50/Fifty Kitchen signs lease in Northhampton neighborhood

After a series of location snafus, 50/Fifty Kitchen, the restaurant with a 50/50 menu mix of vegetarian and non-vegetarian items, is finally ready to open to the omnivorous masses.

Early last year, owner Bob Madden had zeroed in on the former Corvid’s Café space at 5001 Mardel (at Hereford), plans that later fell through. Last week, he signed a lease in a higher-visibility spot two blocks east, at 3723 S. Kingshighway, the longtime home of restaurant Larocca’s (and recently a private event space called The Rustic Room).

While seeking out a new location, Madden and business partner/chef Dana Holland spent last year honing the menu via pop-up events, corporate and private catering, and a standing gig at the Kirkwood Farmers' Market, where Holland was a familiar face. Madden and Holland have remained good friends since their early days working at Café Provençal, when they talked about sometime opening a restaurant together.

Madden devised the "half veggie...half not" concept after health issues caused him to add more plant-based foods to his diet. The results were immediate. "Within just weeks, the things I was complaining about were going away," he told SLM in January of 2017, "and I did nothing more than change my diet." He began researching restaurants, discovered some delicious plant-based foods (including the best Reuben he’d ever tasted), and the idea for 50/Fifty Kitchen was born.

Madden's brilliance is his realistic approach to healthier eating. Knowing the difficulties of trying to convince carnivores to radically change their eating habits overnight, his simple goal is to encourage people to eat "a little less meat and a few more vegetables," a nudge rather than a shove, an informed suggestion rather than an edict.

Madden and Holland plan to open 50/Fifty just as slowly and deliberately. Later this spring, they plan to host several wine dinners and pop-up events in the 120-seat space. The restaurant will then open for lunch, offering plated versions of items from the successful box lunch menu. A 50-seat patio is the next step and there's already talk of "movies on the patio." Dinner service will follow in early summer, along with live music on Wednesday through Saturday nights.

Having a larger kitchen will allow 50/Fifty to limit cross-contamination between menu items. During service, different pots, pans, cooking surfaces, knives, and cutting boards will be designated vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, etc. "It's not the most inexpensive way to open a restaurant," Madden says, "but it shows our commitment to accommodating different diets."

Best sellers are likely to include Dragon Noodle bowls (which sold out every week in Kirkwood) and "pulled" BBQ jackfruit sandwiches. "Most people do not know what jackfruit is or that it's even a fruit," Madden explains. "The texture of green jackfruit mimics meat and adapts well to sauces, especially barbecue sauce. The more you talk about it, the stranger it sounds, so we encourage people to just taste it...and they're always amazed." 

Until 50/Fifty gets fully up and running, Madden plans to maintain his server, bartender, and staff trainer position at Fleming's Steakhouse, where he's the resident vegetarian. "I obviously take no issue with carnivores," he says, playing into the philosophy at 50/Fifty: "I just want to get everybody to the same table."