The Medure brothers: 'We are just doing what we always do'

It is a new year and another new concept for Jacksonville’s hometown chefs’ team of 25 years.

Jacksonville brothers Matthew and David Medure opened M Brothers in Mayo Clinic on Jacksonville’s Southside on Jan. 10 for lunch.

The restaurant features a bar and lounge, coffee shop and grab-and-go retail area.

“As far as a strategy, we are just doing what we always do,” Matthew Medure said Jan. 13.

“We align in so may ways.”

He said Medure Brothers Culinary Concepts and Mayo Clinic both focus on quality, professionalism and culture.

The Medures built-out the restaurant in the new atrium area on the first floor of a two-story link between the Mayo and Cannaday buildings. 

The brothers are leasing 7,000 square feet of space for the full-service, sit-down M Brothers at Mayo restaurant that will offer lunch and dinner; the bar and lounge; and the Zest market.

Total seating will be 220, including an eight-seat private-dining area.

Matthew Medure hopes to extend service into the atrium and patio areas.

The Medures and Mayo have been working toward the project for at least three years.

They announced the restaurant in February 2020, and Matthew Medure said then it had been in design for about a year.

“We wanted to offer our patients and visitors an exceptional dining venue that embodies the culinary excellence that the award-winning Medure brothers are known for throughout the region,” said Dr. Kent Thielen, CEO of Mayo Clinic in Florida, in a Jan. 13 statement.

He said the M Brothers restaurant enhances “the patient experience for those who travel to our campus for care.”

Medure said the location creates a new customer base.

“Now we have patients to think about, we have families who are there with patients getting treatment who are going to be there several hours a day,” Medure said.

“We are training our team to show empathy and also to be bright and cheerful to lift someone up.”

Medure said M Brothers will lease the Mayo space initially for 10 years.

Medure declined to provide the investment cost, citing an agreement with Mayo.

In February 2021, the city issued a permit for Batson-Cook Co. to build-out 8,400 square feet of space at $5.2 million. 

That space included other areas in addition to the restaurant, and did not include all of the construction costs or the restaurant equipment and furnishings.

Mayo said the indoor restaurant seating capacity is 152.

RS&H is the project architect, and Larry Wilson of Designmind in Jacksonville is the interior designer. 

Medure used the kitchen designer who did the brothers’  Midtown Table on Gate Parkway near St. Johns Town Center.

“It was nice to be able to go into this with relationships built already, and it really paid off,” Medure said.

“We built a beautiful kitchen. It’s stunning,” he said.

“We are bringing it to life this week and next.”

The M Brothers menu features seafood, meats and, especially for the benefit of patients, a focus on plant-based ingredients. There are vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free and  nut-free options.

Produce is double- and tripled-washed because some diners may be immunocompromised, Medure said.

Among specialized features in the display kitchen is the marble ice counter for seafood and a Josper oven for grilling over charcoal.

The lunch menu features starters, entrees, soups and salads, handhelds, sweets, wine by the glass and cocktails.

The seven starters include steamed edamame, calamari fries, pork belly bao and deviled eggs, from $6 to $12.

The six entrees include ramen, poke bowls, pad thai, spicy crab fried rice, chicken and salmon, from $16 to $19.

The eight handhelds range from $12 for the MB Burger to market price for a lobster roll.

Wine by the glass and cocktails start at $10.

The Medures will launch dinner Jan. 24 with a limited menu as they continue to recruit and train staff.

As at Midtown Table, M Brothers will mill the flour and make the breads, muffins and breakfast breads used at the restaurant and at Zest.

The general manager is Mark Rojas, most recently general manager at Chart House.

Medure said he needs about 80 employees at Mayo, but so far is at half that.  The full-day hours, however, make extra shifts available for staff who might work at his dinner-only restaurants.

Neighborhood destination

The Medure brothers have a 25-year track record in Jacksonville.

Matthew’s Restaurant opened in 1997 in San Marco, followed by Restaurant Medure in Ponte Vedra Beach. Both are fine dining.

They operate the Rue Saint-Marc French-American bistro in San Marco, the Italian-inspired Midtown Table along Gate Parkway and the M Shack hamburger joints in St. Johns Town Center and Nocatee.

They closed the original M Shack in the Beaches Town Center in October after 10 years in business, citing staffing issues.

Matthew Medure began his career at The Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead after graduating from the Pennsylvania Institute for the Culinary Arts. 

Florida Trend magazine named him one of Florida’s most influential entrepreneurs and he twice was nominated for the James Beard Perrier Jouet “Rising Star Chef of the Year” and was selected for a stage at the three-star Michelin Hotel de Paris, Monte Carlo with Chef Alain Ducasse.

David Medure worked and trained with his brother at The Grill at The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island and the brothers teamed in their culinary concepts.

Because of the hospitality group’s reputation and the M Brothers at Mayo design, Medure expects to attract outside business in addition to the clinic staff, physicians, executives, visitors and patients. 

Mayo said that starting Jan. 24, there will be complimentary valet parking for M Brothers dinner customers at the parking garage whose entrance to the atrium area is near the restaurant.

Mayo is at northwest Butler Boulevard and San Pablo Road, near hotels, office parks and a growing number of residential developments.

It is on the western side of the Butler Boulevard bridge to the Beaches over the Intracoastal Waterway.

Medure said he hopes M Brothers draws diners seeking “good food on the Intracoastal.”

He intends to be there daily for the time being to work with the team and to refine menus and preparations.

“This is the critical period of time,” he said.