Madison Bringing More Indoor-Outdoor Dining to University Heights

The dormant University Heights space next to the Park & Rec, which previously held Lei Lounge, will soon be activated by a new bar and restaurant named Madison. Opening in December, the concept's team includes owner and managing partner Jeffrey Fink, who also runs M-Theory Music and is managing partner of FLUXX nightclub, and partner and general manager Matt Sieve (Isabel’s Cantina).

Industrial design firm ARCHISECTS is revamping the Park Boulevard site, which encompasses 3,000-square-feet; the front section of the restaurant will be a casual bar and lounge that leads into a seriously dramatic indoor-outdoor dining room, with a sky-high vaulted ceiling made of wood joinery and cedar walls in colorful geometric patterns and shapes. A guitar string-inspired rope installation will be stretched across the dining room's archway and used to partition booths in the bar; Fink's M-Theory Music will provide the restaurant's soundtrack via a top-shelf sound system.

Open daily from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., Madison's menu is being designed by Mario Cassineri, partner and executive chef of BiCE Ristorante, who is also a part of the new Buona Forchetta project in Liberty Station, while chef Tony "G" Gutierrez (BiCE Ristorante, La Strada and Opera Café) will run the kitchen day-to-day. There will also be a full bar with local beer, a curated wine list, and cocktails designed by Dan Dufek.