Metal Music and Mac n Cheese in the Maple Leaf Country

We were looking for an ice cream shop that our friend Nave recommended to us, but didn’t end up getting any because the line was nearly two blocks long 😢. Since we’d already paid for two hours of premium, hard-to-find street parking, we decided to walk around in search of other dessert options. There were plenty of quieter gelato shops, and one beautiful chocolatier shop that we popped into for some quick treats. The real gem, though, was not dessert at all.

We heard it before we saw it: loud metal music thrashing out from a side street and flooding the main drag. Of course, we had to follow. The visual didn’t match the music drawing us in; the place was a cute, certified hole-in-the-wall called Bobbie Sue’s Mac n Cheese. On the menu? Just mac n cheese. It was in the name, so it had to be good!

We walked up to the outdoor counter, which was decorated with a lovely wooden awning and two Adirondack chairs ready the next customers. One man stood behind the counter in a small kitchen and paused the music to ask for our orders. It wasn’t as simple as ordering “mac n cheese”. There were eight variations on the classic comfort food available:

• Classic: five cheese blend
• Pulled Pork: smoked pork shoulder + bbq sauce
• BBQ Chicken: pulled chicken + bbq sauce
• Blue Buffalo Chicken: chicken + blue cheese + buffalo sauce
• Green Trees: broccoli + chili flakes
• Camp: beef hot dog + yellow mustard
• Vegan: special vegan sauce
• Carbonara: pancetta + grana padano + egg yolk
• Spicy Boi: buffalo sauce + sriracha + chili flakes

We considered ordering two to try different things, but they came in pans the size of a small pizza — more than enough for the both of us. The cook recommended the Pulled Pork dish as a popular option. He turned away, hit play, and went to work on a mac n cheese masterpiece.

We sat down in the Adirondack chairs and waited. We got to watch the artist work while we waited. He was listening to his absurdly loud heavy metal music; dancing around, free of rejection; all while making something he really seemed to like. Its not something a lot of people get to experience in their work.

He placed our order on the counter, nodded, and went back to the music, the food, and the dance.

Needless to say, the mac n cheese was some of the best we’ve ever had. Topped with the perfect ratio of crispy, yet tender barbecue pulled pork, and filled with ooey-gooey cheesy goodness underneath.

Usually when we go out to eat, we look for reviews online or ask locals for recommendations. On this night though, we just followed our ears and our noses. No, we don’t listen to heavy metal, but we certainly have a new appreciation for it. And next time we hear a metal song, we’ll probably have a sudden hunger for good food and that wonderful, almost indescribable feeling you get when you dance like no-one’s watching.