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46 maconmagazine.com | February/March 2025 Dine And Win Each of these restaurants will run their chef challenge dish as a special the week of March 3-9. Complete the challenge yourself by going to all three restaurants and voting for your favorite online at maconmagazine. com/vote – and earn a free Macon Magazine T-shirt and a year's subscription to the magazine! In addition to our audience, we will feature a panel of judges to each restaurant to try the specials and vote for themselves. Now, before you dine, learn more about the faces that make your food. Find out about each entrant on our next pages. Vote here! Dine And Win Complete the challenge yourself by going to all three restaurants and voting for your favorite online at maconmagazine. com/vote – and earn a free Macon Magazine T-shirt open a restaurant for us. I think the tables have turned now and it's like we run this restaurant for Macon. It feels really cool to be so included in this wonderful community and have such a broad diversity of clientele. We get reviews that the food is great, consistent, and that Oliver's is always hospitable. That's what we shoot for and what I think people come back for. ON LIVING OLIVER'S MISSION Matthew: We've gotten reviews that are literally our mission statement, which is, we want to create an environment that's not stu y but where you feel like you're getting a really nice meal experience at a nice restaurant without breaking the bank. A place you can come to once a month, not once a year. A place where you can wear jeans and a T-shirt or a suit and tie. We want Oliver's to be where you never feel out of place, no matter who you are or what you do. Something we call " ne casual" dining. Working under Chef Brad, being part of Moonhanger, and upholding its standards has helped bring me to a new level in my journey. I look around and see others in the same position I was at when I was 15, trying to make it, and I feel a duty to them. ON FOLLOWING YOUR CALLING This is what I love to do; the thing I'm best at doing. I can work 11 or 12 hours a day, and go home and spend another hour cooking with my girlfriend. Then I can't wait to get up and get back here. If I could go back to when I was 15 in 2003 and go this way or that way, I know in my heart of hearts I would take the same path. I would want to be right where I am, working with the people I'm working with, striving for perfection. Even though perfection is impossible, but it's a worthy goal. I love working with and honoring local farmers and using locally sourced, seasonal ingredients. I love catering to our guests and making them happy with the dishes we prepare. I genuinely enjoy being part of this community, happy to be downtown. It does feel like a homecoming. ON BALANCE IN THE KITCHEN, LIFE, AND APPRECIATING WHERE YOU ARE: Ingrid: A restaurant must have a balance between what people need and want, and what it takes to prepare it properly. There needs to be a balance between high-prep foods, low-prep foods, and what you can accommodate on your cooking surfaces. Then there's the overall experience and all the restaurant o ers. We're a new place without investors, building bit by bit. We anticipate in the future we'll have wine, food, and music nights and similar special events. That would be natural for us and right for downtown. We knew if we wanted to open a place, we wanted it downtown. Brittan: We're the new kids on the block and have a lot of gratitude for Macon and the support and warm welcome we've gotten from people. We look forward to being here for a long time. As a musician and teacher, I'm satis ed as an artist here. Now, it's great seeing Ingrid ful lled in her element and people enjoying what she creates. Continued from Page 42 Continued from Page 43 Continued from Page 44