Dinner Report: Hofbrau Beer Garden, Pier Park in PCB...

On Friday night my son had planned for us to check out a place called Pineapple Willy's near his apartment on Panama City Beach. We made the critical mistake of starting late and if the unbearable tourist traffic wasn't the first clue, the fact that we could not park in the regular or overflow parking lots was enough to convince us to move along.And we were glad we did. We drove down the road to a wonderful development called Pier Park. The mall portion of the place is a cut & paste of The Shoppes at La Cantera. Having never been myself, I can only take my son's word for it.The part I liked was closer to the beach and was full of bright and colorful buildings that to me, looked like a modern version of Main Street USA at Disney. I especially loved the fact that they had a carousel and little slingshot bouncy things for the toddlers. How cool is that?There was a wide selection of places to eat at but we opted for a German place called Hofbrau Beer Garden.If you have ever been to Germany or seen it on the Travel Network (as opposed to The History Channel), you immediately recognize the communal seating on long tables and the group participation in the entertainment. Its tough for even a reserved person like me to not be sucked into the clapping and laughing and yes, even Chicken Dancing that takes place during the eating of the vittles.My wife ordered the Fish & Frites and she was very happy with it. There was nothing bland about it at all. Not too spicy for her tastes, but certainly not bland. And I don't think it was fried at all. It was breaded, but there was no fried texture to it.My son and I both ordered some other fish plate - the name escapes me several days later and the online menu didn't offer a clue - but it was good. The fish was lightly breaded and highly seasoned giving it an almost Cajun kick to it. Had I known yellow squash would have been included with the vegetables I would have probably asked for something else, but surprisingly, it was all very, very good. Okay, I ate the zucchini but not the rest of the squash. We all were very satisfied with the food and my son and I each sampled a beer. He had the Hofbrau Original and I went with the Dunkel, the darker variety. Good stuff.To cap off the evening, we went into a club across the street called Tootsies where the house band was putting on a great show. The crowd is encouraged to participate because just up the road in Nashville, TN, the folks at the original Tootsies Orchid Lounge are watching a live feed from the PCB lounge. It was all quite cool, and with so many tourists and older folks, my wife and I didn't feel out of place.

I'm not sure how Pier Park pans out during the off season, but for our visit, the place was pretty sweet.