Ask Yoyo what to get and the answer comes fast: pad thai, or pad kaprow -- the stir-fried basil, with chicken.

Corner of Eglin Parkway and 12th Street, Shalimar -- across from the Fairfield Inn. If you end up on the base you have gone way too far.

Open 11 to 8, Monday through Friday. Sometimes weekends, depending on how tired they are.

Tell Yoyo and Steve you saw them here.

#thaifood #foodtruck #shalimar #localgem #emeraldcoast #shoplocal #placestoeat

From the original Local Gems series, filmed in 2022. Hours, menus and details may have changed -- check with the business before you go.

Between them: facial rejuvenation, microneedling, the platelet-rich facial, semi-permanent and permanent makeup (they are an established tattoo facility, which is what makes the permanent work possible), and body waxing.

Appointment only, on purpose. They want to be your permanent esthetician rather than a walk-in counter, and the one-on-one time is the service.

Two words came up more than any others while talking to them: self-love and confidence. As Lisa put it -- when a client says she feels comfortable in her skin, that is the whole return on the work.

#esthetician #niceville #skincare #localgem #emeraldcoast #shoplocal

From the original Local Gems series, filmed in 2022. Hours, menus and details may have changed -- check with the business before you go.

He describes himself as an artisan and a craftsman, and the comparison he reaches for is baking: "grain to glass -- we take grain and create this beautiful beer out of the grains and the hops and the water and yeast." All of it brewed on site, in the stainless you can see from the bar, with a beer garden out back.

Veteran-owned, in Navarre on Florida 87.

#craftbeer #brewery #navarre #veteranowned #localgem #emeraldcoast #shoplocal

From the original Local Gems series, filmed in 2022. Hours, menus and details may have changed -- check with the business before you go.

Everything is made fresh every morning -- the tortillas, the salsa, the soups, the gorditas. Not prepped, not shipped in. There are specials every day and something going on every day.

Fast, friendly, family, and genuinely homemade. When we talk about hidden gems, this is the kind of place we mean.

Open 11am to 9pm, seven days a week.

#mexicanfood #fortwaltonbeach #localgem #emeraldcoast #shoplocal #placestoeat

From the original Local Gems series, filmed in 2022. Hours, menus and details may have changed -- check with the business before you go.

Around since 1979, with a break in the middle. This was your parents' hangout, and the pre-game stop before Victor's.

Shrimp tacos and burritos, and the coldest draft in town -- they keep it at 33 degrees. They will sell it to you by the gallon to go.

Ferry Road, Fort Walton Beach.

#drivethru #fortwaltonbeach #localgem #emeraldcoast #shoplocal #placestoeat #coldbeer

From the original Local Gems series, filmed in 2022. Hours, menus and details may have changed -- check with the business before you go.

Ten years in Shalimar, and one of those local establishments people are quietly loyal to. There is a fun atmosphere, and on occasion a margarita may be served. Possibly twice.

Shalimar. Go see Juan.

#mexicanfood #shalimar #fortwaltonbeach #localgem #emeraldcoast #shoplocal #placestoeat

From the original Local Gems series, filmed in 2022. Hours, menus and details may have changed -- check with the business before you go.

The food is spectacular and the ambiance is better, but the reason to get there early is the history -- the place is full of it, and there is a lot to look at from days past. Thanks to Tom Rice for the time.

Open Monday through Saturday, evenings, for dinner.

#finedining #fortwaltonbeach #localgem #emeraldcoast #shoplocal #placestoeat

From the original Local Gems series, filmed in 2022. Hours, menus and details may have changed -- check with the business before you go.

Two things to know. The crab rangoon is a family recipe -- cream cheese, crab, sugar, a pinch of salt -- and the sugar is why he treats it as dessert. And the crispy pork, which almost nobody else in town makes, is the owner's mother's recipe and takes more than a day of steps to produce. You cannot, as she puts it, just get a pork belly and deep fry it.

400 Eglin Parkway -- across from Goofy Golf, in the old Joe and Eddie's.

#thaifood #fortwaltonbeach #localgem #emeraldcoast #shoplocal #placestoeat

From the original Local Gems series, filmed in 2022. Hours, menus and details may have changed -- check with the business before you go.

