Love, La Madia

It takes passion and commitment to be an entrepreneur. To be successful you have to love what you do, day in and day out. It’s rarely more evident to a consumer whether the proprietor has that love than in a restaurant. At La Madia it’s not only evident, it’s obvious.

Chef/Owner Jonathan Fox shared his passion at our Chef’s Table event. His excitement was contagious as he described each course and detailed his philosophy. “This is what I do,” he said. “It’s truly an expression of me as an individual.”

Fox loves wine, which is why they not only have over 300 wines by the bottle, but also an impressive selection of more than 70 wines by the glass. Glass prices range from $8 to $18, and every week they feature a red and a white for just $6.

We started off with an assortment of bruschette followed by a large loaf of pizza bread served with fondue. The cheesy tomato sauce was good, but the spinach and taleggio fondue with white truffle oil was outstanding. We then shared an organic arugula salad with 3-hour roasted grapes, apple, walnuts, parmesan and walnut vinaigrette, and another salad made with heirloom beets from Nichols Farm topped with watercress, goat cheese, almonds, and balsamic vinaigrette.

Their pizzas are where they really shine. The double-raised dough is made with double-ought flour, a designation signifying how finely ground it is. This gives the wood-fired crust the “tenderness of a Neopolitan with the crunch like a New York”. It also becomes the perfect showcase for the toppings. The heirloom tomato pizza is a work of art; the Moroccan-spiced lamb sausage with fresno peppers and mint salsa verde a slice of the Mediterranean; but the pepperoni – oh, the pepperoni…

Pepperoni, you’re probably asking, and that would be fair. But La Madia’s is a triple pepperoni, with thin-sliced rounds and topped with, of all things, white truffle oil. Then it’s topped with fresh basil. It is decadent. It is rich. It is delicious.

This was followed by ravioli that was obviously house-made and stuffed with chicken, spinach, and ricotta. Finished with a brown butter sauce, it’s based on one of his grandmother’s recipes. Usually dishes like that can be heavy-handed on the cheese, but as one guest noted, you could actually taste the chicken. It tasted like something that should be passed down from one generation to the next.

The final course of this amazingly decadent dinner was an appropriately decadent dessert. The bittersweet chocolate tortino with toasted almonds was just, as Fox put it, chocolate. Or, should I say, CHOCOLATE.

La Madia is open for lunch, dinner, and now they serve late night. Their “After Hours” menu is available from 10:30pm to 1am and features antipasti, including that spinach and taleggio fondue, salads and pizza. Come in with a friend and you can get one antipasti or salad AND a pizza for just $21. 

“When you love something I think it really shows.”

Yes, Chef Fox, it does. And I hope you know we love La Madia, too.