Sweetwaters Was Built by a B-17 Bomber Pilot. On Veterans Day, It's Honoring the People Who Followed Him.

Before David Tallichet opened his first restaurant, he flew B-17 bombers over Europe. More than 20 combat missions. When the war ended, he came home and built Specialty Restaurants Corporation — a family-owned hospitality company that eventually grew to more than 100 restaurants nationwide. His passion for aviation and military history shaped the company's DNA from the beginning, inspiring concepts like The Proud Bird and 94th Aero Squadron. That was 1958. Nearly seven decades later, the company's newest concept is carrying that legacy forward.

On Veterans Day, Wednesday, November 11, Sweetwaters will offer 20% off to active-duty military personnel and veterans. The restaurant is located at Huizenga Park in downtown Fort Lauderdale — waterfront, newly opened, and built with the kind of care that comes from a company that has been doing this for 68 years. Proof of service is required.

Sweetwaters opened earlier this year as the newest concept from Specialty Restaurants Corporation. The Fort Lauderdale location sits on the waterfront at Huizenga Park in the heart of downtown — a setting that matches the company's long history of placing restaurants in locations that feel like destinations. The menu draws from the coastal surroundings: oysters, caviar service, grilled whole fish, and a steak program that holds its own. The interior is warm and modern, with the kind of room that works for a business dinner and a birthday in equal measure.

Tallichet's story is the kind that gets lost in the footnotes of restaurant industry history. He flew combat missions over occupied Europe, survived the war, and came home with the conviction that hospitality could be something more than transactional. The company he built reflected that — themed restaurants with real stories behind them, locations chosen for their sense of place, a culture that valued the people who showed up to serve. Sweetwaters is the latest expression of that conviction. The Veterans Day discount is not a marketing gesture. It is the company saying, plainly, that it remembers where it came from.

Sweetwaters Fort Lauderdale: Huizenga Park, 1 W Las Olas Blvd, Fort Lauderdale. Veterans Day offer: 20% off for active-duty military and veterans, Wednesday, November 11, 2026. Proof of service required.