Asked where her passion is, her answer was about memories rather than photographs: "the memories you have when you're taking the pictures, how you felt in the moment. Every time you look at that picture, you're going to remember how you felt."

Family sessions, and individual portraits she describes as confidence shots -- for people who want to feel better about themselves, or need something good and professional of themselves. And she is not precious about staying posed: smoke bombs, holi powder, sparklers, straight into the ocean.

blissfulmomentsphotography.info -- and on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

#photography #fortwaltonbeach #familyphotos #localgem #emeraldcoast #shoplocal

From the original Local Gems series, filmed in 2022. Hours, menus and details may have changed -- check with the business before you go.

Around 70 grab-and-go options in the case at any time, plus a weekly meal plan of 60 meals that exists to save people time and money rather than just calories. Dine in, grab one on the way home, or take a week's worth at once.

Eglin Parkway, Shalimar -- across from the Dollar General. If you get through Shalimar you have gone past it.

#healthyfood #mealprep #shalimar #fortwaltonbeach #localgem #emeraldcoast #shoplocal

From the original Local Gems series, filmed in 2022. Hours, menus and details may have changed -- check with the business before you go.

Patrick spent years in the coffee industry before this, including a long stretch at a certain Seattle conglomerate we are not going to name because they are not a local business. What he brought back is a real list: straight coffee for the purist who wants the aroma and nothing in the way of it, through the flavored lattes and the cold brew.

405 Race Track Road, Unit C -- corner of Race Track Road and Beal Parkway, in the Wright Plaza shopping center, Fort Walton Beach.

#coffee #fortwaltonbeach #localgem #emeraldcoast #shoplocal

From the original Local Gems series, filmed in 2022. Hours, menus and details may have changed -- check with the business before you go.

Coffee Avenue roasts on premises. Ask for the Omara -- cinnamon, creamy, a little like horchata.
Sunset Bowls -- the Point Break Bowl is the top seller across all three trucks. Acai, strawberries, blueberries, banana, coconut, peanut butter and honey.
Rive Cafe -- the avocado toast converts people who thought they hated avocado, and the Cuban sandwich holds up to scrutiny from someone who takes Cuban sandwiches personally.

Thanks to Tia for the tour.

#foodtrucks #fortwaltonbeach #coffee #localgem #emeraldcoast #shoplocal

From the original Local Gems series, filmed in 2022. Hours, menus and details may have changed -- check with the business before you go.

Nothing on the menu comes out of a freezer. The biscuits are homemade fresh every day, all day long. The chicken is hand-breaded to order. Breakfast, brunch, or lunch -- they close mid-afternoon, so go early.

The coffee comes from Veterans Roasters, which means every cup you buy here supports a veteran. That is the kind of thing that puts a place on this list.

Highway 98, Fort Walton Beach -- next to Liza Jackson Park
Two locations: Fort Walton Beach and Pensacola.

#placestoeat #fortwaltonbeach #breakfast #brunch #localgem #emeraldcoast #shoplocal

From the original Local Gems series, filmed in 2022. Hours, menus and details may have changed -- check with the business before you go.

This is the home store, the original of four shops across the Emerald Coast. You'll find it right behind the Bank of America building on the corner of Yacht Club and Eglin Parkway, where the old drive-up used to be.

What sets it apart is the VIP membership. Pay once for the year or go month to month, and you're covered -- regular cuts, edge-ups in between, shaves, beard trims. The idea is to be your barber, not the place you get around to eventually.

237 Troy St NE, Fort Walton Beach
Four locations: two in Fort Walton Beach, one in Destin, one in Pensacola.

#barbershop #fortwaltonbeach #mensgrooming #localgem #emeraldcoast #shoplocal

From the original Local Gems series, filmed in 2022. Hours, menus and details may have changed -- check with the business before you go.

Off-beat culture, art murals, fresh food, all-around fun. A great place to take the family after practice or the game.

What keeps them on this list is what happens off the menu. School spirit nights, fundraisers, turning up for the community again and again -- plenty of places sell a good burrito, fewer of them keep showing up for the schools.

39 Eglin Pkwy NE, Fort Walton Beach

#placestoeat #fortwaltonbeach #texmex #hotsauces #localgem #emeraldcoast #shoplocal

From the original Local Gems series, filmed in 2022. Hours, menus and details may have changed -- check with the business before you go.