Cooking your way through Pensacola

Maybe you are looking forward to preparing meals for the friends you are meeting at the condo in Pensacola. Or maybe you’re a snowbird or RV cruiser who is here for months. Or maybe it’s just the last night in your Airbnb and you want to make a special dinner to eat on the patio by candlelight.

Whatever the reason, if you are planning to cook while you’re in Pensacola, there are lots of scrumptious opportunities to shop with local businesses for grocery essentials, fresh and local ingredients, just-caught seafood, specialty snacks and more.

Apple Market, 1021 Scenic Hwy

A staple of East Pensacola, Apple Market has been serving the community for more than 23 years. Evocative of an old-school neighborhood grocer, Apple Market offers everything you could need for meal preparation, including a complete line of fresh meats, dairy and produce, as well as dry and canned goods.

However, it’s the cooler in the back that really sets Apple Market apart. This cooler is always stuffed with prepared entrees and sides ready to warm and eat, like chicken wings, jalapeno cheese grits and giant loaded baked potatoes.

Apple Market also offers Boar’s Head deli products, a seated café and gift area, and a Drowsy Poet coffee shop.

Ever'man Cooperative Grocery & Café, 315 W Garden Street OR 1000 E Nine Mile Road

If you are looking for a comprehensive assortment of organic foods while you’re in Pensacola, there is only one place to go – Ever'man Cooperative Grocery & Cafe. This store started in 1973 as a buyer’s club and today has grown to two modern, full-size, full-service locations, one in Downtown Pensacola and one in North Pensacola on 9 Mile Road.

Although it operates as a co-op, Ever’man welcomes non-member shoppers. Both outlets stock a full line of fresh, organic meats, produce, dairy and packaged food. Ever’man also offers bulk sale of dry food items like grains, beans and rice.While you’re there buying the makings for dinner, you can have a fresh lunch at the stores’ cafes. Hot and cold ready-to-eat entrees, sides and luscious desserts that are aimed at all tastes, including vegan, gluten free and other special nutritional needs.

Palafox Market, 121 N Palafox St.

Palafox Market welcomes visitors every Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. It’s located in Martin Luther King Plaza, in the median of Palafox. As many as 8,000 people stroll along the plaza’s brick walkway on a busy Saturday, visiting more than 120 vendors.While this market offers everything from local art to artisanal dog treats, the market began more than a decade ago as a place for local farmers to sell their produce and products. The market is open year-round, with the exception of the Saturday before Mardi Gras (the market is in the middle of a parade route!).The market’s food offerings vary seasonally from tomatoes, squash, melons, greens and peppers to eggs, local honey, grass-fed poultry, fresh tamales and home-baked fruit pies. And it’s all – ALL – local. Market rules require that the food and products offered come from no further than 100 miles away. If you’re eating food from the Palafox Market, you are eating Pensacola.

Bailey’s Produce and Nursery, 4301 N. Davis Hwy.

For generations, Bailey’s Produce and Nursery has been a landmark in Pensacola.Literally.Although it has moved over the years, Bailey’s has always displayed a larger-than-life version of an iconic green giant in its parking lot– a beacon directing customers to the home of fresh produce and other verdant merchandise.Bailey’s offers a full spectrum of fresh fruits, vegetables, legumes and other staples, with lots of local and seasonal specials. More than just produce, it also sells fresh cheeses, sprouted flours, an assortment of pickled produce, fresh eggs, milk and nostalgic candies.

The Farm Produce Market, 6404 Mobile Hwy.

The name says it all – The Farm. The modest building on the side of the road conjures thoughts of old-fashioned fruit stands or curb markets.Just like those esteemed institutions, The Farm offers fresh fruits and vegetables, but also certified responsibly grown yard eggs, local honey, local meat and Amish goods, as well as prepared grab-n-go items like vinegar and spice collard greens or pumpkin soup with leeks and black garlic.

J.W. Renfroe Pecan Co, 794 W. Main St. and 2400 W. Fairfield Dr.

If you get a sudden urge to, say, bake a pie, while you are visiting Pensacola, you can find the most delicious pecans at J.W. Renfroe Pecan Co., which has been serving the area for nearly a century.While Renfroe’s certainly offers fresh pecans in any quantity imaginable, it also offers a variety of other nuts and lots of yummy nut treats, like cinnamon pecans, pralines and pecan brittle. They sell their own confectionaries too, which you can’t leave without trying their fudge.Renfroe’s has two locations, one on Main Street in Downtown Pensacola and one on Fairfield Drive in central Pensacola.

Joe Patti’s Seafood, 524 S B St.

For almost a century, Captain Joe Patti and his family have been selling locally sourced seafood to Gulf Coast restaurants and families. Modern times have seen Joe Patti’s Seafood blossom into a destination for Pensacola locals, visitors and foodies from around the world.Joe Patti’s boasts an icy counter that is yards and yards long, filled with a vast variety of seafood, much of which is offloaded live on the dock behind the building. However, the retailer is also home to an extensive gourmet food shop and sushi bar.

Maria’s Fresh Seafood Market, 631 E Cervantes St.

Maria’s Fresh Seafood Market opened in 1989. It offers a full menu of sea fare. It’s especially known for its seasoned steamed shrimp and tasty blue crabs, snow crab and Dungeness crab. In addition to bountiful local seafood options, Maria’s has a frozen case of sausages and other treats, as well as pantry necessities. Maria’s recently expanded their market to include a seafood restaurant attached next-door, called the Olde East Hill Grill, which serves one the best grouper sandwiches you’ll ever try.

If you fall in love with the seafood at Joe Patti’s or Maria’s, you can have Pensacola seafood anytime you want it back home as both markets offer shipping.