Located within the elegantly restored landmark, now in league with the Four Seasons, The Surf Club is a prime location for Thomas Keller’s first Florida venture. The restaurant boasts all of the style and elegance of a private, members-only hangout with a handsome vintage bar, plush banquettes and dim, amber-hued lighting. Don’t rush—you’ll want to soak up all of its Art Deco glamour.
Sharp-suited servers exude a certain effortless professionalism—not unlike the impressive Continental cooking. Perfectly seared crab cake with spicy mayonnaise and a thinly sliced cole slaw is at once familiar and new, though sauces are what this team does best, as in the brilliantly reimagined Maine lobster thermidor with sauce Américaine and the coconut chiffon cake with lime-flecked crème anglaise.
