Santa Rosa Beach Restaurant Guide

By Bruce Collier January 25, 2007 IssueWe ate at Gravel Road on a chilly Wednesday. It was live music night, with a string duo playing in the rear dining room. The front dining room remained vacant, but by the time we left the back room was full. The atmosphere at Gravel Road is warm and quiet, and though we sat no more than ten feet from the musicians, conversation was never a problem.
Tables are well spaced, covered with dark linen and set with crystal glasses, and the wooden chairs are comfortable. On the creamy beige walls are framed paintings of landscapes and city scenes. Children are welcome, but I'd expect that adults would be more comfortable here.
The main menu offers entrees in the above $20 range, but on Wednesdays the kitchen offers a special $15 entree menu, with three choices that night - marinated hanger steak, chili-rubbed pork tenderloin, and snapper with scallops. All were tempting, but the main menu won out.
Gravel Road's menu lists appetizers, salads, and entrees. Desserts are carried in the server's memory. Our server said that the menu could change seasonally. This one seemed to be suited for cold weather, and the craving for substantial, comforting food it can create.
We ordered an appetizer and salads, sharing both. The appetizer was avocado coconut cream, served in one bowl, with a chopped mixture of shrimp, prosciutto and asparagus in another. A plate of endive came on the side. One spoons the cream and the shrimp mixture into the endive. The cream was subtly flavored with coconut, and the endive "scoopers" made for a crunchy little hand-held snack. The stuff tasted equally good on the warm, thin sliced French bread, served in a basket.
The salads were both colorful and delicious. My friend got the house salad; a plate of mixed greens with warm asparagus spears, walnuts, red peppers and blue cheese. I went for the root salad, with sliced poached rutabaga, turnip, and beets.