The hardest trick to pull off in the restaurant business may be this: To keep everything that’s really important the same, when everything is subject to change.

Char Haber knows. She was a young child when her parents got into the restaurant business. Charlie Wrape had a career behind him in the Navy, Sandra Wrape had been a nurse, and “they just wanted a little something something to supplement their income” in retirement, said Haber. In 1973, the Wrapes and another couple bought a little bait shop/sandwich shop that had been on Wolf Bay in the Miflin community, near Elberta, since the 1940s; illness forced the other partners to sell out not long into the venture, Haber said.

“Our first night, we served roughly 27 diners,” said Haber. “I think I was five or six when we bought the place and was raised in that place, you know, my entire life.”

Her parents set about expanding the shop into a full-service restaurant, and over the next 35 years, they built a landmark. Wolf Bay Lodge was a little out-of-the way for beach-bound tourists. But among locals, and visitors who’d been tipped off to seek it out, its name became a byword for authentic Gulf Coast Seafood and top-notch service.

In some imaginary world, all the Wrapes and their descendants would have had to do at that point was to keep everything the same. But that wasn’t an option. Damage from Hurricane Ivan in 2004 shut the restaurant down for more than half a year, but it was nothing compared to the fire that destroyed the original Lodge.

“When the fire happened in ‘08, it was devastating, that news,” said Haber. “It traveled around the world. I even heard from people in Europe. I mean, it made national news. And literally down here was like a drive-through funeral procession. That’s the only way I can describe it.”

Everything changed. Wolf Bay reopened at Zeke’s Marina in Orange Beach. The thought was that this would be temporary, but the proprietors soon learned first-hand that being in the thick of the tourist market opened up a whole new world of business.

Meanwhile, plans to reopen in Miflin evolved in an unexpected direction: Westward to a new site in Foley, much closer to Ala. 59 and all its beach traffic. Looking back, Haber said a big motivating factor was that the city of Foley was extremely welcoming and proactive, offering a lease on a city-owned property that had previously been the Wilson Pecan Co. (Within a few years, Wolf Bay was able to purchase the site from the city, she said.)

The Foley restaurant opened at the end of 2010; by that point, the operators had decided that it made sense to keep the Orange Beach location going, too. The pattern was set, though the Orange Beach location eventually shifted from the marina to a free-standing building along Perdido Beach Boulevard.

Fifteen years later, and more than 50 years since the Wrapes eased into the business, both Wolf Bay Seafood & Steak locations are going strong. That’s pretty convincing evidence that the family owners have been doing a few things right – and it’s not hard to figure out what some of them are.

The two locations have different moods. As befits its prime location in condo country, the Orange Beach store feels newer and more stylish and has plenty of natural light. The Foley location has a darker, woodier interior with a much more down-home vibe, and a sizeable boutique store stocked with jewelry, clothing and other wares up front. “We do get locals in the Orange Beach one, but it really serves the tourists,” said Haber. “Where my Foley location serves the tourists, but really caters to the locals.”

You get the same service either way, so it’s a fine distinction. The menus are also much the same, and that’s where the fun begins.

For lunch in Orange Beach, I opened with the Peel ‘N’ Eat Shrimp appetizer ($13). It’s advertised as half a pound of boiled shrimp, served hot or cold. It was pretty on the plate: an artful pinwheel of 10 shrimp big enough to be two or three bites each, making this a tasting plate for the party or an entrée for one. These specimens also featured crisp texture and clean flavor so it would have been shameful to bury them under breading or alfredo sauce or any other coating. They were good with a dash of the house cocktail sauce, but better with a squeeze of lemon juice.

For a dinner visit in Foley, I went with something almost completely different: the Shrimp Nachos ($14). Now, let’s be honest: Any of us could dump some chips on a plate, throw on whatever leftover shrimp we had handy, cover that in queso and maybe garnish with taco toppings – and that would be all right. It might fail to elevate its mediocre ingredients to a higher level, but it couldn’t possibly be bad.

Wolf Bay’s version is a lesson in what sets the restaurant apart.

First, the shrimp are grilled. They didn’t have to do that, but the sear and the seasoning make for a better visual impression and help the shrimp stand out tastewise when they’re in the sauce. Speaking of sauce: This isn’t queso from a food-service barrel, it’s house-made Mornay sauce. And why would they give you chips when they could give you fried pita tips?

