By: Deborah Johnson Wood
The owners of the Muskegon Athletic Club Sports Bistro (MAC) are a couple of hometown guys who wanted to be at the forefront of rebuilding downtown Muskegon. So they jumped in with both feet and rehabbed part of the former National City Bank Building at 333 Western Avenue.
The bistro opened last October with 12 signature “MAC” and cheese dinners, including Shrimp Penne Mac, Chicken Broccoli Mac and Mex Mac. Each recipe contains parmesan, light cheddar and provolone—and several also contain specialty cheeses and ingredients, like the Creole Mac’s Gouda cheese and andouie sausage combination.
But even after factoring in the bistro’s full bar and selection of Michigan wines, there’s more to do there than simply eat and drink.
“We have five 200-inch high-definition video walls,” says Ryan Tolliver, a partner in the business with Andy Buck. “They each have four 50-inch plasma screens that can be pushed together and all set to one screen for watching sports, or can be split up into individual screens.”
Another big draw are three 100-inch high-def projector screens for Nintendo Wii.
The walls not covered with video screens are lined with custom Jatoba wood/Brazilian Cherry panels crafted by Spring Lake's Hoffman Woodworking or handpainted murals of action sports created by Buck’s niece, artist Kaylee Cornfield, Lansing.
“We have over $100,000 in woodwork, including the handcrafted tables and the bar itself,” Tolliver says.
During warmer weather, two glass garage doors open an entire wall to the sidewalk patio.
Tolliver, a Muskegon native, and Buck, who was raised in Whitehall, created the bistro to bring Detroit and Boston panache to the city.
“This is a Renaissance Zone and we thought it would be really cool to be part of the rebuilding of the downtown,” Tolliver says.
Source: Ryan Tolliver, Muskegon Athletic Club Sports Bistro
Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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