The Grocery Kitchen & Taproom

The Grocery Kitchen & Taproom is a Southern and Cajun-inspired restaurant and bar on Beck Avenue in Historic St. Andrews. As the name suggests, it occupies a building that opened as a grocery store in 1928, and the restaurant frames itself around honoring the neighborhood’s past while serving it well today. Its motto is that everyone is welcome at the table.

Owner Kay Parker Brackett’s family has roots in Panama City going back to 1947, according to the restaurant. The space includes indoor and outdoor seating, two bars and a garden where live music plays Wednesday through Saturday nights. Destination Panama City notes that the restaurant sits across the street from Oaks by the Bay Park, which makes it a handy stop for food or drinks during the Saturday Market at St. Andrews.

The menu leans Southern with a Cajun accent. Sunday brunch is a highlight, with beignets and biscuit benedicts among the dishes the restaurant features. On the bar side, The Grocery pours more than 25 craft beers on draft and keeps a list of whiskeys, along with signature cocktails such as a Smoked Pecan Old Fashioned and a Strawberry Gin Smash. Fine cigars are also offered. Takeout is available.

Seating is first come, first served, and the restaurant does not take reservations, so plan for a short wait on busy nights. Posted hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and Sunday brunch from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with the restaurant closed Monday and Tuesday. Hours can change, so check hours before you go, and follow the restaurant’s Facebook page for its live music lineup.

The Grocery sits at the bay end of Beck Avenue, a block or so from the water. From here it is an easy walk up Beck Avenue to Hunt’s Oyster Bar, the Panama City Publishing Company Museum and St. Andrews Slice House, or west along the waterfront to St. Andrews Marina, Alice’s on Bayview and Uncle Ernie’s. It works well as a daytime brunch stop or as an evening base for music in the garden.

The building itself is part of the draw. St. Andrews was a busy commercial village long before it became part of Panama City, and The Grocery is one of several older storefronts on Beck Avenue that have found new uses. For more of that history, the Panama City Publishing Company Museum, a few doors up the street in a 1920 brick building, offers exhibits and a historic trail map of the neighborhood. Combining the two makes an easy afternoon of food, drinks and local history.