Location, location, location. It’s the well-known mantra for any real estate investor. But when anyone opens a successful establishment that’s slightly off the beaten path, then expanding can figuratively necessitate starting again from scratch.
Mathews Brewing Company Scratch Kitchen officially opened at 125 S. Dixie Highway in Lake Worth Beach on Jan. 5 — complete with a ribbon-cutting ceremony with the Lake Worth Beach Community Redevelopment Agency — after a soft opening that started Dec. 8.
A limited menu was featured for the next four weeks leading to the grand opening. Serving quality pub selections of smash burgers, brick oven pizzas, tacos, burritos, chili, Italian subs and other entrees, the restaurant’s prime location along U.S. 1 situates it only across an alleyway from the award-winning brewery that gave it its name.
Located at 130 S. H St., Mathews Brewing Company celebrated its sixth anniversary last month. The Dec. 1-2 “Brewapalooza” featured 10 different South Florida original and tribute acts, including Billy Doom Is Dead, Young Cassidy, Spred the Dub, 46 & Tool, and Nirvanna, plus the quality PA system and engineering by Gustavo Seminario of area sound company Pronois.
Less than a week later, the kitchen started its soft opening on Dec. 8 from 5 to 10:30 p.m., even if its innocuous storefront offered no clue as to such an event two weeks before its identifying sign went up.
“This is just a test run to make sure any kinks are worked out in the process,” said owner and head brewmaster Dave Mathews. “And look, there goes our first order now.”
That quote came as employees were walking the kitchen’s maiden order across the alley to the brewery around 5:20 p.m. Several more trips were made, and more frequently, as the soft opening went from afternoon into evening.
“Our big sellers have been smash burgers, fish and chips and tacos,” Mathews said in mid-December. “We’re rolling out other items later, like our pizzas, hoagies and burritos, to make sure everything is available for January. We sold 65 smash burgers on a recent Friday night, and the food was prepared within 12 minutes on average, so our system is working. We’ll also be using the DoorDash delivery service, where I expect the pizzas to be a popular item.”
The restaurant itself — which took 10 months to design and get up to speed — features a small dining room with 20 seats up front for patrons to order from each table’s QR code and eat their food in-house. A hallway leads west to the prep area and kitchen, which is the domain of head chef Lisa Mercado. Her credentials include dessert chef at Bizaare Avenue Cafe in Lake Worth Beach, and head chef at Ravish in Lantana, the Red Lion Pub at both its Boynton Beach and Boca Raton locations, and the Living Room in Boynton Beach.
“I’ve known Lisa for about 30 years,” Mathews said. “I lived near one of the Red Lion locations when she worked there and frequented it a lot. Then she had our beer when she was at Ravish. When I told her about this venture, she said she wanted to be part of it after she took a two-year hiatus in Hawaii. When she came back, she started helping me with the restaurant.”
Patrons at the brewery can also order from individual QR codes and have their food walked over from the restaurant’s back door. Previously, Mathews employed rotating food trucks, which will still be utilized in tandem with the kitchen for special events. The owner has spent considerable amounts in upgrades since incorporating his now-popular Mathews Brewing distribution service in 2016, the multiple flavors of which can be found in many additional area watering holes.
The brewery opened in the site of the former Lake Worth Herald newspaper, and Mathews offset its smallish interior by utilizing it primarily for the brewing process itself, with most seating outdoors at its adjacent, fenced-in beer garden patio. Rock star murals adorn its north wall; artisan stone seating is included among the tables, and two huge Seminole chickee huts provide shade and rain protection over three-quarters of the patio, with oversized umbrellas covering much of the remainder.
In 2020, with most venues afraid to spend money during the COVID-19 pandemic, Mathews splurged on both the chickee huts and a large, SunFest-worthy portable stage on the patio’s east end. Bookings since have often ventured into tribute act terrain, but Mathews remains hopeful about eventually booking more original touring acts as well.
Bands performing at Mathews Brewing Company often rave about its open-air stage and quality sound and lighting systems. South Florida act Maiden Steel, a tribute to British metal icons Iron Maiden, made its debut at the brewery on June 29. And its searing renditions brought the quintet back by popular demand on Dec. 30.
“We’ve had a blast playing there,” said Maiden Steel guitarist/vocalist Anthony Alfano. “The crowds have been electrifying, even though it was the first time seeing the band for many in attendance. The stage is spacious; the sound and lighting top-notch, and the personnel very professional and accommodating.”
As for the awards earned by the brewery, a couple are of impressive recent vintage. While not as well-known as the similarly named leader of the Dave Matthews Band since 1991, the Mathews Brewing Company proprietor — previously a longtime home brewer — regularly creates up to 14 different lagers, stouts, porters, IPAs and other ales on tap, some named for musical history. His Sweet Emotion cream ale is named for the Aerosmith song; the My Sharona Mexican lager is titled after The Knack’s biggest hit.
But it’s Mathews’ White Goblin, a Belgian-style wheat ale, that earned a 2023 bronze medal at the national Great American Beer Festival in Denver. Mathews was also named Best Large Brewery in Florida in 2023 at the Best Florida Beer Competition in Tampa. Some of the brews are even used to prepare certain entrees and desserts from the restaurant.
The Wellington-based Mathews, a Florida native born in Tampa, graduated from the University of South Florida with a degree in civil engineering in 1991 and worked in that field for close to 30 years while perfecting his home brewing craft. And he opened Mathews Brewing Company slightly off the beaten path with a purpose, even if it often necessitated a sign at U.S. 1 and Second Avenue South directing traffic west toward its location. He also owns two large adjacent parking lots, and his brewery’s placement in an industrial section means less likelihood of volume complaints.
“We don’t get walk-by traffic like in downtown Delray, West Palm or Lake Worth,” Mathews said. “We’re more of a destination. Before, we’d get people saying, ‘We’re going to go eat somewhere first, then we’ll come to the brewery.’ Now they’ll eat here, and I think the restaurant will bring in some people who’ve never been to the brewery before; folks who might be more food people than beer people. But our regular customers will want to eat at the brewery, where they can get food, beer and entertainment. We’re also trying to help the city build this area up, because we think there’s a lot of potential over here.”
The Mathews Brewing Company Scratch Kitchen, with its prime U.S. 1 location just south of downtown Lake Worth Beach’s busy downtown Lake and Lucerne avenue thoroughfares, is certain to cook up additional interest across the alley and beyond.
If You Go
Where: Mathews Brewing Company Scratch Kitchen is located at 125 S. Dixie Hwy., Lake Worth Beach
Hours: 5-9 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays; 5-10:30 p.m. Fridays, noon-10:30 p.m. Saturdays, and noon-7:30 p.m. Sundays
Info: 561-328-7214, mathewsbrewingcompany.com