A Lyon in MacGregor's Kitchen

Charlie Lyon took to cooking as a juvenile out of necessity.

“I got real tired of eating Hamburger Helper real fast,” he joked.

Truth is, Lyon’s father died when he was young and with both of his sisters in college, his mom entered the workforce for the first time. So cooking started out as a “chore,” but turned into a lifelong passion.

Lyon began watching Julia Childs on television when he was around 11 or 12 years old. This was in the 70s and 80s, when Childs was making a name for herself and “trying to reeducate America” on cooking.

But thanks to Childs and one of her colleagues, Jacques Pepin, the taste for good food had been established in young Charlie Lyon’s world. His first cooking gig came when he was 15-years old at Georgetown North in Bel Air for then-owner Dan Lee.

The same Dan Lee who owns MacGregor’s now for 24 years and counting.

While growing up, Lyon also dabbled in construction “for the money” but would always wind up back in the kitchen during the off-season.

In 1991, Lyon decided to pursue his culinary passion at Baltimore International Culinary College, graduating in 1993 and becoming a Certified Executive Chef.

Since then he’s worked at Bulle Rock, Tidewater Grille and Peerce’s Plantation, among others. He’s been the VIP Event Chef for Extreme Home Makeover. He’s done stints on WBAL’s Sunday Morning Brunch as well as made a couple of appearances on the television show, American Outdoorsman.

Although American Outdoorsman is not shown locally, it has a huge following in the Midwest, where it highlights hunting throughout the world. This unique experience was one that Lyon won’t soon forget. In one episode, he was working on a chuck-wagon, a true original from the 1880s.

“It was just unbelievable. Unbelievable,” he said enthusiastically. What does one prepare and how do they prepare it in an 1880 chuck-wagon?

“We were cooking in dutch ovens in the ground. We had some briquette and some beans. We did some whiskey pudding. It was really good. It was great, it was just a good time,” he remarked.

Some 20-plus years later, Lyon has joined forces with Lee at and considers himself a lucky man saying he couldn’t be any happier. He signed on as a managing partner about five months ago.

“I’m very fortunate, this is a very good fit for me here. It truly is. The sheer volume of business we do here is just incredible,” Lyon noted.

Considering that this Havre de Grace hot spot is expanding and renovating, from the bar, to the deck and even their kitchen, Lyon is excited with all the possibilities. He said MacGregor’s is a well-oiled machine and runs very smooth.

But like many businesses, he is hoping once “summer comes and [Havre de Grace] turns into a walking town again, this place will do huge numbers. Get First Friday’s going, we get everything together … ”

He’s eager for things to get busy. 

For Lyon, it’s important to keep up within the industry and know what the competition is doing. He equated the lifestyle of being a chef to that of being an artist.

“You have to constantly be creative. You have to constantly educate yourself and you have to keep up with trends,” he said. 

Among Lyon’s favorite “art” to prepare is what he calls comfort food, as in classical American.

“[I like preparing] comfort food, but I call it an eclectic version. Obviously nowadays, everyone has a spin on their favorites. They like to present it in a little different way or prepare it a little different, or switch one or two ingredients and add your own twist. As long as it looks good and tastes good to me that’s the main goal,” he said.

Lyon’s wife, Tammy, works at Bulle Rock and he says they appreciate simple things when they go out since they maintain a pretty hectic schedule. They have three children—Katie, 16, Miles, 14, and Colton, 13. Lyon says Tammy’s favorites include his steak and lobster dishes.

When asked what this culinary king's ideal feast is there’s no hesitation: “Steamed crabs and a six-pack of beer.” He laughs and then adds, “But you can’t have that all the time. Steak dishes and rockfish are probably my favorites.”

Can’t take the Maryland out of this executive chef if you try—a point he works to his advantage.

Lyon is confident about preparing regional favorites.

“I have been cooking in this area for the last 20-some years of my life. Being on the bay, being experienced with the amount of seafood that I’m experienced with, I really figure that I know what Maryland people, and people in this region, want.”

And he is especially proud of his crab cakes. His recipe earned him an esteemed award from Baltimore Magazine as "a best of"in 2004,

“That’s hard getting that award in Harford County from Baltimore Magazine,” he said. It is the recipe that MacGregor’s uses.

If you want to know what his favorite thing on the MacGregor’s menu, he gives you the sort of run around:  it’s always the daily chef specials.

“One thing that’s so great about here is we have our constant changes, we have our specials and then we have our menu," he said. "We run different specials every day of the week.”

But it’s in that spirit where he says his work is like an art. It’s constantly changing and evolving and he’s always working at making things better. You definitely get the feeling that he looks forward to that challenge.