The Florida Foodie
Café Chardonnay: A Palm Beach County Fine Dining Institution
4533 PGA Blvd. (In the Gardens Square Shoppes), Palm Beach Gardens, Florida 561.627.2662
By Saucy Sarah
Since opening its doors in 1986, Café Chardonnay has been serving up some of Palm Beach County’s finest American cuisine. Anyone who has lived here long enough will equate fine dining with Café Chardonnay. I grew up knowing that eating a meal at Café Chardonnay was a very special thing, indeed. Tucked in the corner of the Gardens Square Shoppes, just west of I-95, off PGA Blvd, the restaurant is rather deceptive at first glance. As you approach you will find the shopping center’s walkway transformed into a lush grotto with water fountains and candle light. Though Café Chardonnay is, technically, in a strip mall, this restaurant is light years beyond any stereotypical strip-mall eatery. As you enter through its doors into the main dining room you are transported to a realm of rich pallets of warm dark woods and deep golden tones. Everything at Café Chardonnay is a delightful event of surprises.
My dining companions and I visited during September and participated in their Flavor Palm Beach Pre fix menu which consisted of four courses for a fixed price of $35.00. The menu offered several options for each of the four courses that included: appetizer, salad, main entrée, and dessert. Café Chardonnay also offers an extensive daily menu with hints of French influence. Their wine list is also vast and impressive. Our server was very knowledgeable of wines and answered all of our questions competently.
The highlight of the meal was the Bouillabaisse. The steaming bowl of seafood cloaked in a rich tomato-based broth was intense, slightly sweet, and infused with all the goodness of the sea. I ate the entire giant bowl with a child-like glee. The Australian Lamb chops were cooked to perfection with a rosy pink center. The escargots in puff pastry were also divine. Meaty, tender, and swimming in a rich garlic sauce, we could have eaten seconds. Even the bread basket that was brought to our table was a dazzling array of warm, fresh-baked rolls and flatbreads, served with a punchy Baba ghanoush rather than butter.
Another true highlight of the evening was the service. I am a big sucker for great service when I dine out and Café Chardonnay has it down to a science. An unobtrusive yet attentive server and assistant doted on us, yet we were not overwhelmed by their presence. Our utensils where changed for each new course of the meal with the quick deft hand of a magician. We wanted for nothing, never had to ask for a thing. This is the service I expect in a five-star restaurant.
If you are looking for an indulgent dining experience where food and service will exceed your expectations, try Café Chardonnay. Where most restaurant fail in the first five years, Café Chardonnay’s long-standing presence in the county is a testament to their excellence. There is nothing tired about it. Café Chardonnay is a true dinning institution.
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In her previous life, Sarah, a Palm Beach County Native, spent ten years working in various high-end eating establishments around South Florida. She is currently a fiction thesis candidate in the MFA program at Florida International University where she also teaches creative writing and rhetoric. If that is not enough, Sarah is also the owner of Cakes by Sarah, a local custom cake shop. Sarah lives in Lake Worth with her husband and two beautiful boys. “Food, fiction, and family are my life.”
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Note: The Florida Foodie is looking to highlight Holiday Green Markets and Bazaars happening in the month of December that feature food! Please submit your event to the Florida Foodie no later than November 16th to be featured in the December issue of foodie holiday shopping! Craft fairs, Bazaars, Holiday Shopping events, Green Markets, Toy drives, and more! As long as there are food vendors, food trucks, treat stalls, produce markets, it can be featured on the list!