Home Is Where The Weird Is

Downtown Panama City taco joint creates a haven for folks who don’t fit the mold

A fever dream of bright murals welcomes guests. A car covered in bold lines and color segments, reminiscent of Keith Haring’s pop art, is parked in the dining space. Old televisions, lunch boxes, and found treasure populate the walls. 

It is the largest art installation in Bay County. But it’s not a museum. It’s El Weirdo.

“El Weirdo does not fit in,” says co-owner Allan Branch. “There is no other place in town like it.”

The taco bar and craft beverage emporium on Oak Avenue in downtown Panama City celebrates area artists and all things weird.

“People move away to practice art; we have to help them create industry to keep them here,” says Branch. “Weird is good. This place honors the high school bands, drama programs, and the vibrancy of our human fabric. It is a spot for people to be inundated with art.”

Branch and partners Tim Whalen and Dan Magner, also co-owners of the nearby History Class Brewing Company, knew the $125,000 design investment didn’t make the best financial sense. But according to Branch, creativity outweighed cost. 

“Small towns celebrate the ordinary too often,” Branch says. “Our goal was to celebrate the misfits and outcasts.”

Eleven creatives lent their brushes to the psychedelic warehouse restaurant-meets-gallery space. Christon Anderson created the brew area background of “Giraffstronauts” flying on sneaker shuttles headed to the moon, surrounded by a polka dot galaxy. Beau Bradbury pieced together a multimedia art explosion inside the back hallway with found objects, graffiti, magazine clippings, and more. Anastasia Dengerud hid goats, fish, cats, and self-portraits amid the plants. Sara Griffith decorated the brew space with eyeballs and the air duct with Venus flytraps and voodoo dolls. JD Justice designed the creature-scape on the arcade wall while Anna Kaye staged a robot taco battle in the bathroom. Terry Knight took on the other bathroom with sacred geometry and trippy shapes. 

Alfredo Leon, a Lego builder from age 6, constructed the logo above the bar from a million blocks. Shiloh Murrell created the doodled dudes gracing all the bars and the iconic “Shlump” artwork on the merchandise. Morgan Elyce Summers is responsible for the “we are the weirdos” motto near the bar as well as the building’s wraparound mural. Junknado, Blue Moon, and Phurbhurt the Scrap Goblin sculptures came straight from Aaron Waldrep’s imagination. And all those cool tables and bars? Waldrep built those, too. 

From the moment you pull up to the moment you leave, El Weirdo delivers an immersive art experience. And that doesn’t even touch on their imaginative food and drink offerings.

Most nights, you’ll see an imposing figure manning the food window. That’s Seth Carpenter, operations manager and taco-maker extraordinaire. As Branch says, anything can be a taco, and Carpenter takes that to heart with his tortillas stuffed with crispy Brussels sprouts, pickled cabbage, chimichurri-bathed steak, and more. 

Then there are the “Not Tacos” options like queso dip you’ll want to drink—it’s that good—and Street Korn Dip that will transport you right to those stands in Mexico where roasted ears of corn slathered with crema and lime juice are rolled in cotija cheese, chili powder, and cilantro. Save room for the churros served with their housemade strawberry sauce—they are the stuff of donut dreams.

Beverages also get the “Weird” treatment. A steady mix of house-brewed beers rotates with options like Gringo Suave Mexican Lager, their version of a Mexican especial, and the Star Daddy Hazy IPA, named after Star Trek actor Charles “Tripp” Tucker III, who was born in Panama City. Seasonal sours, hoppy IPAs, nitro stouts, amber ales, and fruit-filled concoctions share space on the taps. 

The cocktail menu proves equally inventive with plays on margaritas incorporating housemade sea salt foam and a bevy of fruit and botanical-forward libations, including Branch’s go-to—a Ranch Water made to order with your choice of tequila flavored with blood orange or passionfruit.

For Branch, Whalen, and Magner, it has always been about more than food and beverages.

“There are great tacos here,” says Branch. “But we are relentlessly good to our customers, respect our employees, and honor the artists who inspire us.”

They grew up in this community and want their businesses to represent everything about their hometown, weird included.