I spontaneously took the day off from work on Monday and found myself at Mac’s Burgers sometime around 1 p.m.
The occasion called for day drinking ..
This is the Mac Jack Lemonade ($8). I could smell the booze even before the drink was set on the table and thought maybe this isn’t such a good idea after all. (It was a great idea!) Made with Mac’s house-made frozen lemonade, this is made for summer. Delicious and refreshing.
Other drinks include a Frozen Bellini and the Arnold Palmer Freeze (!).
Mac’s bills itself as a gourmet mac n’ cheese and burger bar. There are 15 burgers and 12 mac n’ cheese selections.
David Chang wrote a great Burger Manifesto, in which he says “My ideal burger is bun, cheese, burger” — except when it isn’t. I admire Mac’s creativity in the burger field (same folks own LBOE). There’s a burger topped with hot dogs, one dressed in Fritos and bacon, and one, of course, with mac n’ cheese. The most-straightforward burger has a mere three toppings: two types of cheese and butter.
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I ordered the Southern Bell ($9.25), which is topped with pimento cheese and fried green tomatoes. All burgers can be ordered with single, double, or triple patties. They offer as substitute a spicy black bean burger and turkey burger.
I’m pretty sure this is the same black bean patty they use at LBOE, which I like a lot, but it didn’t quite work with the particular burger I chose. The spiciness of this patty demands to be star of this show, and this ended up being literally a mess and a mess of flavors. Maybe I’ll try the Old School next time.
I’m a mac n’ cheese fan (who isn’t?), so I ordered it as a side. There is no just plain ol’ mac n’ cheese; like with the burgers, Mac’s pushes it. You can get it with fried chicken, blackened chicken, garlic chicken, grilled chicken, brats, hot dogs, Philly steak, pulled pork, and shrimp … whew!
I ordered the Veggie ($8.95, for full dish), and I will say that Mac’s does mac n’ cheese really well. The sauce was very rich, almost buttery (maybe a bit much for a day creeping up to a 107 heat index) and I loved the spinach.
The decor at Mac’s is nondescript, making a point that this joint is about the eating and the drinking. You get plenty of space for the latter, as there is a huge wraparound bar — leftover from Dan McGuinness, I’m guessing.
