Mary Macs Tea Room. - Mary Macs Tea Room 75th anniversary cookbook: history, hospitality, and recipes from Atlantas favorite dining room

Mary Macs Tea Room 75th Anniversary Cookbook text copyright 2019 by John Ferrell. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of reprints in the context of reviews.

Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC

an Andrews McMeel Universal company

1130 Walnut Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64106

ISBN: 978- -5248-6029-5

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019941313

Design: Pinafore Press/Janice Shay

Photography: Deborah Whitlaw Llewellyn

Additional photography: Brad Newton, pages

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www.marymacs.com

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This book is dedicated to my loving parents, John and Mary Ferrell, who found and adopted me at birth. Without their unconditional love, encouragement, and support, I would not be where I am today. John and Mary are now gone, but they are always in my thoughts and greatly missed. Their unique parenting taught me many things about love, learning, and life. I was raised to respect all people, especially my elders. I learned at an early age to say thank you and mean it. I was taught not to be heard but to listenand to always tell the truth. My parents would be grateful for this virtue and proud that I try to live by the golden rule. When I turned fifty a few years ago, I realized that I had inherited the same trait my father complained of having: never knowing what or when something is going to come out of my mouth! My good friends Ruth and Ruby Crawford solved my problem by offering their mothers wise advice: Always tell the truth... but dont always be telling it.

Thanks also to my partner, Hank Thompson, who came into my life just before my fiftieth birthday. Hank is one of the happiest people I have ever met and a perfect complement to my life and to Mary Macs. We often feel that our motherswho knew their boys wellmust have met in heaven and had a wonderful time planning our life together as the perfect match! We have many things in common, including being adopted and growing up as an only child in a loving home. We were both raised in small communities in the South and had the same values instilled in us by our parents. Of course, we both love Southern food, and while some people may eat to live, we live to eat! Hanks love for Mary Macs Tea Room, his keen business sense, his unique ability to listen and solve problems, and his skill at motivating me and the staff, are a constant blessing. I have the best business partner a man could have... all thanks to our sweet mamas, Mary and Alice!

I also want to mention that one of my biggest wishes was answered when my son, Matt, joined the Mary Macs family in 2010. His growth and hands-on appreciation for our business has been critical to our continued success. I am proud of what he has accomplished at Mary Macs and in his role as a board member for the Georgia Restaurant Association. My vision for Mary Macs to become a family business looks bright because Matts wife, Elizabeth, approached me in 2014 and asked to join our team. Although she was trained and had a degree in environmental engineering, she didnt have the same level of passion for the job she had at the time that Matt had for Mary Macs, and she wanted to become a part of our family business. Of course Hank and I were delighted to have her and I am so happy that Elizabeth is with us. Together she and Matt provide confidence that our family business will continue to thrive. I want to thank them for their hard work, dedication, and attention to detail, and I especially love that they are great young people that enjoy our business and love our guests!

John Ferrell

MARIE Lupo NYGREN
ON MARY MACS

My mother, Margaret Lupo, began her story with Mary Macs in the early 1960s, just after her own tea room, Margarets Tray Shop, in the heart of downtown, closed. A week after Mother started working at Mary Macs, the owner, Mary MacKenzie, announced she was getting married and moving to Florida, and asked Mother to buy the business. Mother agreed to the offer, and was again in the tea room business.

At that time, there were several tea rooms in Atlanta. They had been opened by ladies as a way to make extra money, and the name was a misnomer, as it wasnt a place to have tea, but a nicer version of a meat and three. It appealed to people who had moved to Atlanta from small towns in Georgia because it reminded them of their moms cooking.

One of the beauties of Mary Macs was that everyone was welcome; it wasnt an exclusive dining room like so many in Atlanta were at that time. At one table, you would see the mayor or the governor. At the next table, there might be a group of Atlanta workers. Mother welcomed everyone, regardless of race. Segregation was at the forefront in Atlanta in the early 60s, but Mother made it clear from the start that everyones money is the same color, and if you dont understand that, then you dont need to work in my restaurant. She never tolerated disrespect, and was affectionately known as Mama to her staff and guests. She treated that dining room as if it were her own personal dining room.

Mary Macs was always a microcosm of culture, reflecting the mood and trends of society. In the early 70s, when Atlanta became the hot spot for the hippie culture, they all camped out at 10th and Peachtree, and theyd eat at Mary Macs. Then when Atlanta became the gay mecca, all the boys came to eat with Mama. And Mother loved it, and loved them all. I grew up at what many would consider an ideal family table: a little bit of everything was represented.

At Mothers funeral, the Reverend Austin Ford said Mary Macs was the political salon of Atlanta. Id never thought of it quite that way, but it truly was.

Mother took me to work at an early agefirst, I got passed hip to hip in the kitchen, then my first job at the age of six was to dry the silver. I graduated to cashier when I was nine, and became a hostess when I was fifteen.

Because so many politicians dined at Mary Macs, Mother kept up to date on the issues and became quite politically active. She wanted to instill a sense of community activism in me, and she knew that working at the restaurant would introduce me to this world. She enlisted me to campaign for Charles Weltner when he campaigned for U.S. congressman, and I remember passing out flyers and campaigning on the street. I was twelve years old.

Just as Mother demanded respect and tolerance in the dining room, she demanded freshness in the kitchen. Mother never used a canned vegetable. My father, Harvey Lupo, was a produce wholesaler, and was in charge of buying for Mary Macs. He and I would make twice-weekly trips to the state farmers market and load up the van. Back at the restaurant, the kitchen would be shucking bushels of corn, and it was not an unusual sight to see the bar- tender shucking corn and snapping beans between serving customers. In a week, wed go through 25 bushels of corn, 25 bushels of green beans, 25 bushels of collards and turnip greens.