New seafood and oyster house opens on Palafox in former Tin Cow space

A Sandestin favorite, Slick Lips, is ready to reel in its first round of customers for its sparkling new Pensacola location on Monday.

The restaurant, specializing in fresh seafood and oysters, has a deep history of fresh catch thanks to the owners, former Destin Mayor Gary Jarvis who is a generational fisherman and charter boat captain, along with his son Bryce Jarvis, and Bryce’s wife, Miranda Jarvis.

Both Bryce and Miranda were raised in families of fishermen, which are displayed in some of the vintage photos that now line the walls of the new restaurant in the heart of downtown at 102 S. Palafox St.

“I was actually born and raised here, and Bryce grew up in Destin, and we actually met here in Pensacola,” Miranda said. “So, for us Pensacola has always come on the radar, being that my family also grew up here. It’s just kind of neat to see it come full circle, being able to bring it back to my roots.”

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They wanted the new location to honor both their Sandestin and Pensacola history and traditions.

“It was one of those things where we wanted to make sure that it felt similar to our original location, but at the same time, could kind of stand on its own two feet,” Miranda said. “We wanted to definitely pay tribute to Bryce's family and his dad because that's where the fishing started. So that's where the photos and everything come in.”

Walking down the dining room helps you step into Bryce’s childhood. The pictures of he and his mother waiting for his father to return from sea remind him of the times he would run up and down the docks and try to capture the bait fish. As he grew older, they would be able to share the memories, stories and “secret spots” to catch the best fish together.

“My father is a charter boat captain and has been in Destin for over 40 years," Bryce said. "Given that I grew up on the docks, you’ll see throughout the pictures on the walls here, that’s me as a little kid. I worked on the boat myself going up through middle school and high school.”

Eventually, since they had a handle on what fresh catch tastes like and would find it on their dinner table most nights, they decided to open a restaurant that specialized in it.

“It was kind of a natural progression for us to jump into the seafood restaurant market with our long extensive history has been a part of the charter boat fleet,” Bryce said. “The background with catching a multitude of different fish, preparing the fish has really given us a good baseline for making sure that we provide a fresh, quality fish product for our customers.”

Most of the fish you’ll find on the Slick Lips menu is brought in fresh from Water Street Seafood in Apalachicola up to six times a week.

The most popular dishes include the bacon wrapped amberjack, the fish that the restaurant is named after. The amberjack nickname of “slick lips’ is widespread throughout the fishing community since it is a fish that lacks teeth. The restaurant's fresh filet is wrapped with a piece of applewood smoked bacon and topped with Creole meuniere sauce over mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables.

Other menu favorites include the crispy skin-in key lime snapper, seared scallops and cheddar-gouda grits and blackened crab crusted grouper.

However, it was the Jarvis intention that the restaurant be a place you can take the whole family. So, there is something on the menu for everybody, even if they’re picky or are not a fan of seafood.

The signature Slick Burger, made with grilled brisket, short-rib and an angus blend patty is a winner, along with the hand-cut angus ribeye, Parmesan crusted chicken and Cajun pork chop.

The menu will resemble the Sandestin location but will eventually offer a brand-new brunch, which will be modeled after the Jarvis’ other popular Sandestin restaurant, Sunset Bay Café.

Although the restaurant was filled with family history, the family is inviting Pensacola to be part of the story.

In addition to the map of the Pensacola Bay that lines the back wall, the restaurant includes a life-size replica of the 828.4-pound blue marlin caught by Gary, who was serving as the boat captain, and angler Glenn Summers during the 2001 Pensacola International Billfish Tournament.

Miranda said that even though they started as a Destin area restaurant, it is important to them to honor Pensacola history.

“The Marlin kind of ties it all together,” Miranda said. “So being that the Marlin was actually caught during the Pensacola Billfish Tournament was able to link us to the Pensacola area. We don't want people to feel like we're just some people coming from Destin opening a business in Pensacola. It's more than that to us.”

Getting the restaurant ready with a picturesque bar, leather seating and a brand-new kitchen with never-used equipment took quite a bit of hard-work.

“We had to take this down to the bones,” Bryce said.

But they were pleasantly surprised by some of what they found. After peeling back about seven layers of paint, they discovered a distressed early 1900s brick that now serves as the restaurant’s backdrop.

The restaurant provides a variety of spaces for different occasions, whether it be an upscale cocktail date or a casual Sunday brunch.

“We wanted something for everybody, right?” Miranda said. “We wanted a cool bar atmosphere where you come in and have an amazing drink before a show. But we also wanted a restaurant where you could bring your family and feel comfortable and just have something for everybody. You could dress up if you want to dress up, or you could come in and have a nice casual dinner as well.”

More information can be found on the Slick Lips website.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Slick Lips Seafood & Oyster House opens Pensacola location