The Foxtail set to open in Madison by the end of the year

Chef Maya Naholi is looking forward to returning to Madison and bringing her Mediterranean concept downtown.

Naholi opened Mezza on Highway 463 in 2010 before shuttering that restaurant and moving to Phoenix in 2013.

She now lives in the Chicago area where she is the chef and owner of two successful restaurants in the suburbs both called The Foxtail where she serves food that takes inspiration from the Mediterranean.

Lebanese by birth, Naholi takes the whole region for inspiration including dishes from Greece and Spain and North Africa.

She said she loves Madison because it is like her home country of Lebanon.

“The humidity is like back home and the people are so friendly and sweet,” Naholi said.

Between 2020 and 2023, she opened Foxtail restaurants in Downers Grove, Illinois, and Des Plaines, Illinois.

“They have been very successful through the years,” Naholi said.

Following their success she is looking forward to bringing her “Fox concept” to Madison and hopes to move back to the area as well.

She said she loves Madison because it is like her home country of Lebanon.

“The humidity is like back home and the people are so friendly and sweet,” Naholi said.

The new restaurant is slated for 161 Montgomery Street, Suite A.

The restaurant will feature a full menu that will include breakfast, lunch and dinner a raw bar that will include oysters and a full cocktail program.

The restaurant will be called The Foxtail Madison, but Naholi said she lovingly refers to it as the Mad Fox.

“I love that name,” Naholi said. “I plan on there being a cocktail or menu item that uses that name.”

The shell is up and ready, and as construction on the interior continues, Naholi said they hope to be open as early as the end of this year.

She said she hopes her restaurant will introduce people to this world of cuisine she has carefully curated.

“I want people to have an experience and try something new,” Naholi said.