Creating ‘a better food place’: Chef hosting 2 dinners dedicated to South Florida farmers & fishers
A fisherman recently texted from his boat to ask Boynton Beach chef Jimmy Everett if he was interested in the 80-pound swordfish the captain had reeled in that night.
Everett happily acquired the serendipitous fish and — after calling a couple of other local chefs to take what he could not use — then set about adding a swordfish dish to the next day’s menu at his well-regarded restaurant, Driftwood.
Since opening the restaurant in Boynton Beach in 2018, Everett’s menu has been a dynamic document. When you are committed to hyper-fresh ingredients sourced from local farmers and local anglers, you are dependent on the whims of nature and your own ability to organize and improvise.
The Driftwood menu changes daily, or every other day: A Loxahatchee farmer’s crop of eggplant may not be as numerous as anticipated. A swordfish drops in your lap. One menu item is revised or eliminated, and another takes its place.
“I don’t just serve snapper because people want snapper. Say we printed the menu and the fish shows up and we’re not happy with the quality. I’m not serving it. I’m not gonna compromise quality just to have something to have it,” says Everett, a Lake Worth Beach native who grew up fishing local waters.
Understandably, the diner at Driftwood may be disappointed to learn a menu item is altered or unavailable. Communication is key, says Everett, who has spent more than 20 years in the high-stress dining industry but retains a laid-back warmth.
“We’re honest about it. I have no problem going and talking with the guests. It’s a little easier for them to swallow it when the chef is telling them rather than the server,” the 38-year-old Everett says, laughing. ”As long as we verbalize it properly, nine times out of 10 the guest is going to appreciate that.”
A study in youthful ease and humility, Everett may be easy to misread. He possesses a robust backstory. He is one of the most respected chefs in South Florida, having trained at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., then opening restaurants in New York, Hong Kong and Los Angeles.
His resume includes stints at Michelin-starred Italian restaurant Marea on Manhattan’s Central Park South, Wylie Dufresne’s Lower East Side landmark WD-50 and, locally, Giovanni Rocchio’s revered Valentino Cucina in Fort Lauderdale.
With his critically praised work in the place where he grew up, Everett says he is trying to invigorate a local community of diners who value food that is thoughtfully prepared and sourced. He believes South Florida has all the local ingredients necessary to create a distinctive farm-to-table, sea-to-plate scene.
“It’s not about me, it’s not about Driftwood. We want to make this area a better food place. Restaurants should be sourcing products more sustainably and more locally, and encouraging the things that people are doing here,” Everett says.
“A lot of restaurants say, ‘Yeah, we do local stuff, farm to table’ — and a lot of that is just BS,” he says. “It bothers me a little bit.”
Farm country
One of his favorite people is Diane Cordeau, co-owner with husband Carl Frost of Kai-Kai Farm, a desirably remote and beautiful 40-acre spread in Indiantown, about 50 miles northwest of Driftwood.
A geometric maze of vegetables, herbs and flowers created on the remnants of a defunct citrus grove two decades ago, Kai-Kai Farm is a lovely spot that professional photographers frequently reserve for clients. It has a short stretch of road called Eucalyptus Lane, shaded on each side by a line of 85-foot trees that Cordeau planted by hand 20 years ago, which looks like it might lead to a French country estate.
But the farm’s primary role is as a source of dish-defining ingredients for some of the top chefs in the region, including Clay Conley, Pushkar Marathe, Rick Mace, John Thomas, Lindsay Autry, Taylor Mohlmann and Tim Lipman.
Everett calls Kai-Kai Farm “the quiet workhorse of the local farms that provide for restaurants.”
On Monday, May 13, Everett and Driftwood chef-partner Tommy Coombs will host a four-course demonstration dinner at Kai-Kai Farm from 6:30 to 9 p.m. The two chefs will prepare the meal while their work is filmed and live-streamed to screens around an intimate, covered dining area, offering preparation techniques, tips, recipes and stories. The BYOB event costs $95+.
On Sunday, May 19, chef John Thomas of the excellent West Palm Beach restaurant Sassafras will host a Farm-to-Table Dinner at Kai-Kai, which begins with a 4 p.m. tour of the farm and includes hors d’oeuvres, a four-course dinner and wine pairings, plus live music. Cost: $135+.
Each dinner will be a showcase for just-picked crops at Kai-Kai Farm, including fennel, eggplant, Swiss chard, spicy arugula and the farm’s signature Broccolini. The farm produces more than 50 varieties of produce, including 30 types of lettuce.
