by | September 2, 2025
Editor’s Note: Jamie Rich Saved You a Seat at Florida’s Dinner Table
Editor-in-Chief Jamie Rich finds community at the dinner table and invites you to dig in to the Fall 2025 Taste Issue.
As my husband, Brian, and I drove through residential Gainesville, Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down” floated through the radio, as if on cue. Orange balloons marked the spot to turn off the pavement and onto a winding dirt path. At the end of the road sat a soaring open-air barn, tucked away on 80 acres of farmland and set off by string lights and firepit smoke. My sorority sister Averill Conley squealed across the yard in a floral maxi dress with her signature pep and greeted us with tight hugs.
Six years had passed since the last time I’d hung out with Averill inside the cozy dining room of Buccan in Palm Beach, the restaurant she and her husband and Chef Clay Conley own with their business partners. Thanks to Clay’s seven James Beard Award nominations for Best Chef: South, Buccan has become one of the most coveted reservations on the island, with a guest list stacked with socialites, politicos and celebrities—Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce dined there earlier this year. But on this recent spring evening, I found myself reuniting with my old friend at Stoke, the couple’s new culinary-meets-farm collaboration located 270 miles north and a world away from the elite island.
Read our Fall 2025 Taste Issue digitally here.
That night, Clay was laser-focused in Stoke’s open kitchen, turning out wood-fired pizzas and five courses that included eggplant lasagna, pork larb lettuce cups and wild mushroom risotto. Averill oversaw the night’s operations, which included their kids and other teenagers from the community carrying plates to long tables, which were decorated with sunflowers and seating about 100 guests. Every dish tasted like an edible thank-you card to the folks gathered for one of the first seatings of this new endeavor. Our table included the man who actually built the barn, along with Averill’s hairdresser and other friends from their life in Gainesville. As each dish hit the table, we all pulled out our phones to capture the perfection before demolishing it seconds later with our forks. We ate, we laughed, we met new people. Averill and I even vowed to reunite our college friends at Stoke—hopefully we make it happen. The convivial vibes had Brian and me wanting to linger, but after polishing off Clay’s blueberry cheesecake, there was nothing left on the table.
At the end of the evening, I paused at the edge of the property and looked back. The flames from the wood-fired pizza oven still flickered in the distance and laughter echoed through the trees. Stoke is a game changer for this region of North Central Florida, known more for football than fine dining. Clay and Averill are already culinary fixtures in South Florida. Later this year, they’re opening Miami locations of their other four restaurants—Buccan, Grotto, Imoto and Buccan Sandwich Shop. And in Gainesville, the pair has created something entirely radical—a reinvention rooted in family and fire in the heart of Florida.
It was a culinary experience unmatched in the state: an unforgettable, treasured reunion with my friend and her new “farmily.” That is the power of food—creating connections that nourish not only the body but also the soul. Inside this Fall Taste Issue, we meet under the oaks at Stoke to bring you the full story of Chef Clay’s journey from urban epicurean to rural renaissance man. We dig into the lore behind college mascots and share tailgate-ready recipes from iconic college-town restaurants. We track the mullet’s unlikely comeback in the Panhandle. And we explore how Miami’s new tables are being set by chefs arriving from New York, Los Angeles and beyond—remaking the Magic City bite by bite.
That is the power of food—creating connections that nourish not only the body but also the soul.
—Jamie Rich
And while we’re raising glasses, we have something of our own to toast. Flamingo was recently named Magazine of the Year by the Florida Magazine Association. We share this honor with you—our readers, staff, contributors, partners and Flamingo friends—who help us spread the sunshine of our state. To be sure, winning awards is certainly a reason to celebrate, but we do what we do at Flamingo not for the praise (or the Champagne toasts), but in pursuit of telling Florida’s greatest stories. We have assembled quite a feast inside the pages of our Fall 2025 Taste Issue, and we’ve saved you a seat at our table. All you have to do is dig in.
Want to read editor’s notes from the archives? Click here!
About the Author
As an editor and journalist, Jamie has covered travel and culture around the world. Her work has appeared in national and international publications. She spent much of her professional life abroad and worked in newsrooms from The Moscow Times to The Times of London. She holds degrees from Florida State and Georgetown. She founded Flamingo in 2015.
