It’s like Jonathan Mah had to become a restaurant owner.
Mah, 42, owner of SideStreet Burgers in Olive Branch, Mississippi, spent most of his life in restaurants.
“My dad started a restaurant probably when I was 10 or 11,” Mah says. “His first restaurant was Cafe Arcadia in the Collierville town square. It had steaks, and they had a buffet where they did some Southern food.”
His parents at one time ran two restaurants simultaneously. “My mom had her Cafe Magnolia in Olive Branch. My dad did his in Horn Lake, Evan’s Cafe. Both on Goodman Road.
“I had to work all the time after school in the restaurants. Cooking, cleaning — you name it, I had to do it. It wasn’t always that fun to me at the time, but that was my background. We liked to eat, and my parents had restaurants. So, when I went to college, it was the only thing that felt comfortable.”
Mah majored in hotel-restaurant management at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
His parents cooked at home, says Mah, who was born in Greenville, Mississippi. “My mom did quite a bit and my dad usually grilled out. Being a Chinese family, my grandmother lived with us for many years. So, she was stir-frying and cooking a lot, as well.
“We didn’t have the typical breakfast you grow up eating, cereal and things like that. We had dumplings for breakfast. And we put a little bit of soy sauce and sesame oil in our hot oatmeal.”
But his parents didn’t serve Chinese food at their restaurants. “For some reason they just didn’t cook it. They cooked Southern food.” His mother served “peach cobbler and her amazing brisket. Mashed potatoes and gravy. Fresh fried okra. And my dad did something similar on his side of town, but just in his own style.”
Mah went for hamburgers instead of Asian when he opened SideStreet Burgers May 12, 2012.
His dad gave him the building. “I was confined by a small budget and the small building. I said, ‘Well, you know what? Let’s just keep it simple. Start with burgers and potatoes.’ A good Angus burger we hand-patted and red potatoes.”
Mah added other items, including the Fat Panda — “Korean marinated beef tenderloin” — the Mother Clucker chicken sandwich, Jake’s Chicken Nachos, Blackened Mahi Fish Tacos, and the Whatchu Talkin’ Bout patty melt.”
They offer other hamburgers, but The Street Burger is their signature. “We take cheddar cheese and slice it daily. So, it’s right off a cheddar loaf, probably a quarter-inch thick of cheese, and [add] a little garlic mayo.”
Five years ago, Mah and Derric Curran, owner of Mississippi Ale House, which is next door, teamed up. “That’s a craft ale house. They brew their own beers and get other beers from Mississippi.”
SideStreet Burgers doesn’t offer in-house dining. “Customers pick up their food and they go over to the Ale House and drink beer and listen to live music.”
Mah also added his OB Pizza Co. inside Mississippi Ale House. “Hand-tossed pizzas cooked on pizza stone. Fun pizzas like our White Castle Pizza, Fat Panda Philly, and Taco Pizza.”
Also at that restaurant, he says, “We have amazing whole wings marinated in hot chili oil and tossed in wing sauce. We call them Kung Fu Wings.”
Mah finally broke the chain and added hints of Chinese cuisine at SideStreet Burgers. “I always try to infuse a little Asian into my meat.”
He prepares Chinese food on occasion as “ghost pop-ups,” which people can order on his Facebook page.
But Asian food isn’t what his customers want at SideStreet Burgers. Or other items Mah tried, including a “wedge salad with some really good blue cheese” and a “curried chicken wrap.”
“If they sell, we keep it on as long as we can go. If it doesn’t, we move on to something else and bring our customers another taste of something else we’ve created.”
SideStreet Burgers is at 9199 MS-178 in Olive Branch; (901) 596-4749.
