In 2014 three people, Chef Chad Livingston, Deb Fanelli and Eric Fanelli, came together around a shared vision of a special restaurant providing exceptional composed dishes, professional yet approachable service and relaxing surroundings. From that vision Burlingame was born in 2016. We recognized that to succeed in this business a long view was required. New restaurants aren’t successful overnight. They require time and focus on all the many, critical details – refining, revising, yet always staying true to the vision. We knew if we worked hard, avoided the ‘shiny’ distractions, and hired the best people who could help us deliver excellence our guests would gradually find us and enjoy what we offered. We feel good about our accomplishments and are grateful to everyone who has urged us, guided us, supported us, believed in us – our friends & family, staff, suppliers, contractors & purveyors, advisors, fellow restaurateurs, and the Amelia Island community at large.
For us, this was a ‘retirement project’ and not one we’d recommend to the faint of heart. Restaurants are like infants requiring your constant love and care – everything else must wait! Our goal was always to build and establish the reputation of Burlingame as a beacon of excellence in dining on Amelia Island and we are confident we’ve succeeded. As planned from the start, we are turning the reins completely over to our partner, Chad Livingston. Chad, his wife Loren and their amazing team will continue the excellence that defines Burlingame while adapting it to their own styles over time.
We thank all our guests for their support throughout these tumultuous 6 years. We’ve met some marvelous people in our dining rooms and we are richer for their friendship. We are grateful to our superb team for their commitment to excellence in providing our guests with extraordinary food & drink and memorable dining experiences every night.
It has been a fun, exhilarating, exhausting run of 6+ years. We loved every minute and look forward to continuing to celebrate our great moments in life with our dear friends at Burlingame. We hope you continue your patronage and help Chad have all the success his great talents deserve.
CHEERS!
Deb and Eric Fanelli
(we were once so young!)
Burlingame Restaurant is proud to announce Chef Chad Livingston has been selected to help represent the downtown Fernandina restaurants in a culinary competition to support The Barnabas Center. Chad will join Scottie Schwartz and Kenny Gilbert on Team Fernandina in the competition to be held September 8th at the Ritz Carlton, Amelia Island.
Read more in Jacksonville Magazine: Jacksonville Mag
We opened our restaurant in March and have exceeded all our expectations. Our reviews on TripAdvisor, FB and Yelp tell the story of our very successful launch and the excitement and enthusiasm of our guests. As our guest numbers grow, we need to grow our team so we continue satisfying our guests and remain a great place to work. Great staff are key to delivering on our vision of a restaurant where guests can enjoy a fabulous meal, with great service in comfortable, casual surroundings. Continue reading
Whether we’re talking about ingredients, equipment, knife skills, or service standards, everything at Burlingame is held to high quality standards. As a chef, I want to deliver a dish that you will recognize; yet which conveys a sense of depth and complexity that surprises you. Continue reading
We have made a lot of progress on the construction of Burlingame in the past month. In the last blog posting, I mentioned the great crew helping transform Burlingame from a mildly run down office to a stunning restaurant where you can enjoy special dinners.
To that support team we can now add: Continue reading
Through our own experience and research (thank you RestaurantOwner.com !) we had a clear vision of how Burlingame would operate and what the space would look like but have relied on the support, guidance and experience of a huge team of experts to get to where we are today (a half built restaurant!) Continue reading
Burlingame Restaurant is building its core team as it continues to build the restaurant facilities. Continue reading
Welcome to Burlingame
We are new to two activities – social media and restaurant management – but we’re diving into both with energy and enthusiasm (and a modicum of trepidation)! Â Our plan is to regularly blog about what’s going on with the development of our restaurant and share some insights into what we intend Burlingame to be and what we’re learning along the way. Come along for the ride! Continue reading