The Red Bar (or Picolo's The Red Bar, it's formal title) opened in Grayton Beach I don't know when, but it has not only stayed afloat, it has prospered and dug-in to the point where no local could imagine Grayton Beach without it. If you reside permanently in this area, the chances are overwhelmingly against you not having been to it. If you are a seasonal resident or a vacationer, it will almost certainly be on your list of places to eat.

Why? I could list any number of reasons. There's the fact that, at least for a time, Red Bar was the only full-service liquor bar in the Grayton area. That situation has changed, but good bars inspire loyalty, and the Red Bar has a good bar. It could be the location, a literal stone's throw from some of the last relatively unspoiled beach around here. It could be the decor, a psychedelic/baroque/dadaist/pop cultural collage worthy of Terry Gilliam.

The walls and ceilings are plastered with posters of obscure existentialist poets, rock stars, jazz legends, world cinema.

On the other hand, it may just be the food. The menu offers breakfast, lunch and dinner, and over the years I have had all three at Red Bar. This review is of dinner on a recent weekend. I made it a point to go then because they only serve crab cakes on weekends, and I wanted my dining companion (a Red Bar first-timer) to be able to get them. We ate there early to avoid the crowd that gathers late to hear the music, a subject that I will leave to a colleague.

The dinner menu is short, and written on a blackboard in colored chalk. The server places the board on a chair next to your seat, and also mentions nightly specials. The menu, which has not changed much at all over the years, offers a fish of the day, shrimp and crawfish over penne pasta with a tomato beurre blanc, baked eggplant stuffed with shrimp, scallops and vegetables, panne chicken, cheese manicotti, and the crab cakes (weekends only). The usual sides are mashed potatoes (the slightly chunky kind) and a mixed green salad with a tasty vinaigrette house dressing. They throw in a hot roll and butter as well. it's all on one plate, bistro style, and portions are generous.

My friend was a go on the crab cakes, and I tried that night's fish special--blackened grouper served on a grilled bacon and cheese grit cake. The weather was cold, and bacon is a known anti-freeze agent.

The food arrived in good time, just as the place really started to fill up. There were two large groups, snowbirds by the look of them, in place hours before the night's band would start. The Red Bar appeals to a late-night music crowd, and pretty much every local or area band has had a gig here, or wishes they had.

The crab cakes are the lump and claw kind, with only a little binder to keep them together. They are sweet, pure and exemplary, and my crab cake-loving companion left nothing over. The mashed potatoes came in a large mound (I had to help), and I was amazed at how nothing had changed in the time since I had last eaten at Red Bar. My grouper had a moderately spicy rub, and was done just to tenderness. The grit cake was crisp on the outside, bacony, cheesy and fluffy inside. I could have disposed of two more of them, even helping out with my friend's potatoes.

The have dessert, too, recited by your server, and I imagine things change up a little. I was hoping they still served my personal favorite, the apple dumpling. They did, along with a chocolate brownie, bread pudding, cheese cake, key lime pie, and maybe one or two other choices I can't recall. I stopped listening when I heard "apple dumpling."

I recently did an article listing my favorite dining experiences of 2009. Since I did not eat at Red Bar last year, I did not include the dumpling. It is one of the best desserts anyone will serve you around here. A whole apple is baked in a dumpling, and served steaming hot with caramel glaze, vanilla ice cream drizzled with chocolate sauce, and real whipped cream. It is meant to share, unless you're really greedy. I am not, but the dumpling could bring it out in me. It's slightly sweet, slightly spicy, hot, cold, creamy, flaky and chewy. Yes, it's all that.

The Red Bar is probably as uncrowded now as it ever gets in the year, so if you haven't been, this is a good time to try it. I guess their secret is simply to keep it simple, do it right, then just keep repeating, year after year.

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