SILKIE’S CHICKEN AND CHAMPAGNE BAR: THE NAME SAYS IT ALL
The Cost - $20 per person
The Atmosphere – Located in Jacksonville’s up and coming Springfield neighborhood, Silkie’s Chicken and Champagne Bar is a casual but fun order-at-the-counter restaurant spot that is popular among tourists and locals alike. Offering both indoor and outdoor seating, there can be a line to order and the food doesn’t always come out quickly. It’s a cool spot for a casual date, a meal with friends, or for solo diners. The restaurant doesn’t take reservations but does accept credit cards and is currently only open Wednesday to Sunday.
Chef Kenny Gilbert, who you may know from Top Chef season 7, opened Silkie’s Chicken and Champagne Bar at the end of 2020. The Southern style fried chicken spot doesn’t just specialize in chicken and biscuits though, it also has a think for champagne and champagne cocktails. It makes sense then, that in addition to dinner, it also serves brunch from Friday to Sunday. To get a taste of Chef Gilbert’s globally inspired, yet Southern-rooted offerings, I went to Silkie’s for dinner.
The Order – The St. Augustine, Silkie’s Chicken, Biscuit & Fries, Truffle Smoked Gouda Mac + Cheese.
The Great – My favorite of the two dishes that were ordered was the St. Augustine, a churro waffle chicken sandwich. Inside of the two churro waffles, which were heavily dusted with sugar and cinnamon, were fried chicken thights that were dripping in pimento cheese butter. The large sandwich, which came with pineapple and syrup on the side, was really fun and a bit messy to eat. The fried chicken with the pimento cheese butter was absolutely delicious and this sandwich would have earned a Fantastic rating but it was unfortunately too sweet, with the inside contents overpowered by the two big dessert like waffles. When I made it into an open faced sandwich by taking off the top waffle, the sandwich was much more balanced and the flavors of the chicken and pimento cheese came through better. Thinner, less sweet waffles would go a long way to making this great sandwich even better, but as it was I really enjoyed this dish.
The other entrée that was ordered, the Silkie’s Chicken, Biscuit & Fries, was also very good. For this dish, you choose the type of chicken you want, then pick three sauces for it, as well as your choice of one of the restaurant’s homemade biscuits. And if that wasn’t enough, it also comes with fries. Since we got fried chicken on the St. Augustine, I wanted to try a non-fried chicken option and the only one on the menu was jerk chicken and so I ordered that with Alabama White BBQ, Hot Honey, and Hot Sauce, and a Jalapeño Cheddar Biscuit that came with a bacon jam. The sauces were good but not amazing but the bacon jam that came with the not-too-spicy biscuit was incredible. The chicken itself was very good and I’m glad I got to try the non-fried option. It wasn’t as spicy as a Jamaican Jerk chicken but it was very tasty.
The Good – The Truffle Smoked Gouda Mac + Cheese sounded too good to pass up and so we ordered a side of it. The portion was good and the shell pasta came with a gouda cheese sauce melted into it with a slice of what looked like American cheese and some herbs melted on top. While it wasn’t bad, it also didn’t blow me away with the lack of truffle flavor and non-impressive cheeses really being the main factors for that conclusion. The shell pasta was good but without an amazing cheese, a mac and cheese can never be great.
The Verdict – Silkie’s Chicken and Champagne Bar was a really fun place to enjoy a delicious meal. Even though I was a little disappointed by the mac and cheese, the rest of the meal was very tasty. Jacksonville needs more eateries like Silkie’s.
Silkie’s Chicken and Champagne Bar
1602 Walnut St, Jacksonville, FL 32206