JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – In this week's Restaurant Report, an old restaurant gets new life in San Marco.
Rue Saint Marc on San Marco Boulevard is open for lunch and dinner and the mastermind behind the restaurant has enjoyed a lot of success in the food business.
News4Jax talked with the owner, Matthew Medure, about the concept and creativity that keeps him going.
Medure started Matthew's Restaurant in San Marco 20 years ago. Since then, he's opened Restaurant Medure in Ponte Vedra Beach and four M Shack restaurants.
Now he's turned his wholesale location into his newest restaurant venture, right across the street from where it all began.
The "Saint Marc" of Rue Saint Marc pays tribute to the San Marco neighborhood in Jacksonville. The restaurant features French-American cuisine and Medure's signature open kitchen to show off the center stage.
"I wanted that open kitchen so that I can see the guest. So I can see if they're taking a bite and enjoying it -- you see that 'Mmm,'" Medure said.
Guests started saying "Mmm" when Rue Saint Marc opened one week ago. Medure's owned the building for 11 years, but the neighborhood helped breathe life into the restaurant.
"I thought, 'Gosh, what are we doing with wholesaling? This great location,'" Medure said. "So this was about a year and a half ago we came to that determination."
That's when the idea was birthed. But it took major construction, creativity and the proper staff to get to this point.
"We go in scared. I think I've been eating once a day, max. You know, you just go on adrenaline. We go in with fear, with a lot of preparation," Medure said. "We put a lot of thought into it. It is a tough business."
It's paying off for Medure, who found his passion for cooking while training at The Ritz Carlton in Atlanta. That's where he discovered that he not only loved food, but it kept him up at night.
"When I get excited about an item, I get excited about a product, I really want to bring it to life and share it with people and I think that's what drives me," he said.
He seems to be driving in the right direction. Rue Saint Marc has 43 craft cocktails, fresh ingredients and a following that's devoted to seeing what's next.
So what's next for Medure? His response: Growing this baby and watering it and watching it grow.