Make it Special: Panama Pizzeria adds spice to East End

PANAMA CITY BEACH — When I walked inside Panama Pizzeria just after 7 p.m. on a recent Friday, I felt like I had stumbled into an intimate dinner party.

The entryway — once home to tables and bakery goods at Andy's Flour Power — was bustling with couples and friends mingling by the bar. Other guests rotated in and out with armfuls of pizza boxes. While we waited 15 minutes for a table, I had time to look at the menu, people watch and check out the dining area.

Darla Sapone and Jason GaNung opened the original Panama Pizzeria on the West End, just a mile west of Pier Park at 17140 Front Beach Road, nearly 10 years ago. Their second location, 3123 Thomas Drive, serves the same menu of pizza, pasta and sandwiches but also is incorporating culinary creations from chefs Joey Martinez and Jacob Cotterman.

"I put my heart and soul into this place," said Darla who renovated the new location from the ceiling down with help from her friends. "I had to get rid of the yellow; it wouldn't work at night. I made the tables and I did the ceiling — you know that leftover paint you don't know what to do with? That's what that is. I had little bits of paint in my garage."

The black paint in the entryway has specs of glitter — "I want to get a light and shine it up at night," added Darla, who also took the picture of the cow licking his nose on Highway 20. "I love animals, so I have an animal theme."

Cows, goats and elephants adorn canvases on the bronze and pumpkin colored walls, which coordinate with window treatments. While Darla has plans to add a few more decorations, they must be "special," she said. The East End location also will remain more reserved than the West End, where decor drips from the ceilings.

"The West End is our baby, our creation. The West End is beachy fun," Jason said. "Here we wanted to emphasize not just pizza but pasta dishes. We wanted to bring something cool to the neighborhood."

The new location, which opened July 27, brings the original team back together. General manager Justin Brugge has stayed with Panama Pizzeria since the early days, but Chef Joey and Chef Jake also had worked at Panama Pizzeria's West End location when it first opened. Chef Joey brings his classical training from The Hotel Hershey in Pennsylvania and Chef Jake brings his experience from catering private dinners along 30A.

"They don't just want to cook; they love what they do. We're like la familia," Jason said. "We have nightly specials with talent. The chefs order really unique, hard to find ingredients for appetizer and dinner specials. We buy the most expensive tomatoes, cheese and flours. Our Alfredo is made from scratch and sauteed in the pan to order. Even the ricotta is the best you can buy. Our provolone is out of this world. I understand how important it is to have a nice place to go but also have good value. To me it's all about the ambiance, lighting, music and a great product. It's in the little details that make us different from a lot of people."

I took our server, Patrick, up on his suggestion of the dinner special: Pan-seared chicken filled with layers of prosciutto, spinach, fresh mozzarella and a slice of heirloom tomato, topped with cream sauce and served over roasted potatoes with a rich black garlic sauce: "The sauce is made with black garlic — pressure cooked for a month."

My son, James, debated between gnocchi and pizza, but I thought a slice of the latter would go better with the BBQ Chicken Wings he ordered to start. His hot slice of New York-style pepperoni was finished before the arrival of the BBQ wings, beautifully presented with fresh oregano on top. Other wing sauces include Hot and Tiger (a combination of Hot/BBQ) — or they can be served dry.

Then came the arrival of the dinner special, $16.99, and I understood what the woman sitting a table diagonal to me was raving about. After my reaction, my son asked for a taste and then quickly traded bites of wings for "more chicken please." The tender, juicy chicken and all of its layers were brought together in sauces that spilled over onto the potatoes — soaking up every last drop.

My husband had ordered the Homemade Lasagna with Sausage (Or Meat Sauce or Meatballs), $13.99, and still had leftovers to take home for another lunch. With a little help from my son, I was able to clean my plate. My son finished his wings the next morning.

Darla mentioned there are plans for a dinner special featuring gnocchi in a lobster cream sauce. She's supposed to let us know when; we'll be there. Other specials have included fresh Gulf Shrimp with a pepper medley in a sweet and sour sauce.

