From soup to nuts

Locally operated restaurant brings modern twist to area’s food movement

The cuisine at Mayflower Restaurant is locally crafted, including handmade sourdough bread, housemade ice cream, fresh produce and the Mayflower Moonshine cocktail.
The cuisine at Mayflower Restaurant is locally crafted, including handmade sourdough bread, housemade ice cream, fresh produce and the Mayflower Moonshine cocktail.

The Mayflower Restaurant is operated by two youthful, yet seasoned, chefs who share a mission to give guests a new experience with fine cuisine. The collaboration of co-owners and chefs William McCormick and Ethan Altom brings a fresh breath of modern inspiration to dishes cultivated around classic recipes and local ingredients.

"You come here and try some things you haven't necessarily tried before, but also have some familiar flavors," McCormick said.

Mayflower Restaurant

Facebook.com/fayett…

3290 N. Lee Ave., Fayetteville

(next to Liquor World on College Avenue)

(479) 935-4676

5-9:30 p.m. Wed-Sat, 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Sun. Mayflower Restaurant is based on the local harvest and seasonal products, with a progressive outlook on cuisine and dining. The chefs strive to provide guests with an innovative, yet familiar dining experience, utilizing the great bounty of the Ozark Plateau.

Local Purveyors:

Foothold farm

Ozark Pasture Beef

Across the Creek Farm

Cedar Creek Farm

Wheatgrass Express

Newman farm

Marty’s Produce

Sweden Creek

Fayetteville Farmers Market (when in season)

The restaurant serves dinner Wednesday through Saturday and brunch on Sundays.

The menu is continuously evolving. The weekly or bi-weekly dishes are inspired by the fruits and vegetables of the growing season, as well as the whimsical appetites of the chefs.

There are a few menu items that have remained on the menu since the May 5 opening, such as the ravioli. An abstract interpretation of peanut butter and jelly with a glass of milk, the hand-formed pasta is filled with brie cheese atop a smear of blackberry puree, then finished with almond butter and kettle-popped sorghum.

During the summer, the chefs would personally shop at the Fayetteville Farmers' Market to select items for that week's menu. To preserve that fresh-grown flavor on the menu, the chefs have stored winter vegetables in a root cellar and jarred summer vegetables to use throughout the winter. They have also partnered with local farmers that use hot houses and grow year-round.

The produce is sourced from several small, local farms and businesses, including Wheatgrass Express, which provides local-grown greens and mushrooms.

"We're working with some local farmers to get all of our meats local, too," Altom added.

The restaurant serves chicken from local poultry company Crystal Lake Farms, which produces free-range chickens raised humanely and without antibiotics or growth-promoting additives.

They also serve pork from Cedar Creek Farms, rabbit from Pel-Freez and grass-fed beef from Ozark Pasture.

There is a saying in hospitality, "from soup to nuts," which illustrates the breadth of local-sourced foods at Mayflower. This phrase, which means "everything, from beginning to end," is the American translation of a similar Latin phrase that translates to "from the egg to the apple."

At Mayflower, the phrase "from the bread to the ice cream" would be fitting.

Each table is served a whole loaf of fresh-baked sourdough bread. The dough is prepared by local proprietor Dan Maestri who uses a 76-year-old sourdough bread starter that is mixed by hand. The bread is paired with a pure European butter sprinkled with house-dried herbs, malic acid and black lava salt.

"Malic acid is derived from apples. It's a natural sour element that adds a little zippy tang to the butter. Since the bread is so rich, you need that little bit of sourness to balance it out," McCormick said.

The ice cream can be ordered as a single scoop or a flight of multiple flavors. Recent varieties include chocolate, brown butter, Fruity Pebbles, pumpkin cheesecake and hazelnut.

"We make all of these in house and only make a couple of quarts at a time, so we can constantly change the flavors," Altom said.

One breakfast-inspired dish features housemade pork-and-rabbit sausage served with crispy potatoes and a poached egg cradled in a wedge of smoked onion. The plate is garnished with a winter pesto and toast-and-buttermilk puree.

A Liege waffle topped with a dollop of Chantilly cream and served with a side of fruit will premiere on the brunch menu.

"It is the original Belgian waffle. It is very different from a traditional waffle -- this takes two days to make and is more closely related to brioche bread.

"It's winter time, so citrus is in season. We've been serving sides of some beautiful fresh oranges and grapefruits. With the grapefruits we have coated them in sugar, then bruleeing the top so you get this crunchy, sweet and sour experience," McCormick said.

Mayflower Restaurant is located at 3290 N. Lee Avenue, next to Liquor World on College Avenue in Fayetteville.

NAN Dining Guide Cover on 12/26/2014

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