populuxe

Last weekend I had a huge pregnancy craving for my favorite food in the whole world- Macaroni and Cheese. Brian and I went to the East Village to check out this fun restaurant called S'MAC. They specialize in serving various mac n' cheese recipes. My meal was delicious! I had to thank the owners for such a wonderful treat.

all photos courtesy of Sarita Ekya

S'MAC is short for Sarita's Macaroni and Cheese. The restaurant is owned by husband and wife team Sarita & Caesar Ekya.

Sarita was kind enough to answer a few questions for Retro Info.

Please tell us about how you came up with the concept for S'Mac.

Eating out at niche restaurants with my husband, I casually mentioned that it would be great if there was a place solely dedicated to mac-n-cheese. We both laughed and thought it was a great idea. We couldn't shake the idea and decided we'd look into what it would take to open up a small restaurant. We figured we could do it and, voila, 9 months later S'MAC was opened.

more after the jump

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Why have a restaurant that serves macaroni and cheese?

It's a food that appeals to such a wide range of people! And unlike some other nostalgic foods, mac-n-cheese does require some care and love to make. You can't just slap it together, it starts off with a roux and then melting fresh cheese, etc. People love it but generally don't have the time to make it themselves.

Is macaroni and cheese your favorite food?

It's not my favourite food but I will admit, I do love it -- only if it is homemade, though. I don't eat the stuff out of the box. I think cheese very well may be my favourite food!

Did you go to chef school or are you self-taught?

I have no formal culinary training, I am self-taught as is my husband.

How did you come up with the recipes, are they a family recipe or your own creations?

The recipes are my and my husband's own creations. I think coming up with the recipes was one of the easiest parts of opening S'MAC, we both love to cook.

Which dish is most popular?

People have such different tastes and opinions on what constitutes great mac-n-cheese so all the options seem to sell equally well.

Macaroni and cheese can be addicting, do you have a lot of fans, repeat customers?

Yes, our business is most definitely based on our loyal and wonderful repeat customers!

Are most of your customers eat-in restaurant patrons or do you do a lot of catering business?

We do a mix of eat-in, take-out, delivery and some catering.

I noticed the colors of your restaurant are yellow and orange, the colors of cheese. Is this just a coincidence or did you plan this out?

We naturally gravitated towards orange as that has been my favourite colour since I was 5! Then we thought that yellow represents cheese so we used that. However, we didn't realize how well the colours together would feel like walking into a bowl of mac & cheese (as put by some of our customers :-)). It turned out great for us.

Are there any new recipes you are currently concocting?

We are constantly coming up with new recipes and creations. I have a list of about 20 different types of mac-n-cheese that I want to cycle through the specials menu.

Thanks Sarita for the great interview and the fantastic meal. I can't wait to try out more of your delicious recipes.

Come meet Sarita at Macy's in Herald Square Oct. 4.