Pandora's: A Local Steak Tradition
1226 Santa Rosa Blvd, Okaloosa Island, 244-8669
Hours: Dinner @5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday


By Bruce Collier November 29, 2007 Issue

Area residents have a surprising number of go-to places for steak. By that, I mean restaurants that bill themselves as primarily steakhouses. It’s true that excellent steaks can also be enjoyed at any number of fish places, and at some surprisingly good and reasonably priced national chains. Still, there’s that additional element — that grill-scented clubby atmosphere of hunting prints on the walls and real cocktails behind the bar that proclaims—“Here be carnivores.”

Such a place is Pandora’s. The business is some 30 years old, though it has been in its current digs only a few years. My friend and I ate there on a midweek night. We went early, and for a while we were nearly alone. By the time we left (around 7 p.m.), there were plenty of fellow steakophiles, including parties with kids. Like any decent steakhouse, Pandora’s has wood-paneled walls, hung with prints, photographs, sports trophies and memorabilia - including a silk robe autographed by boxing great George Foreman. There’s lots of polish and brass and lighting is subdued. The servers wear black and white, and are all a bunch of regular guys that talk straight and keep the liquor coming.

One might expect to hear Sinatra or Sarah Vaughn played in the background, but that night it was stuff from the 50s and 60s. My friend thought it might have been in deference to the dining demographic.

The bartender appeared to have been of our generation. My friend asked the server, Chris, if the bartender knew how to make an Old Fashioned. He nodded. “We make a lot of ‘em,” he said. Practice makes perfect, apparently. My friend enjoyed hers, and I enjoyed a faultless version of my own favorite cocktail.

We looked over the menu, which includes a daily specials insert, and wolfed down the first of two loaves of hot, crusty bread, with real butter. To start, she got French onion soup and I chose one of the specials, spicy grilled shrimp with a white zinfandel sauce. Other starters from the main and specials menu that night were crab and asparagus soup, crab claws, soft shell crab, ribs, beef tips, bacon wrapped scallops, shrimp or crab cocktail, and burgundy mushrooms.

The soup was hot and beefy, just salty enough, and gave us a good reason to get more bread. The shrimp were well cooked, with a slight peppery bite, with just a hint of grill-char that was a taste of things to come.

We both ordered steak. Pandora’s does offer chicken, veal, pork, seafood, and grilled fish, even pasta. I’m sure all are excellent, but what we wanted was red and it didn’t fly, squeal, swim, or twist around your fork. My friend got a bone-in ribeye (thinking ahead for her dog), and I chose a filet mignon. We had finished our starters and were enjoying the salads. I asked Chris not to hurry it up on the main course. He nodded and winked.

When the meat came, my nose took immediate notice. Both cuts were sizzling hot, cooked as ordered, with not a damn thing but a little salt and pepper on their crusty outsides. My friend got her baked potato with butter and sour cream (you got a problem with that?), and I ordered steak fries.

I’ve never been completely satisfied with steak fries. They’re thick-cut, which often means they’re soggy and floppy. Not at Pandora’s, however. Mine were crisp, greaseless, and evenly fried. Chris mixed me a cup of ketchup and steak sauce that made them even better.

As for the steak, mine sliced like red velvet and went down so easy I had to force myself not to gobble. My friend ate about half of her 22-ounce monster, which had just the right amount of chew to justify its nickname, “cowboy cut.”

Other main courses that night were Delmonico steak, sirloin, New York strip, T-bone, baby back ribs, teriyaki chicken, broiled or sautÈed shrimp, lobster, prime rib, ribeye, pork or veal chop, tuna, salmon, and swordfish. You can also order separate sides of steamed vegetables, sautÈed spinach, rice, onion rings, or stuffed baked potato. If you must have something on your steak or chop, the kitchen offers lump crab, bÈarnaise, hollandaise, or peppercorn brandy sauces.

Desserts come on a separate menu. We had a choice of crËme br°lÈe, cheesecake, key lime pie, bread pudding, chocolate mousse pie, or chocolate brownie with caramel sauce. We got the latter two. Both were good, and good-sized. The brownie was warm and the pie slightly cool. Chocolate after red meat? Yes, brown food with brown food, get it?

Pandora’s is no-fuss steakhouse cooking, with all the frills you want and none you don’t want. I can’t advocate eating like this every night, not so much for health reasons but because something this good should never become old hat.

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