Restaurant & Bar Awards 2021

www.lux-review.com Page 29 LUX 2021 Restaurant & Bar Awards A stunning seaside restaurant with its own dockside marina, the Palm Valley Outdoor Bar and Grill has ingrained itself in the local community, just as each one of the proprietors of its building before it have done. Writing the newest chapter of the Palm Valley area’s oldest building, business is booming for this prestigious and active hotspot of social activity. PalmValley Outdoors Bar and Grill Best Casual Waterfront Family Restaurant - Florida Mar21366 Located in Ponte Vedra Beach in the sunny Palm Valley of Florida, Palm Valley Outdoor Bar and Grill is a singularly unique restaurant offering an exemplary outdoor dining experience. Throughout the years that it has been in operation, it has made itself a staple hangout in its local area, with many returning customers that have since become regulars, and attracting locals and tourists alike. It boasts a beautiful location right on the waterfront with a magnificent view of the bay, offering sheltered dining under umbrellas and palm fronds whilst the well-appointed restaurant building adds another splash of colour, complimenting the clear water and vibrant area. Although it is a comparatively small business, it has become one of the area’s most loved. Furthermore, Palm Valley Bar’s main building is the oldest in the surrounding region, having survived disaster after disaster, from hurricanes and fires to the construction of a new bridge over it serving nearby southeast Jacksonville. It has previously been used as everything from a petroleum station to a fishing outpost, and even and bootlegging operation. Due to this, the building carries a lot of weight for the local area, and the current founders recognize this. To ensure it was done justice and is kept in a state that reflects its storied past, the current husband and wife duo running the place have redecorated and overhauled its façade whilst keeping the building’s original charm. It was quite the task – when the two bought it, the place had become derelict, and the redevelopment was a multi-million-dollar project. However, it was worth it; the Palm Valley Grill that sprung from this has proven that sometimes when one looks after a building, it looks after you right back. The restoration and update turned it into the beautiful waterside hut that it is today, with an award-winning bar both outdoor and indoor, and a retail store selling tackle and gear. It also has an on-site boat storage facility and all-new marina, allowing its clientele to dock right out front. This has allowed it to benefit from a wide-ranging clientele that have flocked back to the building, both out of curiosity and due to the convenience of its location for much of the area. It has thus built up a diverse crowd, with customers ranging from young people to older folks. It also employs a myriad of different people, all of whom provide fresh and invaluable voices to become the new lifeblood of the Palm Valley Bar. Its current staff number at over 85 people, spanning all sorts of ages and backgrounds, as it finds that the business only benefits from the varied perspectives and experiences each of them approach their work with. The job roles involve everything from line chefs creating expertly made meals for its clientele to overseeing boats docking and launching in the intracoastal waterway. Each of these people has been utterly vital to the success story of the Palm Valley Bar, and it wishes to thank each one of them for their hard work and dedication. It has made itself a trendy and upbeat local recreational culinary destination, and thus believes that the customer experience is the most important part of its operation. Its processes have been developed off the back of this, serving the marina’s boaters with top of the line sunglasses and fishing reels sold from its stores, and the provision of an idyllic waterside getaway for all who come across it. The dockside patio’s view of the water gives patrons a place to spot manatees, enjoy live music by roaring firepits, choose from a variety of over 600 whiskeys, and watch the diverse boat traffic go by. As a final word, the owners of Palm Valley had this to say: ‘Palm Valley Outdoors embodies not only the Floridian way of life, but it serves as an example of how small businesses can thrive in chaotic times while respecting both human and animal welfare, all while nurturing the soul with food made the right way: darn slow.’ Company: Palm Valley Outdoors Bar and Grill Contact: Toni Kara Website: https://palmvalleyoutdoors.com/