Family who owns The Gafford opens new casual restaurant billed as modern New Americana
A new restaurant is filling a void in Palm City.
Palm City Social has opened on Martin Downs Boulevard in the Martin Downs Village Center.
It’s the second restaurant for Palm City residents Rick and Elizabeth Wilson and their son, Taylor. They also own The Gafford in downtown Stuart.
“We all live here,” Taylor Wilson said, adding Palm City doesn't have many restaurants, so residents have to drive to Stuart for more choices. “We tried to create a spot that we would want to go to.”
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Wilson, 34, and his parents moved 11 years ago from Dallas, Texas, to Palm City, where his grandparents had retired. His dad was regional vice president for the national casual dining restaurant company Brinker International for 25 years and, at one point in his career, had over 200 restaurants, including national chains such as Chili’s Grill & Bar and Maggiano’s Little Italy.
Taylor Wilson was a chef in corporate dining when his dad asked if he wanted to move to Florida to open a restaurant.
“This is his retirement,” Wilson said — but “I don’t know if it’s retirement or not.”
At age 23, Wilson became head chef when his family opened The Gafford in 2011. Five years ago, Wilson met his wife, and they had two children.
Then Wilson and his mom pushed his dad to do more.
“I don’t want to say we were bored with The Gafford,” Wilson said, “but we kind of had a very well-oiled machine that we could take time to do something else.”
The restaurant, which opened Oct. 21, took 17 months to renovate — 13 months and $2 million more than planned, Wilson said. They took over three spaces in the Martin Downs Village Center, including the Palm City Chamber of Commerce, to build the 151-seat restaurant. They plan to add an 80-seat outdoor-dining patio.
Palm City Social is completely different than The Gafford, which is more expensive, he said. It can accommodate big parties and families with a children’s menu.
“We created Palm City Social to be more of a social gathering place, where I feel The Gafford is more of a date night,” Wilson said. “It’s more of an intimate experience, where Palm City Social is more of an open floor plan, not really a secluded area for people to dine.”
For now, a sous chef handles the day-to-day at The Gafford while Wilson spends most of his time at Palm City Social. Later, he will split his time between both restaurants.
Wilson described the restaurant as “modern New Americana.” The menu features appetizers, handhelds, salads and small-plate options — no big steaks yet. He plans to roll out a new menu next year that includes steak. Happy hour from 4-6 p.m. features only discounted drinks for now; he’ll add food later, he said.
The biggest seller is the 16-ounce Berkshire pork chop ($36) with gruyere, caramelized onion crème and wilted spinach over whipped Palm City potatoes and local vegetables. Wilson said he goes through 50 pork chops every night.
The second top seller is the chicken Milanese ($22) with crispy chicken cutlets over piquillo pepper and artichoke bruschetta, topped with a salad of vine ripe tomatoes, arugula, lemon balsamic vinaigrette and hand-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.
The third top seller is the short-rib grilled cheese ($20) with crisp sourdough bread, overnight braised short rib, homemade pimento, cheddar cheese, pickled onions and chimichurri. He said the sourdough is made in New York, just for the restaurant.
Appetizers include ahi tuna cones ($15) with sesame waffle, wasabi aioli and wakame, as well as steak tartare ($26) with hand-cut tenderloin, classic accoutrements folded in, baby herbs, horseradish-garlic aioli and sourdough.
Desserts include a banana split board ($19) with Haagen-Dazs vanilla bean ice cream topped with fresh whipped cream, candied pecans, cherries, hot fudge, strawberry coulis, and caramel finished with caramelized bananas.
Wilson tries to get farm-to-table food when he can. All the fish dishes — except the Faroe Island salmon ($29) — is local from New England Seafood Market in Jensen Beach. He also works with Kai Kai Farm in Indiantown.
“It’s helping our community,” Wilson said.
Palm City Social
Address: 3162 S.W. Martin Downs Blvd., Palm City
Hours: 5-9 p.m. Sunday, Tuesday-Thursday; 5-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday (bar opens 4 p.m.; closed Monday)
Phone: 772-254-4247
Laurie K. Blandford is TCPalm's entertainment reporter and columnist dedicated to finding the best things to do on the Treasure Coast. Follow her on Twitter @TCPalmLaurie and Facebook @TCPalmLaurie. Email her at [email protected]. Sign up for her What To Do in 772 weekly newsletter at profile.tcpalm.com/newsletters/manage.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: New restaurant: Owners of The Gafford in Stuart open Palm City Social