Mac Mart: Mac-and-cheese eatery in Rittenhouse
It's the storefront version of Mac Mart, a 3-year-old food truck.
Marti Lieberman says she is targeting early May for the debut of the storefront version of Mac Mart, an adjunct to her popular three-year-old food truck specializing in mac and cheese.
Mac Mart will be at 104 S. 18th St., next to the new Cleavers cheesesteak shop and across the street from the Di Bruno Bros. Rittenhouse store. (Talk about a Gouda destination for cheese aficionados.)
Working with her sister Pamela and her boyfriend Garrett Jablonski, Lieberman, 26, has Mac Mart set up in the same vein as today's other fast-casual eateries: bright interior design, cafeteria-style ordering.
You start with a base - the original seven-cheese mac topped with potato chip panko crunch - and customize from there.
Prices will be $8.25 to $10.50, and - Lieberman points out - the bowls include a pound of mac and cheese before the toppings are added.
Mac Mart's "classic" bowls include spinach and artichoke, a "Fat-n-Happy" (topped with bacon, fried onions & Pam Pam's buttermilk ranch), a "BBQ in a Bowl" (with barbecue chicken chunks, cornbread crunch and a BBQ drizzle), 'a Wit' Mac (topped with Philly steak, caramelized onions, potato chip panko crunch, and a ketchup drizzle), and a "Heart Attack," which comes with caramelized onions, bacon, potato chip panko crunch, and, presumably, a stent.
There are vegetarian and gluten-free options, as well as a few sandwiches, including grilled mac and cheese (see below; props on the gel manicure).
It should be noted that Lieberman is probably a size 2.
Seasonally, she will offer a Crabby Mac (topped with creamy cheese and jumbo lump crabmeat dip, and Old Bay potato chip panko crunch).
It will be mainly takeout; seven seats will be set up at the counter.
Initial hours will be 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Friday, till 10 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday. Later hours are expected.