If you ask your friends (or a human resources professional) if dating a coworker is a good idea, you’ll probably get a resounding no. But for Scott and Caitlyn Morton, it was undoubtedly the right choice.
The couple met in 2014 while working at MoMo’s (opens in new tab), the rowdy bar and grill across the street from Oracle Park. Twelve years later, they’ve not only managed to stay together but have purchased MoMo’s and, on Friday, are opening their second restaurant, Maggie & Mac’s (opens in new tab), in the Inner Sunset. “I don’t know what the success rate is of dating your coworkers and ending up actually growing your business together, but we found a way,” Scott says.
Maggie & Mac’s takes over the former Social Kitchen & Brewery space on 9th Avenue and Irving Street. The couple says MoMo’s, which caters to the beer-guzzling pre-game crowd, was a great place to start their adventure in restaurant ownership. But they’ve since gotten married, moved to Westwood Park, and had two children. Maggie & Mac’s — named for their daughters, Margaret and Mackenzie — represents the next chapter of their lives both professionally and personally, a place where you can “get a wide array of cocktails and beer and wine and still have a kids menu that’s dynamic enough where you can put your kids in a booth and make it worth your while,” Scott says. “Both things can be equally true. That’s at least our vision. We’ll see how it goes.”
Chef Daniel Bermudez and bar manager Gil Gallegos are behind Maggie & Mac’s menu of classic American comfort food with plenty of personal touches. There are twice-baked potato skins showered in cheddar cheese, scattered with bacon, and drizzled with chipotle crema. The Goldilocks Caesar salad arrives topped with 3 ounces of Dungeness crab. (Scott prefers a creamy, anchovy-forward dressing, while Caitlyn likes a zesty lemon version, so they combined the two to create something “just right” — hence the name.) The M&M smashburger stars a 6-ounce ground chuck-brisket patty topped with cheese, grilled onions, pickles, and garlic-onion aioli. The menu also features three pizzas, including the Hot One, with spicy marinara, hot copa, pepperoni, pickled Fresno chili, and hot honey.
The menu is well-suited to the couple’s family-focused vision. The recipe for the meatloaf comes from Scott’s mom, and the macaroni salad riffs on one made by Caitlyn’s mom. Sally’s onion strings are named for Scott’s aunt, who loves the onion strings at MoMo’s so much that they knew they had to bring them over to Maggie & Mac’s.
The children’s menu has house-made “Uncrustables,” grilled cheese stuffed with a burger patty, and a child-size pizza. Scott says he hopes it’s the kids who drag their parents to Maggie & Mac’s. When asked if there is an age cutoff for the children’s menu, he answers with a resounding no.
“If a 40-year-old orders an Uncrustable, I’m giving him a high-five,” Scott says.
The space is warm and homey, washed in earthy tones such as the golden brown that covers the walls and rustic wood ceiling. Caitlyn chose the palette to evoke the feeling of nostalgia. They want a meal in the dining room to feel like going to a friend’s house for dinner.
Green and brown booths line the wall across from the bar, while the mezzanine is filled with wooden tables to create an area removed from the bar but still near the action. There are a couple of TVs to stream games, though it doesn’t feel like a sports bar. Light streams in from the big windows to 9th Avenue, as well as through a couple of skylights. The N Judah rumbles by. In the back is a tucked-away space, where Social Kitchen & Brewery once stored beer tanks, that they’re calling the Cable Car Room. Scott describes the vibe as “campy,” noting that the bathrooms feature playful art from the movies “Big Daddy” and “Ted.”
“Even though we’re in a neighborhood in the Inner Sunset that has a million places to eat and drink, we wanted to stylistically do something that was starkly contrasting with everything else,” Scott says.
The soft opening Wednesday saw the room full of family and friends, all ready to celebrate. His friend Jason Whitney lives in the Inner Sunset and said he’s proud and looking forward to having a new dinner option near his house. There’s a direct line — literally — from the couple’s first restaurant to their second, he points out, since the N Judah goes directly from MoMo’s to Maggie & Mac’s.
Scott’s dad, Brian Morton, who admittedly might be biased, said Scott and Caitlyn are destined for success.
“I’m excited for them because they’re my son and my daughter-in-law,” he says. “But I feel like they’ve earned it.”
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