summer days to interview the owners. I’ve also been seated at glamorous restaurant debut dinner tables for soft openings as the owners nervously work the room.
I’ve heard heartfelt stories of the sacrifices of Pensacola chefs who forgo their own family dinners to share a meal with their kitchen staff before a busy service. And stories of the many Pensacola chefs who opened a food truck because they were a long way from home and most people couldn’t pronounce the name of their favorite meals, much less cook them.
There are so many rich stories of family recipes that have worked their way onto the menus. There’s a healing property that comes from tasting a dish that your grandparents once spent all day making. They may not even be alive anymore, but you remember how it tasted, and you remember the way it made you feel.
Part of really experiencing the stories enough to write about them comes from tasting the food, of course. This means slurping a freshly shucked oyster off the shell after a fresh delivery or eating a spoonful of sweet sauerkraut straight out of the pot when I’m told.
I’m learning constantly. Did you know the northern and southern regions of India have entirely different cuisine? Until only a few months ago, Pensacola only had Northern representation, reflected in dishes like the big bowl of tikki masala and garlic naan that has become a take-out staple for me. Sree’s Kitchen owner Sreelatha Pati changed that.
Little did I know, each story I’ve worked on (now in the hundreds) would slowly but surely paint a broader picture of the world around me. The various cultures and traditions that have folded into Pensacola, making its dining scene so complex, authentic and interesting.
These, among others, are the very reasons we created the new Pensacola Eats newsletter.
The newsletter will send a compilation of food-related stories straight to your inbox each week that aim to inform, ranging from weekly restaurant inspection reports, first looks inside new restaurants, lists of underrated restaurants off the beaten path and historical deep-dives into some of Pensacola’s most beloved restaurants that no longer exist today. It will be my job, and privilege, to hear the stories, and hopefully retell them in ways that resonate with you.
Sign up for the free newsletter at https://profile.pnj.com/newsletters/pensacola-eats/.
And if there are stories you want me to tell, reach out to me at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola Eats newsletter brings new restaurant news to your email