Cordeau fields calls year-round from chefs seeking updates about her crops and to stake a claim to certain ingredients they want to serve at high-end restaurants in Palm Beach and Martin counties. During season, her team makes two deliveries a week at restaurants from Stuart and Palm Beach Gardens to Boynton Beach, where Driftwood is her southernmost stop.
“The Broccolini is what we’re famous for with all the chefs. It’s very tender and sweet. It’s like a fight, kids in a candy store,” Cordeau says, with a laugh.
Air and sea
Among a dwindling number of South Florida farmers, Cordeau and her husband are among the most fascinating. A native of Montreal (“A city girl all the way”), Cordeau was a flight attendant for Air Canada for 25 years when she retired and the couple bought a 44-foot sailboat for what became a 10-year journey in the South Pacific.
Their experience anchored in remote regions of the Solomon Islands, meeting tribal people living in chronic poverty, was transformative. The chief and village elders would paddle dugout canoes to greet them and offer an invitation to have “kai-kai,” to gather or share food.
“We would stay two or three weeks in their village helping them figure out how to grow on coral,” Cordeau says.
Weary of the sea, Cordeau and Frost settled at the University of Florida, where Cordeau studied entomology, then agriculture. She did an internship at (now-closed) Green Cay Farm in Boynton Beach, then Frost found the Indiantown grove for sale, where the trees had succumbed to citrus canker.
As in their sailing days, Cordeau and Frost are a team: She and a veteran staff of locals from Indiantown handle the farming and harvesting, while he takes care of the accounting, maintenance and critical water management system, which uses a network of trenches to keep water on the property.
“We’re not certified organic, but we do the best we can. We don’t put chemicals (on the fields),” Cordeau says. At 74, she is still an active participant in the harvest — she will drive the tractor if necessary.
Cordeau says an agritourism bill that became law in 2016 was critical in helping Kai-Kai Farm and other small properties stay in business by enabling them to host dinners, parties, weddings, receptions and other events. Kai-Kai Farm also offers a farmers’ market on Saturday mornings.
“Everybody was selling their land, but they passed the bill that said you can do what you like on your land. So we were able to do weddings without being in trouble,” she says.
Kai-Kai Farm soon had a dining hall, a chef-worthy kitchen and event space for 150 guests. Cordeau and Frost built a small home on the property, with a three-room suite for brides and their entourage to get ready for the ceremony. There’s a 36-foot RV for grooms to gather.
The quiet seclusion that attracts a steady stream of guests to Kai-Kai Farm is also what Cordeau loves.
“My energy goes to the people. We think we do a good job, and we have great reviews, and that’s important to us. But when they’re gone, ah, I can relax with my fields. As much as I like people, I’m happy in my cocoon out here,” Cordeau says.
Local Dinner
Kai-Kai Farm beets will be on the menu at Driftwood on Monday, May 20, as Everett will be “celebrating local products and local people” with Local Dinner, a five-course event beginning at 6 p.m. Tickets cost $125, with an optional wine pairing for an additional $50.
The menu also will feature locally caught mackerel; Treasure Coast oysters from Sebastian; mushrooms from Gratitude Garden Farm in Loxahatchee; short ribs from Quincey Cattle in Chiefland, near Gainesville; and chocolate from 5150 Chocolate in Delray Beach.
Everett expects some of the local farmers, anglers and purveyors to attend the dinner, too.
“I want people to see the people that I’m supporting. I want those people to be supported,” he says. “We don’t use local just because it’s local. We spend a lot of time finding the best of the local products. We figure this could be a night to showcase those people, to give them some credit. A lot of these people, they barely make ends meet year to year.”
IF YOU GO
Demonstration Dinner with Executive Chef Jimmy Everett and Chef Tommy Coombs from Driftwood Boynton Beach: 6:30-9 p.m. Monday, May 13, at Kai-Kai Farm, 8006 SW Kanner Highway, Indiantown. Cost: $95+. Visit KaiKaiFarm.com.
Farm-to-Table Dinner By Chef John Thomas from Sassafras: 4-9 p.m. Sunday, May 19, at Kai-Kai Farm. Cost: $135+. Visit KaiKaiFarm.com.
Local Dinner: 6 p.m. Monday, May 20, at Driftwood, 2005 S. Federal Highway, Boynton Beach. Cost: $125+. Visit Instagram.com/eatdrinkatdriftwood.
Staff writer Ben Crandell can be reached at bcrandell@sunsentinel.com. Follow on Instagram @BenCrandell and Twitter @BenCrandell.