Welcome to a story of Josephine Avondale, an Italian-American neighborhood restaurant that pays homage to it’s owner’s grandmother. Not only will you experience delicious traditional Italian inspired cuisine, you will have the pleasure of innovation of food at it’s finest.
With a huge portion of ingredients being locally sourced, handmade pasta, and well executed cocktails. Josephine Avondale is just.. perfect. I recently had the pleasure of dining in and I want to share. Keep reading to know all the deets of this special place.
Josephine Avondale, This One Is Personal
Josephine Avondale opened her doors November 2022 and is located in The Shoppes of Avondale, 3563 St.Johns Avenue Jacksonville, FL 32205.
Although she is the new kid on the block, the spot itself fits perfectly into the community of local eats that have stood the test of time. In fact, a few times during our visit, we kept say what was this place. It feels like Josephine has been there the entire time.
The ambience is very Italian with mis match plates, low lighting, and intentional artifacts. However, the overall interior design is modern and sexy but still appropriate to bring a family to. Speaking of family, the namesake is homage to Josephine, the owner Josh’s grandmother, a special woman and home cook that took great pride in feeding those she loved.
Long story short, this place is personal, seamlessly. The Josephine Avondale team has created a space that feels like you have left Jacksonville and stepped into a Big-City. I felt like a grown up here, the ambience allows it. But I would totally bring my 5 year old and family for a good time out.
Eating At Josephine Avondale
I’m going to tell you right now, this portion of the article is extremely bias and for good reason. The food, just, wow and the service was over the top. I have not one… and I mean one complaint. That’s huge win in my book.
My server was Breanna a true class act. Aside from being extremely knowledgable about the entire menu everything thing she suggested was fire. The menu is in Italian, a lot of unheard lingo here. However, she had no problem breaking down the items and answering questions.
What I Ate / Drank
Uncut Gems
A cocktail, Raspberry and thyme New Amsterdam vodka, St George spiced pear, raspberry, lemon, cardamom bitters. This was sweet but bold.
Sourdough Focaccia
Fresh and delectable. This bread will get you in trouble if you were dieting. I literally had to stop myself from eating it. I could eat an entire pan of this. Make sure you lather it with the parmigiano butter.
Pizza Rolls
Basically a pizza egg roll. Stuffed and fried with Wild mushroom, fontina, roast garlic cream, mortadella, tapenade, whole grain mustard, arrabbiata. I don’t how they did this one, but they made it happen. The white cream dipping sauce is *chefs kiss*
Sticky Ribs
These baby back ribs are crispy and coated with a heavenly sweet blood orange and rosemary sauce. Om em gee.
Bolognese
My entree’. First, the fresh handmade trenette takes this dish to the next level. The veal ragù, and globs of arugula pesto and parmigiano brought out for presentation, I mean, whew. I’m ready to go back right now just writing about it. Just mouth watering.
Olive Oil Cake
I saved room for desert. Breanna highly recommended the olive oil cake. At that point anything she recommended I trusted. This is a unique cake that doesn’t look to be more than a dense piece of cornbread. But baby, when you mix it with the orange marmalade, citrus salad and whipped mascarpone…. it’s something I’ve never experienced before. This is a good thing.
Everything came out temperature appropriate and looked like it came from a food and wine magazine.
Vegetarians! Most of these dishes I’m referring to involved meat. However, they have a huge selection of vegetarian friendly entrees and appetizers. Someone in my party had the CACIO E Pepe Fritelles, their version of Alfredo. Soooo delish and fresh. Another dish we tried was the Josephine Rigatoni. A little spicy but also delectable.
Wrapping Things Up: Josephine Avondale
If you’re looking for a big-city feel with close family traditions, Josephine Avondale is going to be your go to place. Fresh, delicious, and a cute aesthetic. This place has it all. My overall experience at Josephine was not only pleasant, i’m ready to return asap. If you’re planning on visiting I highly recommend getting a reservation. We had to wait 2 weeks to get in on a Sunday! Do you plan on visiting? Let me know!
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-Ash
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