Nestled in the heart of San Juan Capistrano sits Mayfield, a Levant-style restaurant with a small market inside and a charity cocktail program.
Floor to ceiling windows almost 18 feet high open the roughly 2,500-square foot, two-story restaurant out to Verdugo Street with a view of the 3:16 Bakery Shop and the Regency Theater across the road.
Owner George Baker took over what used to be a small antique shop and bookstore, built out the bottom floor and added a two story kitchen which divides the kitchen’s prep and service areas.
“I always wanted a neighborhood restaurant with a core base of 10 miles,” Baker said.
Part of that neighborhood atmosphere is a charity cocktail program in which bar director Matt Jaeger will create a special cocktail that gets placed at the top of their drink menu. For every drink sold, $1 is donated to a new charity each month.
Sometimes they’re local charities like The Surfrider Foundation, which is headquartered in San Clemente and dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the world’s ocean, waves and beaches. That cocktail, called That’s the Spirit, is made with rhubarb gin, génépy, maraschino, and elderflower. It was so popular, it was added to the cocktail menu permanently.
This month, sales from A Helping Hand — made with mezcal, hibiscus, blood orange, and lime — will go towards supporting victims of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.
“We felt obliged, especially because (those areas have) food that we’re inspired by,” Baker said. The restaurant will also partner with some liquor companies and put their names on the cocktails in exchange for the company matching donations at the end of the month.
The amount of sales sometimes depends on the popularity of the drink (e.g. margaritas will always sell, cognac may not) so sales can range from…
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