Chef’s Table: The Wyld Dock Bar

In some restaurant kitchens, there is a table reserved for special guests who have a privileged dining experience that includes a front row view of the chef at work. This is referred to as the “chef’s table”. In this series, we aim to give our readers a chef’s table experience as we introduce you to some of our area’s chefs and their cuisine with a behind the scenes glimpse into their kitchens and a taste of their fare.

Chef’s Table: The Wyld Dock Bar (Savannah, Georgia)

Article by: LeeAnna Tatum

When you bite into a slice of watermelon and are blown away by the flavor that is completely elevated with the addition of a few basic ingredients - you know you’re in for a treat for the rest of your meal!

For Executive Chef and co-owner of The Wyld Dock Bar, Tony Seichrist, this dish (called “sliced watermelon” on the menu) epitomizes his approach to food - source great ingredients, treat them simply and let them shine!

Seichrist, an Atlanta native, learned to appreciate quality ingredients cooked well from his earliest childhood experiences. He learned to cook at a young age from his mother who often utilized fresh ingredients from the garden. He also grew up hunting and fishing which helped him develop a close connection to his food sources and an appreciation for good food.

Siechrist was 20 when his love of cooking took him to a professional kitchen where he offered to work for free for the chance to learn.

“I went and found the best chef I could while I was in Athens - Hugh Acheson who is pretty damn famous now - and I said I’ll work for you for free until you hire me. He said ok and about a month in, he hired me!”

In addition to working at a number of top restaurants in Georgia, Siechrist spent a year in Italy at culinary school.

“After that, I was the Head Chef at Greyfield Inn for a bit, on Cumberland Island, and that kind of reignited my love for the lowcountry,” Siechrist explained. “When I was kid, we visited Fripp Island a lot and I always loved Beaufort and all the coastal towns and it felt like a great place.”

The Wyld as seen from the end of the dock.

When The Wyld Dock location became available, Siechrist and his business partner Brad Syfan were actively looking for a restaurant location. They purchased, renamed, rebranded and revamped the restaurant (formerly Bonna Bella) about seven years ago. “We came down here and fell in love with it. It has a lot of challenges based on the location, you can see the ocean is about three feet away,” Siechrist said, gesturing to the water. “And it ends up in our front yard a lot. I pulled an eel out of my office once,” he said with a laugh, “… it was still alive.”

“It’s a strange place to have a restaurant,” he continued, “but it’s amazing. We’re in our environment quite literally. This is more like a boat that doesn’t move than it is a building at this point. We have a lot of fun challenges like hurricanes, but it’s totally worth it. I wouldn’t trade it for anything!”

Due to the location, the vibe is decidedly casual (dining is almost exclusively outdoors with the exception of a very small indoor dining space) and seafood is featured prominently on the seasonallyinfluenced menu.

“Our clientele is really diverse,” Siechrist explained, “we get a little bit of everybody, because our menu is super laid back and super approachable, I don’t think we fall into any kind of particular category. We do a lot of the work of a fine-dining restaurant, but I don’t think we feel that way. You can get off your boat and walk in without your shoes on, so we’re sort of this weird hodgepodge of fine dining and very casual dining and I think that speaks to literally everybody.”

Siechrist is committed to sourcing the best ingredients he can find and puts in a lot of work to establish relationships with local producers and purveyors.

“It’s a lot of legwork, more than anything, that is required if you want to source locally,” he explained. “Obviously seafood is our prime thing, so we spend a lot of time working with local fishermen, local purveyors that are sourcing locally. We get our shrimp from Dubberly’s right off the boat.” “What that means for us - we take responsibility for our own products as much as possible … we do as much of our own sourcing as we can.”

“We have a great pork producer down here, Brandon from Grassroots, we love him to death - he does a great job,” Siechrist continued.

“I think we buy John of Comfort Farms out of ground beef all the time. They work with dairies and it’s dairy farm beef - it’s a totally different product. The quality of that beef (coming from an older animal) is very different, it has a lot more beefy flavor … For our purposes, it’s ground and it makes an excellent beefy burger ... For us it’s perfect.”

Having those local sources served the restaurant well during the food shortages experienced elsewhere during 2020.

“We had our sources stabilized when everyone else was freaking out,” Siechrist said. “That wasn’t why we sourced locally but it was a happy accident. A lot of how I feel about big food is that it’s sort of dangerous in a way - it destabilizes us ... and makes everyone reliant on the same systems and that’s inherently dangerous.”

“I love the idea of having that food security by having these well diversified systems and having a lot of people to call on, and they also have a better product.”

“Our philosophy here is to get the best product we can and do as little to it as possible. And there you go! That’s kind of who we are.”

I visited The Wyld Dock Bar with my sister and Southern Soil’s Art Director, Kelly White. We went on a weekday (thankfully cooler than average) afternoon in June. With a fan and a breeze and a beautiful view of the water from the back deck, we enjoyed an array of items from the menu.

I already mentioned the watermelon (which is not something I would have expected to earn a mention at all, if I’m being honest). Everything was very well prepared with a few simple ingredients and great attention to detail.

I especially enjoyed the special of the day which was a whole fried flounder that was absolutely delicious. The presentation of the whole fish was beautiful and appetizing and it tasted every bit as good as it looked!

Kelly, who has tried fish tacos from quite a few Savannah area restaurants, thought the Local Adobo Fish Tacos we had were the best she’d ever eaten.

Prices are very reasonable and the menu is not complicated, making it a great spot for a casual lunch or an evening out. The views are great and there’s a sense that the fresh seafood practically jumps straight from the water to your plate … after a short and much appreciated detour through the kitchen, of course!

And as the name implies, there is awell-stocked bar to help quench yourthirst!

The Wyld is not a place you’ll likely stumble on by accident, so if you’re there it’s most likely that you arrived on purpose! That’s not to say that it’s hard to find or out of the way, just not on the beaten path. Which makes it almost have the feel of a private club - if you’re there, you must be in the know!

Accessible by land or sea, no matter how you arriveat the Wyld Dock Bar - you’ll be glad you’re there.

For more information including their menu with pricing, check out their website, www.thewyldockbar.com