I had walked by Mac’s Cafe in the Short North a hundred times, but never stopped in to eat. I was looking for a new place to check out and had recently seen an article in one of the local Columbus magazines about Mac’s and their Scotch Egg. I’ve only had a Scotch Egg one time at a place back in Indy, but it was so good I had to go check out Mac’s version. When I walked into Mac’s Cafe I was surprised to see how big it was inside. From the outside the corner spot that Mac’s occupies appears very small and crammed, but the wood covered interior is actually a decent size.
I was lucky enough to find out that Mac’s even has happy hour on Sundays, so the Scotch Egg I craved would be half off along with the wide array of beers Mac’s serves. Since I keep talking about this Scotch Egg I should probably fill you in on exactly what it is. It is a hard-boiled egg wrapped in sausage, lightly breaded and then fried (healthy right?). No judging allowed. We all need to eat completely unhealthy food sometimes. Mac’s serves their Scotch Egg with a creamy sage sauce. It satisfied my craving for a Scotch Egg, but definitely could have been better with a normal price of $4.25 for just one egg. The layer of sausage was pretty thin and falling apart. That is usually the part that adds the most flavor, so that was a little disappointing. The creamy sage sauce wasn’t bad, but I feel could have been creamier instead of a potato salad texture.
After reading through the menu I decided to go with the Cottage Pie for dinner. It is seasoned beef layered with mashed potatoes, cheddar cheese and covered with gravy. It was also served with a house salad and a side of broccoli. After reading all of that you can probably guess that it was a large amount of food. The piece of Cottage Pie itself was enormous and I knew there was no way I would put the whole thing down. The taste was decent, but could have used some other ingredients like vegetables or something to make it more like a Shepherd’s Pie. The gravy wasn’t anything special and just meat and potatoes got bland. The house salad was, well a house salad and steamed broccoli was just that also.
I really enjoyed the chill atmosphere at Mac’s and the service was good, so I will definitely be back to check it out again. The Cottage Pie wasn’t horrible, but I will be checking out something different next time I visit.
Until next time, remember good food=happy stomach.
Cheers!!!
Scottie's Talking Taste Buds 