Maia Brother and Me

Patrick and Terence Feury are family first, partners second.

by A.D. Amorosi

BROTHERLY GRUB: Terence (left) and Patrick Feury. (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

Since 2006, local foodies have been keeping tabs on the progress of Maia, the 22,000-foot bilevel bistro, market and restaurant in Villanova that will reunite the Feury brothers. Finally, Patrick (who's cheffed at Susanna Foo, Suilan and Nectar) and Terence (who's headed kitchens locally at Striped Bass and The Grill at the Ritz-Carlton) will join each other in the kitchen.

But how could anyone expect these guys to work together when we can't even get them in the same room?

"That is pretty funny," admits Terence, 40, from the center table at Maia. Patrick, 43, has been in Miami on business and hasn't been able to get home.

Maybe they're sick of each other.

"Nah, we've actually been spending a lot of time together — with a lot more to come," says Terence. "And when we do have a problem, most things get resolved by a fast wrestling match." Yes, the Feurys — both weighing in at about 185 pounds — have been known to go at it hand over shoulder to settle a dispute. "A friendly wrestle, and we're good."

It's not unexpected from two Middletown, N.J.-raised brothers who grew up not flambéing but footballing. Had they not raised chickens in the backyard for their father's 4-H projects (he's a teacher), they might have never taken to food at all.

In his teens, when Patrick worked as a dishwasher at Middletown's Valencia Italian Pork, he was asked to find his own replacement. He didn't look for long. "For me to be promoted into butchering, cooking and catering, I needed to find someone to do my job and wash the pots," says Patrick, on the phone from the Sunshine State. "So I went home and grabbed my younger brother."

It's the first of many examples of the Feurys supporting each other through every step of their careers. After graduating from Mays Landing's Academy of Culinary Arts in the late 1980s, both made their way to New York. "He always provoked me — even got me my gig at [Peacock Alley at the] Waldorf-Astoria," says Terence. (Patrick started there as a saucier.)

But after the Waldorf, they went in different directions. Since seafood was Terence's strong suit, he landed at Eric Ripert's Le Bernardin and won accolades at Center City's The Grill at the Ritz-Carlton before jumping to Fahrenheit, based in a Washington, D.C., outpost of the same hotel chain.

Patrick worked in Paris and at Manhattan's Le Cirque before coming to Philly, eventually becoming executive chef at Susanna Foo. He's currently chef/owner of Berwyn's Nectar, a position he'll hold onto after Maia opens. "We've talked for a long time about coming together and cooking together again," he says.

Though both Feurys have a passion for simplicity, Terence sees himself with more of a flair for the modern. He feels his brother is a master of more rustic fare. "When I think of Patrick, I think pasta, charcuterie and pâtés," says Terence.

This mix of proclivities, combined with the brothers' Irish/Scottish/English heritage and the influence of managing partner Scott Morrison (whose wife's name is Maia) brought them to the restaurant's locally sourced, Nordic-inspired menu. Influences stretch from Piedmont to Alsace to Scandinavia, featuring both nouvelle touches and centuries-old standbys like house-cured gravlax. Other dishes will include slow-poached guinea hen, roasted prawns with quince salad and Kobe pastrami sandwiches.

"That range of regions fits our local ingredients [since we] experience similar seasons," says Terence. "Culling our influences for Maia from the parts of Europe that fit our local products was a conscious decision."

As Maia grew in size conceptually and physically — the first floor will feature a bistro, a market for gourmet takeout and a huge beer selection, while the second will serve as the proper restaurant space — making sure that it encompassed both brothers' ideas was a challenge.

Yes, they've wanted to work together again forever. But would it be difficult at this point in their respective careers, when each has experienced individual success?

"It would have to be pretty big for the both of us to be involved," says Terence without boasting. And it would have to be centered around two brothers creating one menu — together. They've locked themselves in a room with pots of strong coffee to plan it out. "The bond we have as brothers is strong, so there's no ego involved," he adds. "We both want each other to succeed."

They have to.

So Patrick and Terence both talk up Maia's clean-lined, natural-wood design created by New York's Studio A. Both remark that their favorite element is a Babinga wood communal table that runs from the bar to the dining room, with a lighted ice trough for drinks. Both stress that their menu's about utilizing old techniques, all while infusing those ingredients with modern style.

And if they didn't agree?

"We'd wrestle," says Terence.

"But it'd be a tie," says Patrick.

(a_amorosi@citypaper.net)

Maia, located at 789 East Lancaster Ave. in Villanova, opens in mid-April.