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Monday, February 2, 2009
Chef Domenica Macchia finds a new home at Shackleton's Folly
Posted by Brian Ries on Mon, Feb 2, 2009 at 4:04 PM
Shackleton's Folly is the new enterprise by Dan Soronen, formerly of Old Northeast Tavern. Domenica Macchia is the former chef at MJ's Martini and Tapas. A combination of the two could make for a fantastic restaurant.
Macchia just accepted the job today, after pitching Soronen on a gastropub-style menu for Shackleton's.
"I said 'A sports bar? Not another one please,'" explained Macchia.
"I told him I'd do what other cities are doing, a gastropub, with affordable food that's good. In New York, you don't go out to eat before you hit the bar, you eat there."
She plans on having traditional favorites -- some brought from a three-year stint in London -- with lots of blue-plate specials and braised meat. "I was brought up on braising," said Macchia, "why not have great beer and something sitting in a crock for people?"
Shackleton's Folly is supposed to open in early March at the Coquina Key Shopping Plaza (4300 6th St., St. Petersburg), way down in the restaurant hotbed (?) of south St. Pete. Ernest Shackleton was a famed explored who headed quixotic expeditions to the South Pole, hence Soronen's choice of moniker. It'll have an outdoor volleyball court and the requisite TVs, but with an upscale bent, according to Macchia. She's also not afraid to cook the kind of food people expect from a sports bar.
"Daniel Boulod told me -- 'If you want to cook the food you want to cook, do it at home. Here, we cook the food they want.' Although I will put my own touches on it."
On the phone, Macchia sounded ebullient, happy to have found a new job after several months of testing the waters. And even happier to be back in a kitchen. "If they have a mouth, I want to put something in it," she joked. "I guess i coulda been a hooker, too."
Comments (6)
Showing 1-6 of 6
What happened to MJ's?? Didn't it just open? Was going to try it- should I still?
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Rachel -- I haven't been back to MJ's since they let Macchia go, but for me she was the biggest (or only) draw. Check it out and let us know if it's still any good.
I wouldn't bother with MJ's now that Chef Macchia is gone. My family and I dined there when she was the Chef and it was absolutely superb. The chef came out and introduced herself and shared some recipes and tips with us, made us laugh, and truly just made it a special night not to forget. Since then we've been back and instead we found Chef Macchia had left and been replaced by someone else, not even close people. Also, instead of a great conversation with the Chef we had an over bearing oaf of a manager, Bruce something, I think, come over and honestly we were not impressed with his guest relations....So, good for you Chef Macchia, we'll be seeing you at your new place and will never go back to MJ's, ONLY plus here is the music.....kinda.
Mike, It is near the intersection of 4th St and Gandy, behind the old bennigans. To get there you have to be on the south side of gandy on 4th st.
For anyone interested tomorrow, May 2, will be the last day MJ's will be open. Supposedly it will reopen at a new location in about 60 days but will see. This is just two weeks after they decided to discontinue lunch, stay closed on Mondays and laid-off half the staff.
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