It’s been more than ten months in the making, but Mike’s on Main is finally here.
After a few weeks of offering take-out as part of the soft opening, Stafford’s latest culinary addition to downtown is ready for dine-in, starting tonight. The past few weeks have allowed the ownership team of Mike McDonald, Jessica Audet, and Jeremy Webber to work out the kinks – which there have been plenty of – but it was worth the wait.
McDonald, the crew's chef, says he has a soft spot for old pizza ovens. Rather than buy new equipment, he restored two older models, which is not without its challenges. He also makes all the dough from scratch and says dough behaves differently depending on your location. So, it’s taken some time to figure out the peculiarities of making pizza in the completely rehabbed building.
So far, if Stafford’s Facebook groups are an accurate measure, the pizza menu is going over well. (I’m a fan of the Margherita.) The menu, however, will not be limited to pizza. Mike says it’s his life’s mission to make the best steak and cheese sandwich outside of Philadelphia. This is the first time he has worked in a kitchen “with no one to tell me no,” so if he decides to make ramen from scratch, he will do precisely that.
So be prepared for lots of specials and an ever-changing menu. He also hopes to replicate the fish tacos from the J&D’s menu, which he plans to call “Tacos Luis” as an ode to his old friend Luis Aguilar-Ceron. Conveniently, Mike lived upstairs from the restaurant and was good friends with Aguilar-Ceron. “We still have his apron from his last shift hanging up,” he says.
It’s no surprise there is a place for Aguilar-Ceron at Mike’s on Main, as it’s already a bit of an extended family affair. Webber’s brother owns 3J’s Deli and Market in Ellington, and when he first bought the deli that is now 3J’s, he called up McDonald – who happened to be busy hiking on the Appalachian Trail – to see if he wanted to help launch the new venture.
Audet, who is married to Webber, says she worked through undergraduate and law school by waitressing. She’s always wanted a restaurant and was looking at the empty Ocean space down the road when McDonald called her to see if she wanted to go in on Mike’s on Main. “It was meant to be,” she says.
In addition to perfecting the pizza dough, McDonald has spent the last ten months redoing every room in the restaurant – from the kitchen to the bathrooms – with the help of friends and family. A few more finishing touches are left to complete, including painting the awning out front copper and officially changing the name with a new sign.
“I’m super excited to be a part of this Main Street community,” McDonald says. Both he and Audet say the other business owners have been helpful and welcoming and call Stafford’s downtown “the coolest little spot.” Not only are they “really anxious to feed people,” they are excited to help build on the community momentum. With that in mind, they will display local art on the walls and encourage any artists who want to sell or just display their work to contact them. “We have a lot of wall space,” McDonald says.
Despite being open for dine-in or takeout, they say the Grand Opening will have to wait a while longer. The menu staples are ready to launch, but McDonald says he won’t consider it a true Grand Opening until every permanent dish and drink on the menu is ready to go.
“It’s finally starting to feel like home,” says Audet, which is good because as we spoke, she was stocking the bar and getting ready for today, the first night of dine-in.
“Since the first day, I’ve had good vibes,” McDonald says. The whole crew is hoping customers will feel the same.
