Billy's Oyster Bar builds on seafood staples

PANAMA CITY BEACH — Fresh live blue crabs are delivered every morning at Billy's Oyster Bar — where they are iced, cleaned, seasoned and steamed or fried.

"Since the storm, they seem to be more plentiful," said Denise Donaldson, who co-owns the restaurant with Scott Donaldson. "We get 120 to 150 pounds. We have to ice them down; it stuns the crabs, so we're able to clean them. We remove the top shell of the crab and scrape off the lungs, known as 'dead man's fingers.'"

The blue crabs are locally caught out of West Bay, Choctawhatchee Bay and North Bay. The larger male crabs are known as "selects," while the female crabs are referred to as "mediums."

"To me, I think the females are sweeter, but everyone has their preference," Denise said.

Before the crabs go into the steamer for four minutes they get a heavy dose of butter and seasoning — including the Billy's Seafood Spice that also is sold in the restaurant. Though the original spice recipe was passed down from Eloise and William Poole, who opened Billy's in 1981, one of the spices was discontinued after the Donaldsons took over in 2002.

"We had to go into the lab and recreate one of the seasonings," said Denise, who added R.L. Schreiber makes the Billy's Seafood Spice for them. "We sell a lot of it, go through two to three cases just using it to cook. We put it on shrimp; it's similar to Old Bay, but it's not Old Bay. We use it on shrimp, oysters, crabs, and put it in gumbo."

The gumbo recipe also was inherited with the restaurant.

"It was Eloise's special recipe. I changed it up a little bit," said Denise, who was a server at Billy's for 12 years before taking over. "We are known for steamed seafood. They only had steamed, but now we have steamed, fried and grilled. We steam oysters, shrimp and blue crabs and grill our burgers, and we fry. Every kid wants fried chicken fingers and French fries. We pretty much doubled our business when we added fried food."

A signature of local oyster bars, Billy's continues its 30-year tradition of hanging dollar bills from the ceiling that have been donated from customers.

"In 2002, we donated them to the American Cancer Society — $16,000 — after we took over," Denise said. "We estimate there are between $8,000 and $10,000 on the ceiling now. We will donate them again to another charity when we redo the roof." 

The dollar bills are put on the ceiling using a pushpin and wooden stick. Some customers have even gotten creative by putting bills together to make a letter to represent a loved one. 

"Little kids come in to find their dollar from the year before; it's super cute," said employee Hilary Wallace.

If you look closely enough, you can find bills spelling out "Billy's" hanging from the ceiling in the bar area or "Elos" hanging in the back dining room from the area's former time as "Elo's trash and treasures" shop, which Eloise ran on one side of the restaurant. The Donaldsons remodeled and repurposed the area as an extension of the dining room. Billy's now seats at least 160 inside and out.

"We're very blessed, so many loyal customers coming here 30 years," Denise said. "We're just a laid back family atmosphere. We have a lot of regulars, and for a lot of people, Billy's is the first stop before they check into their condo," Denise said.

During Hurricane Michael, Billy's lost part of its roof and sign, which her teenage son's friend Kalani Dempsey painted free-hand, and was closed for two weeks. Longtime employees Billy Tucker and Hilary Wallace are back at Billy's, but other longtime employees have been unable to return since the hurricane.

"We were really fortunate, but it's so devastating," said Denise, whose "sister lost everything."

She knew there would be an even greater need in the community for this year's free fifth annual Thanksgiving Dinner at Billy's. Denise initially had started the event by providing Thanksgiving meals to those she found out needed help at her son's school.

"I then realized so many needed help," Denise said. "It is buffet style at the bar with chafing dishes, all free of charge, a traditional Thanksgiving dinner."

Billy's restaurant specials, running through December, include appetizers such as fried pickles, calamari and gator bites, lobster bisque or shrimp and corn chowder, fried flounder sandwich, bang bang shrimp pasta, fish and chips, shrimp n' grits, and for dinner: Creole grouper, steak and shrimp, snapper (grilled or fried), fried surf n' shrimp, and stone claws.

"The shrimp and grits is phenomenal," said Hilary. "Nobody does cheese grits like ours that I've found. They're really flavorful and the shrimp have Billy's seasoning on them."

While you can order off the lunch or dinner menu all day, the poboys are only available until 4 p.m.

"My No. 1 seller is the shrimp and crab claw dinner, steamed or fried," Denise said. "We call it St. B's favorite after St. Bernadette's where my son went. The principal and assistant principal loved steamed shrimp and crab claws."

Billy Tucker, who was icing and cleaning blue crabs Monday morning, has been at Billy's for 15 years.

"Blue crabs are probably the only thing I can still eat every day. It's hard to beat fresh blue crabs," Billy said. "Many people tell us we have the best steamed shrimp."

The shrimp are from the Gulf, and they're getting their oysters are from Texas. But Denise explained the oysters have Apalachicola roots.

"They took Apalach seeds and put them in Texas; they're really salty," Denise said. "Allen's Seafood was refurbishing shells in Texas. Until Ivan, it was one of our distributors that sold us oysters. We still get them from area 25 in Texas."

On Monday, I went for Billy's Shrimp & Shell — a heaping platter with three steamed medium blue crabs and steamed shrimp with fresh steamed broccoli.

"The broccoli has butter and garlic and Romano seasoning on it. I love it; all our sides are really good," Hilary said.

The broccoli was delicious, swimming in butter, and the steamed shrimp were packed with flavor from Billy's seasoning — a hint of celery with little kick. While I was trying to tackle the blue crabs, I thought there had to be an easier way.

Denise and Hilary quickly came to my rescue with these instructions: First, break the crab in half, then flip over and pinch and twist from the back claw working way forward and then use crackers to open up claws and use fingers to get the crab meat out before dipping in butter.

It was an experience in itself, as I worked for every sweet bite — with shells in the basket and in my lap — and a mountain of napkins next to my tray.

"If you are lazy, you can just get the steamed shrimp and crab claws," Hilary said. "They're blue crab claws, just already cracked, steamed or fried, and you just dip and bite it. At the end of the night if we're about to sweep and someone's eating crabs, we wait."

I think St. B's — steamed shrimp and crab claws — is just up my alley.

What: Oyster bar, seafood restaurant

Where: 3000 Thomas Drive, Panama City Beach

Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. or later year-round

Details: 850-235-2349 or BillysOysterBar.com

See video featuring fresh blue crabs at NewsHerald.com.

Billy's Oyster Bar