Customers at the Panama Pizzeria - East End, which sits about 65, include those from surrounding neighborhoods, such as Bay Point.

"I think we've hit a good note here. It's got a special energy our servers are embracing," said Darla, who said they also live on the beach's east side. "We're doing a tremendous amount of take out and delivery is definitely bustling. Between the two locations we can take care of the whole beach."

But Panama Pizzeria is a place you will want to linger. Patrick said the average time spent at the East End has been 45 minutes to an hour, but three ladies were there for three hours on a recent Monday night.

"We want everyone to have an enjoyable experience here, the type of place we want to to go to. I designed this place for people to be comfortable. I like to go to a restaurant and not feel pressured to leave," said Darla, who admitted she and Jason like to go out to eat after 8 p.m. to "stretch the whole experience out."

Darla's dad, Dave, not only comes in for the company, but for the Alfredo.

"It's out of this world," said Dave, 88.

After trying the Chicken Alfredo topped with fresh oregano on my second visit, I understood why he thinks it's the best.

"We make our Alfredo, Francese, Marsala and Ziti alla Vodka and Clam Sauce. Nothing is just sitting in a pot back there. We are not fast food. The pizza itself starts with a dough ball we prep in the morning, prepare homemade bread. Be patient; it's worth the wait," Darla said.

She is partial to the Manicotti.

"People also really love the Chicken Francese. It's really fantastic. I've never had somebody not go, 'Wow!' For me, I love the lemon in the butter sauce," Jason said.

Dale Sapone, Darla's sister and kitchen manager at both locations, comes in every morning at 6 a.m. to make the dough for pizza and Garlic Knots. Using 50-pound bags of flour, multiple batches of dough are made in the 60-quart mixer daily. All pizza is cooked in the stone oven.

Darla likes hers topped with Alfredo, grilled chicken, spinach and bacon. The Supreme and Meat Monster are the most popular, and when they sell out of the deep dish Sicilian, they are out for the day. The Sicilian's crust is infused with olive oil and it has a longer rise time.

"I make the lasagna homemade, the pizza sauce, the marinara and I take pride in my bread and burger buns," said Dale, who also makes the hoagie rolls for the Philly Cheese Steak.

No matter what you choose, there's plenty of it.

"We're Italian. We like to feed you," said Darla, originally from Long Island. The youngest of four children, Darla relocated to the beach after her parents retired here.

"My brother was stationed here as a diver in the Navy," said Darla, adding, "I wanted my kids to know their grandparents."

Her sons, Tyler, 21, and Kristopher, 17, now help out at Panama Pizzeria.

Jason, originally from the Boston and New York area, grew up vacationing here.

"My first memories of the beach are when I was 3 years old," Jason said. "I would come down in the summertime."

Customers Charlie Hooper and Kathy Hooper, who have lived at the beach for the past decade, made themselves at home at the bar on a recent Tuesday afternoon.

"We used to go to the West End for pizza and it was incredible," Charlie said. "Because we live right up the street we were ecstatic when this opened. We're been three times since they opened. The wait staff is incredible; the food is incredible. ... We grew up on the East Coast by Philadelphia, New York. It's hard to find that style in the South."

As a neighborhood gathering place, Panama Pizzeria also is a spot to catch sports games over football fare at the bar, which serves beer and wine.

"When Darla and I got finished, we sat and looked around — the American dream. Darla and I do not just own the business; you do, too," Jason said. "There are so many different facets of restaurant business and when it comes together, it's like an orchestra."

Where: 3123 Thomas Drive, Panama City Beach

Hours: 3-10:30 p.m. or later Monday through Friday, and noon to 10:30 p.m. or later Saturday and Sunday; Happy Hour is 3-6 p.m. daily

Details: 850-775-4060 or PanamaPizzeria.com

The original West End location is at 17140 Front Beach Road; call 850-249-7437. Both locations deliver; catering available.

Panama Pizzeria - East End