COMFORT FOOD

Comfort Food and Old-Fashioned Community at Silkie's

Story by KATIE MCPHERSON

Looking back on the coronavirus pandemic, we have probably all found a few new favorites: favorite shows to binge-watch on weekends, favorite ways to workout at home, or new favorite hobbies that allow us to get out of the house safely. My husband took up disc golf, for example, while I have become addicted to TikTok and making cookies. I did not anticipate finding a new favorite restaurant during quarantine, but if 2020 taught the world anything, it is to expect the unexpected. And Silkie’s Chicken & Champagne Bar has been exactly the kind of good surprise my community needed in such a draining year. It even opened on Chef Kenny Gilbert • Photo by Agnes Lopez Election Day, November 3, 2020.

Jacksonville, Florida is called “the bold new city of Gilbert closed his other beloved Jacksonville restaurants, the South” thanks, in part, to its booming craft brewery Gilbert’s Social and Gilbert’s Underground Kitchen, in late scene and ever-expanding list of local eateries. You could 2019 to focus on new ventures. Getting into the Silkie’s visit for a weekend, do nothing but eat and imbibe, and location was one of them, specifically because the brick barely scratch the surface of the incredible culinary finds building held special memories for Gilbert and his wife, around here. Anna. “When we first started dating, we would go there to

I live in Springfield, one of Jax’s historic neighborhoods, Three Layers to have coffee with her dad, who we care for located just outside downtown. Houses here date back now. She wanted that space for awhile — literally had her to the early 1900s, with a few from 1896 that somehow sights set on it for 10 years,” he said. managed to survive Downtown Jacksonville’s Great Fire Opening a new restaurant concept with a new menu in of 1901. People here know each other by face and name, a new location was, understandably, nerve-wracking for lend each other tools and the couple. Fear was their helping hands, and come biggest challenge, he said. together often at our local “Local businesses open because “Fear of the unknown. Will bars and restaurants. It is the kind of old-fashioned community I thought did they want to share their love of food and service from their people come out to eat? Will they only do takeout? Will they come at all?” not exist anymore, where perspective. They bring compassion With a menu like residents really know and care about each other. We have some notable and soul, pure and simple. We do this from the heart every day. That Silkie’s, I am not sure how you could keep people away. Gilbert describes it neighbors around feeds the soul of the community. as a chicken and biscuit here too. Chef Kenny concept paired with Gilbert joined the Chef Kenny Gilbert champagne cocktails, neighborhood two years a mixture of Southern ago. You may know him from Top Chef, Season 7 cuisine and continental influences. I call it comfort food (chefkennygilbert.com) or making Thanksgiving dinner with unexpected, exciting flavors and the chance to see a for Oprah on Instagram (bit.ly/IG-Oprah-ChefKenny) or talented chef at work (the Silkie’s kitchen is open to the because his spice blends made her list of 2020 favorites dining room). (bit.ly/Oprah-2020Fav-ChefKenny). He has lived and My favorite dish at Silkie’s is their biscuit sampler. worked in Jacksonville off and on since 1992 and moved It features four distinctly flavored biscuits — plantain to Springfield for that community feel. ginger, truffle gouda, jalapeno cheddar, and classic

Chef Kenny Gilbert

Photo by Agnes Lopez

buttermilk — each paired with a house-made jam, butter, and pickled vegetables. The spiced pecan and orange blossom honey butters go well on any of them (or, if I am being honest here, on a spoon straight to the mouth).

In terms of entrees, I love the truffle gouda mac and cheese with blackened chicken, while my husband opts for either the Flavor Bomb or Korean sandwiches. The Flavor Bomb is a truffle gouda biscuit with a fried smoked chicken thigh, all smothered in orange blossom honey and Gilbert’s signature Fernandina Beach hot sauce, clearly living up to its name.

Gilbert himself recommends the Market Street sampler, which is a chicken lover’s dream: a fried chicken breast, fried smoked chicken thigh, jerk chicken thigh, chicken salad, hot sauce, honey, Alabama white barbecue sauce, and, naturally, biscuits and pickles to boot.

If you happen to dine at Silkie’s for breakfast on a weekend, the chicken and waffles is a foolproof choice my husband never deviates from. I am partial to the biscuits and gravy, which is topped with an unconventional brown gravy instead of white and loaded with flavor. Because I have been pregnant since Silkie’s first opened, I have not had a chance to dive into their cocktail menu just yet. That said, the mango nectar mimosas and Red Bottoms wine-based cocktail are on my post-baby must-try list.

In the last five years, Springfield has seen Main Street, its commercial corridor, light up with new bakeries, coffee houses, pizza joints, breweries, a boutique, pet specialty store, ice cream shop, and more. Silkie’s is just a few blocks off that main drag. Of course, it is my selfish hope that there will always be an empty seat and no shortage of biscuits for little old me. But as each new business adds a unique personality to the area, it seems like Springfield is becoming a foodie’s dream destination for other Jacksonville residents and out-of-towners alike.

“Local restaurants are the heartbeat of the community,” said Gilbert. “Local businesses open because they want to share their love of food and service from their perspective. They bring compassion and soul, pure and simple. We do this from the heart every day. That feeds the soul of the community.”

Food Photos by Kristen Penoyer

WHERE TO FIND THEM

Silkie’s Chicken & Champagne Bar| Social Media: @silkiesjax | Website: meetatsilkies.com

Chef Kenny Gilbert | Instagram: @chefkennygilbert | Website: chefkennygilbert.com

Photos by Kristen Penoyer