Mary Mac's Tea Room by John Ferrell

Author:John Ferrell [Ferrell, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4494-0048-4
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing LLC
Published: 2010-03-21T16:00:00+00:00

GENE LUCKEY AND NANCY SHAIDNAGLE ARE TWENTY-FIVE-YEAR CUSTOMERS AND FRIENDS WHO HELPED ME REOPEN MARY MAC’S. THEY CLAIM OURS IS “THE BEST DANG SOUTHERN FOOD YOU CAN GET IN THE CITY OF ATLANTA.” THEIR FRIEND DIANE SIMONE, AN EXECUTIVE PRODUCER AT TURNER BROADCASTING, IS A TWENTY-YEAR CUSTOMER. SHE SAYS, “THIS IS DECADENT FOOD!”

President Jimmy Carter ate at Mary Mac’s Tea Room so often that he even had a dessert named after him. Margaret Lupo introduced the peanut custard when Carter was running for governor. Then it was called “Jimmy Carter Custard.” The name was changed to the grander “Presidential Pudding” as Carter’s campaign for the White House began in the mid-1970s. After he won, it became “President’s Pudding,” and after his term was over, it was simply called “Carter Custard.” When President Carter visits these days, he’s often known to graciously make a special point of talking with children who are dining with their parents at tables around the room.

Mary Mac’s has become a destination for notable international visitors. Romanian president Emil Constantinescu dined at the suggestion of Georgia Court of Appeals judge Dorothy Beasley, during his visit to Atlanta in 1999.

In 1977, Princess Asiy and Prince Faisal of Saudi Arabia ate here and tipped the waitress $100. The shocked waitress promptly fainted and had to be dragged into the kitchen before we could revive her!

The restaurant has always been a lunch destination for businessmen, and we count among our customers some of Atlanta’s best-known leaders: Ted Turner; Douglas Ivester, CEO of Coca-Cola, who commissioned the wonderful Coca-Cola mural to be painted on the west wall of Mary Mac’s and provided many historic photos of Atlanta that hang on our walls; Dr. William Suttles, president emeritus of Georgia State University.

Celebrities are often spotted at Mary Mac’s. We’ve fed many stars, including Ted Danson, Cher (she ordered take-out fried chicken), Richard Gere, the Dalai Lama, Britney Spears (she sent her limo to pick up her order), Jessica Tandy, who ate here while filming Driving Miss Daisy, Tim Conway, Harvey Korman, Lily Tomlin (who came in disguise), and the famed Mississippi Mass Choir (all 103 of them), who stopped in during one of their tours and sang gospel music on request for the rest of the lucky diners present.

Our walls tell the story of the decades of celebrities who’ve dined at Mary Mac’s—James Brown, American Idol Paris Bennett, actor Richard Thomas, Leonard Nimoy, Johnny Mercer, and Tom Poston are a few you’ll spot.

Margaret Lupo introduced the peanut custard when Carter was running for governor. Then it was called “Jimmy Carter Custard. “The name was changed to the grander “Presidential Pudding” as Carter’s campaign for the White House began in the mid-1970s. After he won, it became “President’s Pudding,” and after his term was over, it was simply called “Carter Custard.”

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