It’s a sham. It’s a hoax. This is false advertising. The shrimp are a topping you’d be happy to eat straight, without the chips and cheese. The “cheese” is some fancy French sauce. And the so-called “chips” are so decadent that if you scraped off all the sauce and toppings and ate them plain, they’d still be the richest thing you had today. Calling this “nachos” is just the setup for a sucker punch. But it is incredibly good, and you should try it.

You can get that same Mornay sauce on a few other dishes, including the Fried Green Tomatoes appetizer ($11) and the Signature Shrimp & Grits ($26). But for my lunch in Orange Beach, something else caught my eye. My colleague Matt Wake has been bragging on Huntsville’s Reuben game, so I went with the Grouper Reuben ($22 with fries or fresh fruit).

What impressed me from the first bite was the balance of the sandwich. When you get a Reuben you want certain notes: You want the rye, the sauerkraut, the salad dressing. Fish can be more delicate than corned beef, though, and if all this stuff overwhelmed a good piece of grouper, there’d be no point. The folks at Wolf Bay don’t let that happen. Starting with big slabs of grilled grouper helps. While the flavors of rye and thousand-island dressing were distinct, it seemed they were a little milder than you might commonly find. The result isn’t a toned-down Reuben, it’s just a seafood Reuben that showcases the fish rather than burying it.

It turns out that the dressing is one of many things that’s made in-house at Wolf Bay.

“We make all that stuff, the Mornay, we make the Alfredo, we make the gumbo, we make the tartar sauce, the cocktail sauce, the ranch, we make it all,” said Haber.

“We are so fortunate to be in this area, to get our hands on so much fresh food,” she said. “I always buy local corn, local peppers, local cucumbers, local squash, local zucchini. Anything that we’re growing or can catch here, we get it.”

This attitude ramifies in other ways. Steaks are hand-cut daily, never frozen. Chicken is cut and cooked in-house, rather than using pre-processed food-service products, even for the chicken salad. “I’m literally boiling my own chicken, picking it off the bone, chopping my own vegetables and mixing my chicken salad,” said Haber. “And that goes for every salad. We stuff our own deviled eggs and those salads that are on that bar, except for canned olives or anything like that, we make it.”

The local purchasing and in-house prep results in one of the best salad bars you’ll find. None of this is cheap or easy: “I’m losing my tail on payroll,” said Haber. But that’s a trade-off she accepts.

“That’s what drew people to Wolf Bay,” she said. “And if it’s not broke, I can’t fix it. I’m second generation, and I’m doing everything the first generation taught me to do, but I brought it to another level. We didn’t have pasta on the menu. We didn’t have Alfredos on the menu. We didn’t have chicken parmesan. But I took the foundation that my parents set for me, and I didn’t change a thing, and I will not ever. Because it worked, and people got used to those standards.”

The approach naturally shows in Wolf Bay’s signature specialties, such as the Whole Crab Stuffed Flounder ($38). The broiled dish pairs the down-to-earth character of flounder with a bold crab stuffing, and lets you decide how much of each you want in your next bite.

Change continues. Haber lamented the recent retirement of Fannie Bell Brown, aka “Ma Bell,” a veteran prep cook whose output of peeled and deveined shrimp, stuffed crabs and other labor-intensive items was legendary. “She was 92 years old and could outwork most every 20-year-old I got in the building,” said Haber.

But the third generation of the family is stepping up. One of Haber’s daughters, Whitney Haber Kelley, runs the Orange Beach store, and another, Courtney Haber Brumley, works there.

Haber is quick to credit key staff for Wolf Bay’s ongoing success: Foley General Manager Chanda Hurley, chefs Paul Able and Brandy McGill. “I love what I do, and I try to find people that love what they do,” she said. “And I try to find people that are more knowledgeable than I am because I feel if I surround myself with knowledgeable people, we’ll grow together.”

What’s the secret to maintaining a reputation established over the course of 50-plus years? Not taking anything for granted. The fundamentals may seem simple, such as starting with fresh ingredients and committing to in-house prep, but they’re never going to require less care or effort.

“The freshest I can make it is the best meal to me,” said Haber. “That, to me, is the best meal that I can provide to my customers and my guests: The freshest I can put it on that plate and get it to you.”

“It’s just in my blood, it’s in my bones, and I just love it to this day,” she said. “My body’s not so happy with it, but I still love my restaurant.”

Wolf Bay Seafood & Steak is at 20801 Miflin Road in Foley and 24131 Perdido Beach Blvd. in Orange Beach. For more information, including menus, visit www.wolfbaylodge.com.