it seems like everyone, like, the whole wide world, knows Palm Beach as an antiquing heaven except for Miami. Only an hour and a half away, Palm Beach is a town full of stuffy old stuff - a category of things that I categorically cannot resist.

We decided on a Saturday, to just jump in the car, find somewhere to eat by Googling around for the hour and a half drive and then wing it and explore until our tolerance ran out. When I go shopping like this, I know there's a limit to how long I'll last in this blurry, sensory overload of junk that I desperately want. I learned this from my many days at Flamingo Plaza.

Our Googling lead us to a lot of eateries that were either pricier than we were feeling (think: gilded wallpaper, Lily Pulitzer diners and lots of caesar salads on the menus - often with crabcakes), although we were tempted by the Daniel Boulud outpost. We were looking more for a local dive, a seaside shack or a Gigi-esque hip foodie brunchy spot. When we did a similar short road trip to Santa Barbara we Googled our way to the very best Mexican food spot, a tiny wooden turquoise cabin by the beach where we watched the women make the corn tortillas by hand while we waited in line. We wanted the Palm Beach version of that. We found it at Darbster an outdoor vegan restaurant that turned out to be the perfect fuel for a day of antiquing.

Darbster was vegan-y vegan food, that is to say, they aren't scared of a "tofu "goat" cheeze" or tempeh bacon; but we unequivocally agreed that it was a very, very delicious meal. The Falafal Wrap, Classic Cheezeburger (rivaled only by the one at Lokal, which is a little closer and just as good) and the house specialty, HOP Cake (crispy palm cake, citrus arugula, red onion, plum tomato, basil aioli, whole wheat bun) and coffee were all stellar dishes.

falafel wrap

HOP Cake

Cheezeburger

Canal right off the Darbster porch

darbster

8020 s dixie highway, palm beach

The first place we stopped was Karin's Mexican Furniture, right on US1. When you're driving in this area of Palm Beach the secondhand home stores are totally an completely unavoidable. You can tell just from the drive that there's a serious discrepancy between the price points in the stores; there are Christian Church affiliated stores that are akin to the Hialeah thrift shops of Palm Beach and then there are the Palm Beach stores that cater to the seasonal snowbirds and their multi-story winter homes.

Back to Karin's it had all the talavera style Mexican goods you could ever want, but the real star of the show was there outdoor fireplaces. Reasonably priced between $150-$300 they would make a lovely winter addition to any backyard - plus you can make s'mores in them!

karin's mexican furniture

6405 s dixie highway, palm beach

everywhere we went, they pointed us to Nettie's Thrift and Consignment. I'm not sure if it's because we didn't really look like the type of people who were about to drop upwards of ten grand on a basket from an old hot air balloon or because Nettie's is kind of a local institution. Probably a bit of both.

Nettie's is the most reasonably priced of all the places that we popped into - and that's because there's an absolutely overwhelming amount of stuff in there that you have to dig through to find your treasures. Personally, I like it that way. Rooms and rooms, both indoors and out and stacked high with everything from mid-century lamps to bamboo hangers. The prices are flexible, the variety is insane and we're pretty sure that some of the high-end antique dealers come scavenge here and resell for a couple times the price at Nettie's; at least, that was the vibe that Nettie herself gave off when we asked about a wooden Danish lamp.

nettie's thrift and consignment

5405 s dixie highway, palm beach

Remi Danielle Design is a showroom packed with that Palm Beach/Florida modernism that's made the area famous for shopping. It's a delightfully whimsical balance between over-the-top kitsch and historical reverence for mid-century modernism. All in all, it's a loony design style and we love that South Florida can claim it as it's own. Check out that umbrella above. Seriously? Every house needs that. In other news, I'm still on the hunt for the perfect umbrella.

remi danielle design

5505 s dixie highway, palm beach

dolce was the one place we knew we wanted to stop by. Their recently relocated store has an antique circus gone askew vibe. There's a giant red bow light hanging on one wall, alien figures in the window and center of the floor, giant glass bongs taller than me, a life-size fake alligator, hot air balloon basket, taxidermy fish and giant chandeliers - not to mention a blinged the eff out wheelchair with tiger fabric.

dolce

5015 georgia ave, palm beach

just what Palm Beach needs, more rattan and bamboo furniture. Caneing on the other hand, there should always be more caning.

sadly Shi & Erhard was closed, or just like kind of not open, it was unclear. Oh well, you've got to save something for next time right? And boy oh boy, will there be a next time. If only for the falafel at Darbster.

travel guide: palm beach antiquing day trip