Guy Fieri-featured Palm Beach County restaurant closes after 10 years

NOTE: This story was updated with exclusive details.

A Boynton Beach restaurant that earned national attention this year from Guy Fieri has closed after a nearly decade.

Driftwood, the chef-driven restaurant from Jimmy Everett and his wife, Ilia Gonzalez-Colon, served its final patrons Sunday, Nov. 1.

Everett told The Palm Beach Post that his wife's recent death “has changed everything” and how financial circumstances made continuing impossible.

“Closing Driftwood last night was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do,” Everett said. “Ilia and I built this place together, and it became so much more than a restaurant.”

The closing comes less than six months after Driftwood landed on Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” where Fieri lavished praise on Everett’s cooking, calling one dish “masterful.”

From Boynton Beach favorite to ‘Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives’ fame

Driftwood opened on Federal Highway in Boynton Beach in 2017, taking over the longtime former Scully’s location. By 2019, The Palm Beach Post was already describing the restaurant as a local favorite.

Its reputation eventually traveled beyond Boynton Beach. Driftwood appeared on PBS’ “Check, Please! South Florida” and landed on The Post’s 2023 list of 15 drive-worthy Palm Beach County restaurants.

Then came “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.”

The May 8 episode, “From Bunny Chow to Chicken Oysters,” featured two of Everett’s dishes, crispy chicken oysters and smoked pork jowl fried rice. Everett submitted 11 recipes before the show selected the pair.

Fieri was particularly taken with the fried rice and its 137.5-degree duck egg.

“You know when you go to a concert, there’s always something that stands out,” Fieri said during the episode. “Little did I know, the 137.5-degree duck egg was going to be the pièce de résistance. It’s a masterful dish.”

‘Driftwood was never just a restaurant to us’

Everett and Gonzalez built Driftwood around local sourcing and relationships with farmers and fishermen, an ethos that became part of the restaurant’s identity during its 10 years in Boynton Beach.

Their story began years earlier in New York, where the couple met while working at Marea. Everett was an executive sous chef at the acclaimed Manhattan restaurant before they eventually made their way to South Florida.

In his farewell posted on Facebook, Everett recalled a 2012 trip to Tulum, where they sat on a beach drinking a warm beer and talking about their future. Gonzalez asked what the large piece of wood they were sitting on was called.

Driftwood.

Moments later, Everett asked Gonzalez to marry him. She said yes.

Years later, that piece of wood gave their restaurant its name. They envisioned “a place where people felt welcome, where our team could grow, where local farmers and fishermen were valued, and where our community could come together.”

What they built lasted a decade.

Everett told The Palm Beach Post that closing the restaurant was “one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.”

“Ilia and I built this place together, and it became so much more than a restaurant,” Everett said. “We put so much of ourselves into it, and it gave us more than we ever could have imagined.”

Everett also addressed why Driftwood could not continue.

“Losing Ilia has changed everything, and the financial reality we’re facing means I can’t keep the restaurant running,” he said.

Everett thanked the staff, farmers, fishermen, small businesses and longtime patrons who supported Driftwood throughout its run.

“I’m incredibly proud of what we built and grateful to everyone who helped make Driftwood what it was,” he said. “The love and support we’ve felt from our community during this incredibly difficult time has meant more than I can put into words.”

In his Facebook farewell, Everett summed up the restaurant’s legacy simply: “Driftwood is, was, and always will be about the people.”

This is a developing story that may be updated. Diana Biederman is the Palm Beach Post's food & restaurant writer. Care to share news tips about the local dining scene? Please send them to [email protected]. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.