The MacDaddy of Mac’n’Cheese is Coming to Monroe

Try Googling “MacDaddy’s” and more then likely the first hit will be the urban dictionary definition of a pimp, but it is also the inspiration behind the name of the new macaroni and cheese bar in the Cedar Village Plaza in Monroe.

“If you’re calling it a MacDaddy, you better be serving some really good mac and cheese,” says Robert Dunn founder and CEO of MacDaddy’s Macaroni and Cheese Bar.

A sign hanging on the side of the Cedar Village Plaza has declared the restaurant to be coming soon for quite some time and though the restaurant has yet to open, anticipation has been circulating among residents. 

Residents shouldn’t have to wait much longer as Dunn hopes to open MacDaddy’s doors no later then July 4. In the meantime customers awaiting the opening can see the menu on the MacDaddy’s website.

Whether it is curiosity or love for macaroni and cheese, future customers are in for a treat as this timeless dish is reinvented in the 25 varieties of mac and cheese on the MacDaddy’s menu. In addition to food choices three sizes are available: snack, mac, and macdaddy. Macs start around $5 and from their patrons can get as fancy as they’d like. All the meals come in a cast-iron skillet so they stay warm.

“Our signature dish is the MacDaddy,” says Dunn. The dish is filled with cheddar cheese, ground beef, thousand island dressing, topped with diced pickle, chopped raw onion and sesame.

Other dishes on the menu include the “Mac Jordan” with tomato, mozzarella, mushrooms, and sweet Italian sausage and the “Mac Lobo” with lobster, coconut red curry, zucchini and asiago.

America’s favorite comfort food has been around longer than the hot dog and the hamburger combined. The dish was brought to America in 1802 by President Thomas Jefferson, who served it as a side dish at state dinners in the White House. The dish gained popularity through the Great Depression where during the 1930s, it became the most widely consumed food in America. It is no surprise that Dunn has found a niche in this struggling economy.

MacDaddy's is Born

Dunn was in the high-end restaurant business a couple of years ago when he owned several restaurants. With the high-end restaurant business taking a hit from the poor economy. It was a struggling Italian restaurant in Georgetown that would serve as the birthplace for MacDaddy’s.  

After visiting a macaroni and cheese bar in Manhattan, Dunn had the idea to open a restaurant that would do the same thing, but better. With that idea he closed the doors to the Italian restaurant. After putting the rest of the money he had to his name into it, he reopened it as MacDaddy’s with the intention of closing it six months later.

“I wanted to see what the customer response was,” says Dunn. “Georgetown was not a good location for MacDaddy’s, it doesn’t even come up on a GPS, but now we’re in a much better location.”

After closing the doors to the Georgetown location Dunn worked on nothing but MacDaddy’s. For the past 18 months he put together a team and looked for funding to reopen the restaurant in a better location. 

“This is one of those situations where, if you really believe in something, you can make it work,” says Dunn.

In the future Dunn hopes to open up more MacDaddy’s locations, seeing it as ideal for airports and college towns.

“My goal is to have MacDaddy’s across the entire country," he says. "Not just the U.S., but places like London and China.”

While certain that MacDaddy’s is an idea that can thrive in the struggling economy, Dunn is not entirely sure of what format any new stores would take.

“Whether or not it becomes a franchise or remains independently owned remains to be seen," he says. "I would like for them to be independently owned, so that I can leave my daughter a legacy.”