‘Culinary prankster’ brings playfulness to Lake Park dining

Famed chef David Burke opens a marina-view restaurant, sports bar to anchor Nautilus 220.

Lake Park’s dining scene is now elevated with the addition of SeaHawk Prime and Birdie Dockside Bar & Grill by noted chef David Burke.

Both took their place in January as anchor spaces on the ground floor of the Nautilus 220 condo building, waterfront twin towers that opened in late December after long delays.

SeaHawk is an upscale, modern American steakhouse with a tongue-in-cheek take on the traditional surf and turf items created by Burke. For his creativity, he’s been described as the “culinary prankster.”

He gained recognition in his 20s at New York City’s River Cafe, and helped define modern American food and steakhouse dining in the decades following.

He’s opened Smith & Wollensky steakhouses in South Florida, but these are his first Palm Beach County properties.

“I like to play with my food,” Burke said, describing his style. “I get all these ideas. It’s how I like to cook. Traditional, but with my own twist. I’m always thinking.”

Overlooking the Lake Park Marina, the 221-seat SeaHawk Prime opened for a private New Year’s Eve party, then a week of soft service before hosting the public with its full staffing and dinner menu.

It originally opened for dinner service Thursday through Sunday but now serves daily dinner and Sunday brunch, as well as an all-day happy hour Saturday, starting at noon.

This comes after an 18-month construction delay, and a false start.

A special introductory party in early December had to be held outdoors under tents because Forest Development, which built the 330-unit, 24-story condo towers, had not yet obtained permits for public occupancy.

“We didn’t have our liquor license, either. But in this business, you just pivot,” he said. “We got a temporary catering license so we could serve liquor. We made it work.”

The $300 million condo obtained its certificate of occupancy Dec. 24, just in time for the New Year’s parties.

Birdie, a modern take on the sports bar connected by the terrace to SeaHawk Prime, sold out in January for its Feb. 8 Super Bowl party — a special event. The restaurant isn’t formally open to the public.

“We’ll open it sometime in March,” Burke said, “We’ll do pop-ups and live music, special events and parties a couple times a week until it formally opens.

He’s celebrating the Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl win. “Great publicity for us.”

Two-story, floor-to-ceiling windows

The 7,500-square-foot restaurant at the foot of Silver Beach Road off U.S. 1 is a focal point for the condo. It has a sweeping view of the palm tree-lined marina from the two-story, floor-to-ceiling windows. Garage-style doors swing up to allow the 44-seat bar indoor and outdoor access. Patio seating is on the north side and along the front terrace overlooking the boats and Intracoastal Waterway.

The condo owners are negotiating with the town to obtain designated dockage for boaters for the restaurant. Parking is by complimentary valet.

The light sand- and driftwood-colored finishes and ocean blue server uniforms bring coastal aesthetics to the interior. A boat named “Silver Beach,” a skiff bought from an area native, is suspended by ropes from the ceiling. Its moniker references the strand of beach that was on the condo’s original property, when the town was known as Kelsey City.

“We originally planned that as a mezzanine,” Burke said during a tour of the properties. He pointed to the second-story area above the dining room. “But it wasn’t practical, so we moved our offices there.”

A wall-length portrait of the chef is hung high overlooking the dining room.

“It was the prize when I won the Robert Mondavi Award (of Excellence). My mom said I had to move my art out of her house, so I brought it here.”

Bacon hanging from a clothesline

The steakhouse menu is a blend of classic prime meat choices plus local seafood and creative starters — with Burke’s trademark touches. A few Asian-inspired dishes also are on the list.

All meats are salt-aged in pink Himalayan salt.

“I’m building a salt wall-lined aging room,” Burke said. “It’s antimicrobial. The process tenderizes, but it also prevents bad bacteria and intensifies the flavors. You get a great umami experience, since it allows for longer aging.”

The salt-aging process is patented, and is among several food patents the chef holds.

