I don’t often order macaroni and cheese at restaurants, because I find it’s usually disappointing. If it’s not baked, the sauce tends to be runny, and the cheese and pasta never really meld together, but baked versions tend to be dry with overcooked pasta, because one large casserole lasts the whole day. The Goldilocks spot for restaurant macaroni and cheese is individually baked portions; that’s why restaurants dedicated to it can do it so well. Not only have they focused on perfecting one item, they have also figured out the logistics to do it over and over again with the same results.
When I walked into the first MACS in the Wisconsin Dells years ago, not long after Dells natives Nick and Jackie Morse opened it, I immediately suspected that they were going to succeed. Even then, in 2013, the counter-service restaurant felt like a well-oiled machine. They did everything that the big chain fast food restaurants do well—from the eye-catching wall graphics (Wisconsin themed!) to getting food out expeditiously enough to prevent toddler meltdowns. Once I actually ate their mac and cheese for the first time, I knew they were going to have a successful business.
MACS now has seven locations—including Brookfield and Oak Creek in the Milwaukee area—and I’m happy to say that the excellent mac and cheese hasn’t changed at all from that first experience. The macaroni is baked in individual, cast-iron skillets in two sizes—regular and an extremely filling “mac daddy”—and then delivered to your table on a wooden trivet.
Purists can order the original mac ($5.99-$7.99) if they don’t want to futz with a classic. The pasta is oversized elbow macaroni, but with one very important addition: ridges that help collect and hold onto the cheese sauce. The macaroni is mixed with a thick, but not overly gummy, white cheese sauce, then topped with mozzarella for that stringy cheese pull effect and cheddar for sharpness and color. A quick pop in the oven heats the whole thing without overcooking the pasta and creates a ring of caramelized, crunchy cheese around the very edge of the skillet. The combination of the creamy and browned cheese along the edge is one the best things about the mac, so make sure to scrape it all off the skillet with your fork.
Though there are all kinds of toppings you can get, my favorite is the mama’s mac ($6.49-$8.99). It’s the original mac topped with hot dogs for a nostalgic combination. Key to this dish, though, is the extra step they take of very thinly slicing the hot dog on the bias and then griddling it for crispy edges.
PHOTO CREDIT: Dave Zylstra
Taco mac ($6.99-$9.99) adds pepper jack cheese and includes taco-seasoned ground beef, Pico de Gallo, scoops of sour cream and guacamole and multicolored tortilla strips on top. It’s like a much less healthy taco salad and about 10 times more filling. A jalapeño popper mac ($6.99-$8.99) seems like a logical fit, and the roasted green chiles and jalapeños mixed into the cheese sauce give the whole thing a mild pepper flavor. Mini scoops of cream cheese and crumbled bacon on top both brown in the oven.
If you know someone who wants more meat all the time, the three little piggies mac ($7.99-$10.99) should satisfy them with shredded pulled pork, diced ham, bacon and barbecue sauce. The sauce is described as spicy, but it’s unfortunately very sweet. Its tanginess does help cut through all that meat and cheese richness, though. Similarly, the buffalo sauce on the buffalo chicken mac ($6.99-$9.99) does the same heavy lifting.
If for some strange reason you’re not here for mac and cheese, there are also grilled cheese sandwiches available with fillings mimicking the macs, like the chicken bacon ranch melt ($7.99). There are also a handful of salads, including apple bacon blue ($7.49) served on field greens with a Fuji apple vinaigrette.
It’s easy to mistake the polished vibe and format of MACS for a chain, but it’s not. It’s a really well-designed, Wisconsin-owned business that serves some of the best macaroni and cheese in our area. I wouldn’t be surprised if franchising is in their future.
