H&H Restaurant is open for business again in downtown Macon. (Credit: Steve Burns.)
Updated 6:40 a.m., 8/17/14
“Cheeseburger in Paradise” is already taken as a song title, but “Soul Food in Macon” sounds appealing. The real thing is playing well.
The H&H Restaurant, which dates to 1959 and is an iconic figure in the musical and cultural history of Macon, Georgia, has reopened under new management in the same location on Forsyth Street. On the menu: items such as squash casserole and livers & gizzards. In the atmosphere: music history and Southern rock tunes.
I had to taste the latest incarnation of the famed eatery, which has served such notables as the Allman Brothers Band and Otis Redding. I ate there in earlier years, when handwritten menus touting “stew beef” let you know the daily specials.
Modernization has been kept to a minimum. Souvenir menus are printed, and include “The H&H Story.” Beverages still are served in Mason jars. And Gregg Allman’s solo version of “Midnight Rider” was playing when I arrived.
[The H&H Story on the menu refers to the young Allman band members as “a group a long hairs” (sic).]
Of course, pictures of the various band members and other “Southern Rock”-era and soul musicians of note are on the walls. And “Mama Louise” Hudson, one of the original proprietors, was in the house and even offering tips to the kitchen staff during my visit.
Meanwhile, the former offices of Capricorn Records, the record label for the Allman Brothers Band’s glory years, sit vacant and dog-eared (see attached photo) nearby. And the current version of the band has announced that it will end touring this year, closing its 45-year history.
But one tradition lives on — the H&H.
— Have you eaten at the H&H Restaurant in Macon? Share your memories in the comments box below.
Portraits of Allman Brothers Band members are on the wall at the H&H Restaurant in Macon. (Credit: Steve Burns.)
The former offices of Capricorn Records, the Allman Brothers Band label in their glory years, are vacant in Macon. (Credit: Steve Burns.)
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