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Mad Fox Brewing Company Welcomes New Executive Chef

June 1, 2012
Mad Fox Brewing Company Welcomes New Executive Chef – Andrew Dixon
Pacific Northwest Native Most Recently Worked at Michel

 
FALLS CHURCH, VA (June 1, 2012) – The award-winning Mad Fox Brewing Company, Northern Virginia’s upscale brewpub with a focus on chef-driven cuisine, announced that Andrew Dixon has joined the management team, as ExecutiveChef.

“Andrew brings a tremendous culinary background and talent to the Mad Fox kitchen,” said Bill Madden, CEO and Executive Brewer. “He comes to us from the Pacific Northwest with a wealth of experience working with top brewers, crafting menus to complement their beers. Andrew grew up with farm to table before it was a trend, so he is perfectly at ease utilizing the freshest seasonal ingredients.”
 
It was renowned chef Michel Richard who drew Dixon east in 2010, when hewas offered the job of Sous Chef at a new restaurant the culinary icon was opening.  While Dixon had already been working as an executive chef at a top destination for more than five years, he was attracted by the opportunity to work, and learn, alongside such a legend in the industry.
 
Dixon arrived in D.C. from the Four Diamond Award-winning Semiahmoo Resort in Blain, Washington – consistently recognized as one of the Pacific Northwest’s top destinations. As Executive Chef from 2007 through 2010, he managed six food outlets for three properties, which included development of menus and managing the culinary teams for all properties. While there, he developed relationships with local wineries and breweries, leading to the creation of a popular Brew Master Dinner Series, and a Winemaker vs. Brew Master Dinner.
 
The Oregon native’s road to Semiahmoo was fairly straightforward, since he loved being in the kitchen cooking from a very young age. He grew up learning to garden and cook creatively by his mother’s side, and took his first job at Promise Natural Foods & Bakery, focused on organic baking. While he appreciated the experience, he wanted to work in a restaurant, and was interested in learning more about cooking, as well as garnering experience beyond baking. He went to the Seven Feathers Casino, where he was taught fine dining in the French tradition.  Next, his love of food arts took him to Bellingham, Washington, where he entered the Bellingham Technical College Culinary Arts Program, winning awards and honors while there, and landing a job on the culinary team atone of the top destination’s in the Pacific Northwest…Semiahmoo Resort.  Dixon also maintained ties with Bellingham, as he became a guest instructor in the culinary program.
 
And now, Chef Andrew Dixon has landed with the team at Mad Fox Brewing Company, bringing him once again into the realm of working with a top brewer. The chef will soon introduce a new menu, working in concert withMadden to ensure that the food enhances the beers being brewed and served at Mad Fox. Dixon has hinted that the menu will be inspired by the restaurant’s original focus on farm-to-table elements, utilizing local growers.  He also plans to incorporate some healthier menu items, including more seafood – not surprising for a man from the Pacific Northwest, particularly as he has learned much about the multitude of bounty from the sea here in the Mid-Atlantic. Regulars can also look forward to discovering some of the creative ways in which Dixon pushes the boundaries cooking with beer, hops and malt – something for which critics applauded while he was at Semiahmoo.
 
Located in the heart of the City of Falls Church at 444 West Broad Street, Mad Fox brews all its British, Belgian and German style beers in-house on a 15-barrel Premier Stainless brewing system with 180-barrels of fermentation space under the direct supervision of CEO and Executive Brewer Madden.  Two Mad Fox beers won international industry acclaim at the 2011 Great American Beer Festival® (GABF) in Denver, CO.  The Kölsch Kellerbier earned a gold medal while the EnglishSummer Ale captured a bronze.
 
Mad Fox features a chef-driven, seasonal menu and frequent specials including pizza, panini, salads and vegetarian friendly foods; fresh, locally grown seasonal produce, cheeses and other ingredients; locally raised lamb, bison, beef, chicken and game; and house-cured meats.  The restaurant offers plenty of free parking in the back, in either the lot or the parking facility.  Additionally, it is centrally situated betweenthe East Falls Church and West Falls Church Metro Stations, close to both Tysons Corner and Arlington.
 
For additional information, or to make reservations, visit the Mad Fox Brewing Company online at www.madfoxbrewing.comor call 703.942.680.  Follow Mad Fox on Twitter: @MadFoxBrewing or on Facebook: MadFoxBrewing                                                 
 
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