Mac Shack
Photos by Curt Saunders
Clinton Philbert is all about turning a setback into a comeback. When his soul food restaurant shut down in early 2012, he was determined to start a new business from the same Clinton Hill location.
“I was about to just open a salad bar or something like that,” says Clinton, 38. “But then I looked at what was selling the most at the restaurant: the mac and cheese. So I was like, let’s do that; let’s see what happens.”
Later that year he opened Mac Shack, which serves 23 varieties of the dish, including mashups like pizza mac, burger mac and buffalo mac; cheffy renditions with duck and caramelized onions, lobster or truffled mushrooms; and a whole menu of vegan options. Nearly a decade later Clinton is still in business, and in March he opened a new location in Bed-Stuy (which we visited for this story). “The salad bar might’ve been dope, but I’m happy that I ended up going with the mac and cheese,” says the Bed-Stuy native.
Clinton credits his late best friend and business partner, Kevin James (who tragically passed away in 2019), for much of Mac Shack’s success.
“He was in the mud with me building up this business, and he passed away right when it started doing what it needs to be doing,” Clinton says of Kevin, the “heart and soul of Mac Shack” who famously emceed the restaurant’s annual mac and cheese eating contest. “I wouldn’t be here without him.”
“You can do literally anything with mac and cheese — the sky’s the limit.”
It’s like we always say: if you’re gonna build your restaurant around one dish, then it better be good. And the mac and cheese at Mac Shack doesn’t play — outrageously cheesy, super creamy and flavorful, with that crucial golden, paprika-flecked crust. But while places that specialize in just one thing are common now, when Clinton pitched the idea of an all-mac restaurant to friends and family back in 2012, everybody had the same response: Mac and cheese...and what? “I kept saying, ‘It’s just mac and cheese,’” Clinton says laughingly. “These niche ideas are risky, but they can really pay off if they’re done right.”
Coming in 23 varieties, mostly named after Brooklyn neighborhoods, Mac Shack uses high-quality ingredients to translate a whole meal into each baking pan. Our faves include the delicious lobster mac, which does not skimp on the seafood; the Bed-Stuy (burger mac with savory ground beef); the Stuyvesant Heights (tender and well-seasoned duck, caramelized onion, fontina and liquid smoke); and the East Flatbush, the renowned jerk mac that made Mac Shack Brooklyn famous. The Clinton Hill (buffalo mac), the Brighton Beach (salmon, shrimp and lobster), the Williamsburg (pesto mac) and the Barclays (a meat lovers’ mac with ground beef, pepperoni, chicken and bacon) are other popular choices, along with six vegan and gluten-free versions. Rounding out the menu even further, Mac Shack offers combo meals with equally excellent wings (in six marinades), baked chicken, salmon and shrimp.
True to its name, Mac Shack is a small, one-room operation meant for taking orders to go, although the place is artfully done up with a yellow macaroni motif. Outdoor seating is available at the Bed-Stuy location, a row of brownstones serving as a picturesque backdrop for your meal. In these late summer days, you’ll want to throw in one of Mac Shack’s housemade lemonades and iced teas in flavors such as mango, strawberry and hibiscus ginger. As for Clinton, you may find him in the kitchen inventing more mac and cheese varieties to add to the restaurant’s existing 23 flavors. “I’m working on a lactose-free mac right now,” he says, eager to bring his lactose intolerant brethren into the fold. “You can do literally anything with mac and cheese — the sky’s the limit.”
320 Malcolm X Blvd., 718-210-9603, macshacknyc.com
