BY MELISSA PYLE
Special to the Telegraph
There will soon be more than speed limits to slow travelers down as they drive through Lawtey. Sky-D’s Place is set to open on June 17, and Skylar Davis is excited to launch his second restaurant serving up his spin on homemade classics like fried chicken, a secret recipe meatloaf, that Davis says is “the best you’ve ever tasted,” and his homemade spaghetti sauce that he likes to call “country boy meat sauce.”
The new restaurant will serve the same burgers and wings that have made his Clay County restaurant Dalton’s Sports Grill popular, but the main fare will be country cooking. Davis loves fresh ingredients and made-from-scratch recipes that will be on the menu at the new Lawtey restaurant.
Davis said his philosophy “There are no strangers here, just friends you haven’t met yet,” guides his overall approach to business and life. So much so that he painted it on the wall. The location, which previously housed Barnyard Diner and Slice-n-Dice BBQ, has undergone several upgrades, the most visible one being the large, covered patio area that, in addition to inside seating, will help welcome up to 90 hungry new friends at Sky-D’s.
Family connections & small-town charm
Davis said he’d been wanting to open a second restaurant, and when his food service provider told him about the Lawtey space, he was instantly interested because the location was great, and his wife, Emily, has local connections. Emily grew up in Lawtey near the Tatums’ sawmill, attended Northside Christian Academy, but moved to Middleburg after high school. The couple met when she began working at Dalton’s Sports Grill.
So, the city has family roots, but Davis said it was a phone call to Lawtey City Hall that had him hooked. He said he couldn’t believe that when he called city hall for information on the utilities an actual person answered the phone with just the words “city hall.”
“I knew right then I was where I wanted to be — a small town,” he said.
Davis said the irony is, it’s exactly a 23-minute drive from his front door to either of his restaurants. He took that and the small-town support system as a good sign to move forward with the expansion.
Challenges, goals and a mouthwatering menu
Davis has been in the restaurant business since January 2017 and said it’s not for the faint of heart. He’s faced flooding from Hurricane Irma, COVID shutdowns and a relocation. He said the restaurant business is not for the weak.
“You just have to take a punch on the chin and just keep moving,” he said.
His goals are to provide delicious food served up with remarkable tableside service. Davis and his team take pride in making personal connections. He said he wants his servers to make eye contact. Although he’s young, at 35 he prefers the old-school touch, with just pen and paper because that creates a human connection with customers.
That special touch is evident when talking about the restaurant’s country cooking recipes. Davis’ eyes light up when he talks about the fresh ingredients he uses. Everything must be made to order. The squash or green tomatoes aren’t cut, battered or fried until the customer decided what they want. With the exception of corn nuggets, the restaurant will not serve any frozen, premade items. Everything else will be from scratch, and as Davis said, “made with love.”
The new restaurant menu will include daily specials: Taco Tuesday, 75 cent Wing-Night Wednesday, Homemade Spaghetti Thursday, Shepherd’s Pie Friday, Bone-in Fried Chicken Saturday, and Sunday will spotlight his secret recipe meatloaf. Davis said he was also excited to have the only restaurant in Bradford offering fried venison on the menu.
Skylar and Emily Davis, along with their Sky-D’s crew are eagerly anticipating reconnecting with old friends, making new ones, and creating a new stopping place where all who enter will be served up small-town charm, unbelievable flavor, and a large side of love.
