It may come as no surprise to savvy Palm Beach diners that when pop icon Taylor Swift and three-time Super Bowl winner Travis Kelce wanted a romantic meal on the island, they headed to Buccan.
Star chef Clay Conley’s restaurant at 350 S. County Road has been open since 2010 and has become known for its seasonal menu and long list of high-profile visitors — to which celebrity-watchers can now add Swift and Kelce.
Swift, who last month celebrated reclaiming ownership of her back catalog, and NFL Kansas City Chiefs tight end Kelce were spotted at Buccan on June 4 sitting close together at a table in a back corner of the restaurant’s cozy dining room.
Here’s what to know about Buccan and its seven-time James Beard Award nominee chef.
Where is Buccan and when did Buccan open?
Buccan is on the northeast corner of South County Road and Australian Avenue in Palm Beach, across the street from Town Hall and next to Gray’s Sunoco, the island’s only gas station.
The restaurant opened in 2010 and quickly earned buzz for its “progressive American grill” concept.
How is ‘Buccan’ pronounced?
The bistro’s name is pronounced boo-KAHN.
What is on Buccan’s menu?
Buccan’s menu changes based upon what is seasonally available.
The current menu features a selection of small dishes — tuna served on a crispy wonton, steak tartare with crispy egg yolk, a Maine lobster aguachile served with tortilla chips — along with plant-based dishes such as a Bing cherry escarole salad with radicchio, Midnight Moon goat cheese, fennel and puffed faro.
Buccan also serves new twists on classic American dishes: short rib empanadas, a hot dog panini, a spicy pork taco and Mediterranean octopus salad.
On the list of pasta dishes are sweet corn agnolotti with ricotta, bacon and spicy espelette butter; and squid ink orecchiette with Italian sausage, basil, chile and conch, giving that dish a particularly Florida feel.
One item you can count on to be on the menu at Buccan: the crispy-salty parmesan fries, a fan favorite.
Which restaurants are associated with Buccan?
In addition to Buccan, there is also the popular Buccan Sandwich Shop, which is a favorite of Midtown Palm Beach workers and visitors and is known for its mouthwatering sandwiches served on fresh bread and wrapped tightly in white paper. Buccan Sandwich Shop has two locations: one with Buccan at 350 S. County Road, and another at 1901 S. Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach.
Grato, an Italian eatery with handmade pastas that include a mean tagliatelle, is also at 1901 S. Dixie Highway.
Imoto, which means “little sister” in Japanese, is next door to Buccan, its older and larger sibling.
Buccan this year will open a new location at 100 Miracle Mile in Coral Gables, according to the restaurant’s website.
How is Buccan ranked?
Buccan regularly is featured on lists of the best restaurants, whether in Palm Beach County, the South, Florida or the United States.
Michelin, which for the first year rated Palm Beach County restaurants, included Buccan on its list of “recommended restaurants” for 2025.
OpenTable in November named Buccan one of its Top 100 Best Restaurants in America, one of only four restaurants in Florida to make the list.
The list is based on 14 million-plus diner reviews, ratings and more, according to OpenTable, which said that Buccan’s success is in part due to its “use of superior ingredients and preparation” via an “adventurous and memorable dining experience.”
Who is Buccan chef Clay Conley?
Conley has been nominated seven times for the prestigious James Beard Award. He opened Buccan in 2010 and since has drawn on inspiration from travels and work around the globe to open Imoto and Grato.
In a 2019 profile in The Palm Beach Post, Conley talked about his years of working with celebrity chef Todd English, and how Conley had to break away from the “chef-rockstar life” to find sobriety and a healthier frame of mind.
“What gives Clay the drive to be who he is is constant evolution,” Buccan co-owner Piper Quinn told The Post in 2019. “It keeps our guests wanting to come back.”
Conley was born in Michigan. His family moved to Maine and he was raised on a 35-acre farm. It was in the Pine Tree State that Conley had his first restaurant job, washing dishes at a tavern when he was 13.
He met English after moving to Boston and became a sous chef at age 24 and a chef at age 26.
He led restaurants there, internationally and in Miami Beach before coming to Palm Beach to help open Buccan with his partners and friends Quinn and Sam Slattery.
Conley told the Daily News in 2023 that he had moved with his wife and children to Gainesville “to live out in the country.”
“Although I’m still back and forth (every week) between our new home and Palm Beach for work, this would have been impossible had it not been for my team — my partners and the incredible staff at all of our restaurants,” he said. “This year, I am thankful for their loyalty, competence and dependability, without which I would have never been able to realize our family goals while continuing to build on our success as a restaurant team.”
Buccan partners with a private charter jet company
Slate Aviation, a locally based shared-charter company, and Buccan recently announced that Conley had created a custom in-flight menu for Slate’s flights between South Florida and the Northeast.
That menu features a baby kale salad, burrata Caprese sandwich, turkey club sandwich, Italian sandwich and a Maine lobster roll.
Conley said creating a menu for Slate Aviation — the new marketing name for Tri State Charter — has been “a fun, new challenge.”
“It’s exciting to see Buccan served at 40,000 feet,” he said.
Kristina Webb is a reporter for Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at kwebb@pbdailynews.com. Subscribe today to support our journalism.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: What to know about Buccan, Palm Beach bistro where Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce dined
Reporting by Kristina Webb, Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Daily News
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