Cakemasters Bakery in Fort Walton Beach sits on a very busy stretch of Beal Parkway. It’s a fairly small building, almost like a little house. Opening the door, your first impression is the scent...

Sugar Mill Sweets is not a large place, but there are plenty of tables, both two and four-tops. The walls are painted dark green, there are sturdy and colorful tablecloths on every table, and the walls are hung with prints and paintings...

Inside it still looks a bit like a home, the kind of home that has a full bar along one wall and plenty of TVs behind the bar and on the other walls. The colors are pale pastel, and there are chandelier lamps. It’s bright and airy, and the day my family and I ate there, it was full of happily chatting diners, many of whom seemed to be families...

My family and I ate there midday on a recent sunny but chilly weekend. O’Quigley’s offers lunch specials on weekdays, but the full menu is always available. We got there shortly after opening, but the place was filling up...

Pranzo is on Okaloosa Island, tucked off the main road, though they have a highly visible sign. It’s a one-story building, and inside is a much larger dining area than one might think. The restaurant is an elongated rectangle, with tables and booths along the walls, free standing, and in a bar/lounge area...

I ate lunch at Beal Street Deli on a recent weekday. I and my daughter, the Tiny Diner, stopped by shortly after the place had opened for the day. Beal Street Deli sits amid a row of assorted shops and stores on Beal Parkway, and the open door invites one to drift on in...

My daughter Grace, the Tiny Diner, is not quite old enough yet for tea, but my wife and I acquired a taste for tea (and its trappings) over the past year. Since TD is about to turn two years old, we thought it would be nice to have tea for all of us, to get her birthday week started...

I’ve only bowled a few times. It’s not that I look down on the sport, I just never took the time. The only thing I can say with certainty is that there is definitely skill involved. Unlike golf, which looks hard and is hard, bowling is hard but looks easy...

The above list covered most of the restaurant styles and cuisines available around here - Steak, Chinese, Thai, Sushi, Mexican, Gulf Coast seafood, Deli, Beer and Burger, Italian, and Local Hangout. Some were strictly lunch places, others fine dining establishments...