Other dishes he’s created include the DB OG Clothesline Bacon, now on menus across the country.

“I invented that,” he says. Thick-cut bacon strips coated in spices and drizzled in maple syrup are clipped to a short wire strung between dowels, and cooked off, allowing the fat to drip down the meat.

In showy fashion, also a Burke signature interactive move, the bacon is torched to a flame at the table.

A 34-ounce, 40-day aged Tomahawk steak for two, cooked to order, swings from a heavy chain mounted on a cart. The chef wheels it out and carves it for the diners tableside. The hefty steak knives and chef knives used are also a Burke brand.

The bread basket is atypical as well. In it is a fish-shaped cornbread muffin.

“I got that idea in Thailand. I found this guy with a fish-shaped waffle iron. I really liked it, so I bought it and played with it with the cornbread. It’s fun.”

Radishes, carrots, grapes, a cheese crisp and popovers are served with sweet butter.

Those touches of whimsy are found throughout the menu that ranges in price from $15 for the bread basket to $168 for the Tomahawk for two.

A “raft” made of pretzel sticks laced together is tied to crab cakes with wilted scallions. It’s served on a pool of tomato jam with chipotle aioli.

The lobster dumplings, a mix of chopped lobster, chorizo, spices and tomato miso have a “handle” of the tail stuck from the dumpling wrapper to lift it from the plate popsicle-style.

Burke invented cake pops

On the dessert menu are cake pops — yet another of the chef’s inventions. At SeaHawk Prime, they arrive with a flourish, a variety of cake balls on lollipop sticks mounted on the trunk of a metal tree covered by a canopy of fresh cotton candy.

A smoked apple tart arrives at the table under a dome full of smoke. The dome is lifted and the waft of cinnamon engulfs the table. The smoke comes from burning cinnamon sticks on the plate.

“My chef came up with that, based on my smoked Christmas cards.”

He laughed and told the story of creating a Christmas card that was smoked by holding it over burning spices and pine before sealing it in an envelope.

“You opened the card and smelled all those Christmas spices, like being in a cabin with a Christmas tree and having a fire going,” he said.

The pastry chef recalled the card, and thought the same spices would go well with the tart. It’s been a huge success, he said.

Flying back and forth weekly from New Jersey to manage his seven other restaurants and a bakery there, and keeping up with the build-out and progress in Lake Park, keeps the 63-year-old moving.

The New Jersey native has an informal style and jokes often with his staff, some who have worked for him at his other restaurants. Managers from his northern staff have come to help with service here.

“We’re so busy,” he said. “We’re packed. We’re opening seven days at SeaHawk, and Sunday brunch is doing great. Birdie sold out early for Super Bowl and parties are booking.

“I have events at Swank Farm, there’s Valentine’s Day, plus the South Beach Food and Wine Festival in Miami, and then we’re doing a prix fixe Easter brunch at SeaHawk. This and March are busy months.”

Coffee shop, mini market planned

He’ll continue to focus on getting SeaHawk up to speed, while working on Birdie.

It’s an upscale sports bar with its own kitchen and more casual menu.

Fans will be able to watch their favorite sports with a wall of TVs, and practice their swings at several golf simulator booths. Warm woods give it a tavern, clublike aesthetic.

“I’d actually like to do a cigar bar outside. I’m not sure about the laws in Florida,” Burke said. “It’s still a work in progress.”

After that. a coffee shop and mini market are planned for a front corner of the condo.

“People can come in and get a coffee or pastry. We’ll do sandwiches, and have things you might need to cook or clean.”

It’s not only for workers or boaters headed out of the marina, but residents in the building who might want a prepared meal, he said.

Burke says he plans to get involved in the area food community. He’s been involved in several philanthropic food programs, and created the #FeedtheHeroes program during the pandemic in New York to provide food to frontline workers and charities during lockdown.

“I have an apartment above the restaurant. I get my coffee in the morning and look out over the marina. It’s great.

“And it sure beats the snow.”