Chef Jason Schofield has been a busy man lately. The chef and his restaurant group are behind the upcoming Maddey’s Craft & Cru that is set to open up in Downtown Orlando this July, as well as opening up a sandwich shop in the Ivanhoe District in the old Alpine Coffee shop on N. Orange Ave.
This N That eats is the planned name, and is expected to be open within the next two weeks. The menu will feature global sandwiches, cured meats and cheeses, as well as coffee made in the traditional sense of the region. In addition to all of this, Chef Jason has been testing food and hosting pop up dinners for Maddey’s Craft & Cru to spread his gospel of good food made with local ingredients and great tastes.
Maddey’s will seat 150 and the site will also feature a separate cocktail lounge called “Brix” with a capacity of 90 to 100. The restaurants mission is to serve foods with a focus on organic and nutritious foods made with the finest quality ingredients. From pastas to cheeses and even house grown micro greens and cured meats Maddey’s wants to create as much food as it can in house and by hand. A big focus will be on Artisan pizzas and an always rotating menu of seasonal items and creations.
You can expect to find the same care and craftsmanship in the cocktail lounge as well. There will be a selection of craft beers and wines on tap and of course, cocktails of the finest order.
Here a few of the things I was privileged to sample at one of Chef Jason’s more recent pop up dinners back in May. The dinner was held at the wonderful East End Market.
Chef Jason and his team put together the food, and a bartender from The Courtesy helped the team prepare some great cocktails.
We had a brief reception before the evening’s activities and everyone enjoyed the cheese selection from La Femme du Fromage.
The pop up dinner got underway with a nice helping of Sliced Beef Tongue with brioche pudding and a pinot noir apple cider reduction. Beef tongue may not be for everybody, but I found this to be a very tasty rendition to try out.
This cocktail featured Averna, vanilla bean syrup, lemon, Carpano Antica, fino sherry and strawberries.
The second course was a Salad that featured goat cheese ricotta, Kale, honey’d almonds, organic tomato, Berkshire hog slices and charred lemon. A perfect summer seasonal salad that was light, crisp and refreshing, but found room to be savory also.
Another cocktail that was also perfect for summer featured a mixture of Gin, lemon, Falernum, yellow chartreuse, peach bitters.
Our third course was the Tomato Pasta with whey broth & ricotta. While we were busy drinking cocktails, the staff was busy making this pasta on the spot. Chef Jason was inspired to create this dish by a type of pasta called Fazzoletti which means handkerchief. The whey broth along with the ricotta was pleasantly smooth and quite flavorful.
A rather interesting cocktail that consisted of Cynar, Ancho Reyes, Cardamaro, Burlesque bitters, Lemon bitters, and a Fernet rinse had a spicy note on the way down.
A Short Rib with truffled purple yam, glazed onion, and beef tongue lardoons, (a sort of beef bacon) proved to be an exceptional fourth course for the evening.
The final course consisted of both a dessert and a cocktail all at once. The Caramel Bourbon Float with Olde Hearth peanut butter sandwich is certainly for adults only, and for those of you who enjoy an eye opening sip of sweet, peanut butter and Bourbon all at once. This drink was fun and intimidating, because it packed a wallop in the alcohol content.
That is the fun of what Maddey’s and the Schofield Restaurant Group aims to be. Whether you and some friends stop by for dinner or a cocktail, or perhaps one of the grown up desserts before a night out, Maddey’s Craft & Cru looks like a promising concept that should get the Downtown crowd and all of Central Florida excited.