About Chef David

Meet David Perlman, a highly skilled and experienced chef in Williston, Florida. He brings over 30 years of experience to The Wild Mushroom. Take a glimpse into some of Chef David’s experiences. 

From 1993 to 1997, David was a partner and executive chef of Amberjacks Coastal Grill in South Norwalk, CT. While under his management, Amberjacks was featured in Zagat's 1995 Restaurant Survey of Connecticut. While working and running Amberjacks, he was also a restaurant consultant for a 40-seat exclusive waterfront restaurant in Rowayton, CT. 

Chef's next adventure led him to New York, New York, where he was the executive chef and general manager of The Commons Wine Bar and Restaurant located on the Upper East Side. While there, David formulated new concepts and designs to improve the restaurant's identity and increase customer awareness. During his time at The Commons Wine Bar and Restaurant, the restaurant received high accolades from The New York Times, Zagats, and various neighborhood publications. 

Needing a change of scenery, David headed to the West Coast where he opened Moonfish, one of Bainbridge Island, Washington's finest restaurants. Seating over 80 people, they focused on farm-to-table creations and it was a destination restaurant for tourists in the Seattle area. Accolades that Moonfish acquired were: 

• 4 Stars Seattle City Search. Com
• 3 Stars Seattle Post Intelligencer
• 2½ Stars Seattle Times
• 3 Stars Bremerton Sun
• Zagats, high ratings in all categories
• 3 Stars Best Places in Pacific Northwest

In the early 2000s, David was the owner and executive chef of a fine dining Restaurant in Beacon, New York called OII. This 50-seat restaurant was designed and built by Chef OII and had an extremely creative and cutting-edge menu once again focusing on farm-to-table cuisine. In less than 1 year, OII received 4.5 stars from the Poughkeepsie Journal, a “very good” from the NY Times, Best of the Hudson Valley, and 4 stars from Hudson Valley Magazine.

Now, David is looking forward to bringing all of his experience to The Wild Mushroom and being one of Williston’s and Gainesville's top private chefs and caterers. No idea is too small and David is excited to bring your vision to life!