Driftwood’s May 8 appearance on Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” opens with an unexpected hook. The episode title, “From Bunny Chow to Chicken Oysters,” calls out a lesser‑known part of the bird that rarely gets top billing.
Chicken oysters are two small pieces of dark meat tucked along the backbone near the thigh, prized for their richness and tenderness. At the Boynton Beach restaurant, the dish reflects the kind of cooking that defines Driftwood’s kitchen, grounded in familiar formats but executed with precision.
The segment focuses on two dishes chosen by the show from the 11 recipes Everett submitted during the casting process.
In addition to the chicken oysters, the other featured dish is the smoked pork jowl fried rice, which Everett said was designed to reflect the restaurant’s approach.
“I love that dish because it really represents our concept,” he said.
A dish built over time
The fried rice, which appears simple at first glance, is built through a series of deliberate steps.
The rice, sourced from Carolina Gold grains, is rinsed, cooked, seasoned and then left to air dry for two days before it ever hits the pan.
The pork jowl, used in place of more common cuts, is cured for about a week, then cooked for 24 hours to transform its texture.
For Everett, the dish is meant to reflect the restaurant’s broader approach, where technique is applied without losing the familiarity of the format.
That balance comes through in the reaction it draws from host Guy Fieri.
“You know when you go to a concert, there’s always something that stands out,” Fieri said. “I thought for sure it was going to be the pork jowl, then the kimchi. Little did I know, the 137.5-degree duck egg was going to be the pièce de résistance. It’s a masterful dish.”
Cooking that favors precision over excess
Both featured dishes lean on recognizable formats, but the execution is more controlled than viewers might expect from the show. The focus is less on portion size or novelty and more on how the components come together.
That approach reflects Everett’s background in Michelin-starred kitchens in New York City, including Marea and Eleven Madison Park, where structure and technique shape how a dish is built.
At Driftwood, that training carries through to food that remains approachable.
A selective snapshot of the menu
The dishes highlighted in the episode represent only a small portion of the menu. In February, Everett submitted 11 recipes for consideration before production narrowed the selection.
Several longstanding staples, including steak tartare, shrimp and grits plus his famous jerk local swordfish, were not part of the final feature, even though they remain central to the restaurant’s identity.
Instead, the segment focuses on dishes that capture the technical side of the kitchen, along with the way ingredients are sourced, prepared and layered.
A different kind of ‘DDD’ stop
For a show built on diners, drive-ins and dives, Driftwood lands slightly outside the traditional mold.
Everett said that distinction came up early, as producers worked to place the restaurant within the show’s format.
What remains consistent, though, is the emphasis on made-from-scratch cooking and independently operated restaurants. Several of this season’s local stops reflect that approach, including Driftwood, Alaina’s and Nevs Barbecue, all led by husband-and-wife teams.
In that sense, Driftwood fits within the show’s broader approach, even if the food itself looks different from what viewers might expect.
By the time the segment reaches its two featured dishes, that difference is clear. The hook may be chicken oysters, but the focus stays on how the food is built, one step at a time.
Details: 2005 S. Federal Highway, Boynton Beach, 561-733-4782, driftwoodboynton.com
Diana Biederman is the Palm Beach Post’s food and dining reporter. Connect via dbiederman@pbpost.com. Subscribe today and sign up for our free At the Table weekly newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Guy Fieri brings Food Network’s DDD to Palm Beach County’s Driftwood
Reporting by Diana Biederman, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
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