gastro & gusto
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Cypress Restaurant chef David Gwynn strikes a pose in the restaurant’s more quick-and-casual bar area.
DINING OUT
BRANCHING OUT As husband and wife start new ventures, their Cypress Restaurant remains a Tallahassee staple by ROSANNE DUNKELBERGER
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March–April 2019
T
he story of Cypress Restaurant, celebrating its 19th anniversary in business this year, is about as Tallahassee as it gets. Proprieter/chef/spouses David and Elizabeth Gwynn are fifth-generation Leon Countians. Old-timers remember Cypress’ location on the corner of Tennessee Street and Gadsden Street as home to the landmark Garcia’s Restaurant for 37 years. Not-soold-timers may recall its short history as Buffalo’s Wings and Rings. David Gwynn’s mother, Noanne Gwynn, was a partner in the Upper Crust in the ’70s, the first restaurant in the newly built Carriage Gate center. Over the years, the location that now houses Grub Burger Bar would be occupied by other restaurants including chef Jack Shoop’s Jacques’ Upper Crust and the ever-popular Georgio’s.
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David Gwynn would be introduced to the food business when the self-styled “good son” would help his mom cater local soirees for years afterward (Noanne Gwynn’s longtime friend and sorority sister was another local catering/restauranteur legend, Nella Schomburger). But he says the Tallahassee tale of Cypress was literally an inch away from never happening. After marriage, graduating college and working in the beer and wine business for a few years (in that order), Gwynn decided to attend the Culinary Institute of America in New York for formal training. After graduating there, the couple made their way to Dallas, and David worked in the kitchen at the Mansion on Turtle Creek. After nearly three years in that job, David and Elizabeth photography by SAIGE ROBERTS