Issue link: http://maconmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1532159
February/March 2025 | maconmagazine.com 65 NewTown Macon is an independent nonprofit, making Downtown Macon safe, beautiful, fun, affordable, and locally led. Their comprehensive approach to downtown development has resulted in 83% storefront occupancy, 89% loft occupancy, and 1M+ annual event attendance. cuts that I want. Same with the beehives, same with the produce. I'll put my name in there and invest my dollars, so I can get a plot of land with the farmer that's going to supply us an item that we can use exclusively at the restaurant. WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS YOUR FAVORITE ITEM ON THE MENU? It's simplistic. I like hanger steak. It's just a basic good chimichurri. It's marinaded in a sweet soy. I do a really great duck fat fry, but now I'm doing a beef tallow fry. People are kind of aware that McDonald's, back in the '70s and '80s, used beef tallow. Now they changed it to be what they thought is more health conscious, but there's a list of ingredients a mile long. I want to do it naturally and bring it back. It's good. I like it. People have done duck fat fries all over here in Macon. But the beef tallow is, I think, still new here. We double fry it. Then we put a really great garlic aioli smear on there, and the good parmesan cheese, a little sea salt. They're skin on. They're delicious. YOU SAID YOU WERE KIND OF INSPIRED BY WALKING AROUND DOWNTOWN AND SEEING IT FOR THE FIRST TIME. WHAT WOULD YOU TELL A VISITOR ABOUT A PERFECT DOWNTOWN MACON DAY? I like taking a walk, and just visiting the sites and going to different shops and talking to locals. See where they're at, see what they're selling. The Bohemian Den, we go to the dog park sometimes also over here, Barks N Brews. There's great architecture here that has not been torn down, thank God. I think that people need to enjoy the company of other people walking down the streets and talking. FOR THOSE WHO DON'T KNOW YOU, WHAT SHOULD SOME OF OUR READERS KNOW ABOUT YOUR INTERESTS OUTSIDE OF WORK? I love the South, where you can get that nature that you don't get up north. Originally, I'm from Chicago, but my dad's from Alabama. I like to hike and bike and forage mushrooms sometimes, to look at the not so obvious. I like to jar food. I make my own pickles. The name's called Mother Puck of Pickles. I do have a license and all that, but I haven't sold them wholesale yet. But I will, that's my endgame – my pickles on the shelf. But I do sell them out at flea markets and food vendors. WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE NEXT TREND IN FOOD THAT YOU'RE WATCHING? What's old is new. A lot of great techniques are being lost, and we're trying to reinvent plates and make them smaller – one bite wonders and all that. Some are great, don't get me wrong. I love that. But also, I go to places that I want a steak with hollandaise, and the hollandaise is broken, the steak's undercooked, and I get a string of balsamic vinegar on the plate that does nothing to match. The plate looks okay, but the technique is missing. I love to learn new techniques from the younger generation, but I have the old school mentality. Make it right, start with a great ingredient, do it correctly, and serve it correctly. New guys that want to break that mold – let's twist it up here and there. That's great, but make sure it's done correctly if you do it. Grab a reservation for Loom's freshly changed menu at loommacon.com and tell us what you think @maconmagazine.