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Kind “Madison” into your favourite search engine, and you will scroll by numerous entries pointing to the fourth president of the US and the flagship campus of the College of Wisconsin. Lastly, what you are in search of will seem: Madison, Georgia, in central Morgan County (not in Madison County, due to Georgia’s common naming follow, the place a metropolis is never in a county that shares its identify). I have been to this pleasant little city a number of instances with one of many largest historic districts in Georgia, with many breathtaking outdated buildings. My daughter’s mother-in-law lived there for a number of years, and it appeared like an ideal quick journey to me on the not often congested I-20.
Throughout the pandemic, issues started to alter rapidly and for the higher. Beginning in 2020 and persevering with by 2023, an entire bunch of eating places and a market have joined a city sq. I barely acknowledge. First got here The Sinclair, a espresso store and lounge in a former fuel station; Then Group Roots Market, an amazing gourmand retailer on par with Atlanta’s The Buttery and Floral Park Market; Coronary heart and Crown Tavern, a wonderful British pub adorned in conventional English type; The Eating Room, an exquisite tribute to Atlanta’s once-incomparable restaurant of the identical identify within the former Ritz-Carlton in Buckhead; Patisserie on Principal, a pastry store run by Edouard Fenouille, a star French baker; And at last, Betty Jean’s, a ’70s-style small-town breakfast and lunch cafe serving a cup of espresso and conventional Southern consolation meals.
The adjustments have one thing to do with Madison’s distinctive location on Lake Sinclair and Lake Oconee, and with elites who hunt deer and shoot skeet on this affluent bubble of the agricultural South. However the driving pressure was an impeccably elegant (assume cashmere and spit-polished sneakers) Atlanta actual property investor who labored his approach as much as principal within the firm that developed the Ice Home Lofts in Decatur and a number of other different metropolis initiatives.
Born the son of a chaplain in what was as soon as the state capital of Milledgeville, Preston Snyder had an early ardour for historic properties. He put himself by faculty by working at eating places and native resorts. He started investing in actual property with a deal with charisma, pure potential and all issues architectural. His profession started modestly, particularly as he ended up as a waiter at night time in the principle eating room (with then chef Gunter Seeger and govt supervisor Peter Crehan), which laid the inspiration for what would develop into MAD Hospitality. Quick friendships developed with individuals like Sean Doty, then sous-chef below Seeger, and Michael McNeil, the South’s youngest and most completed grasp sommelier. They met individuals like pâtissier extraordinaire Edouard Fenouille and met cooks from all around the United States. Snyder married Cindy Fetch who was working entrance of home for Anne Quatrano and Clifford Harrison at Floataway Cafe, the place he accomplished his schooling in native and recent components.
A brush with mortality pressured the couple to reside in Lake Oconee, the place Snyder’s specialist practiced medication. His Atlanta actual property companions purchased him out, offering the seed cash for his daring experiment in Madison. “I typically drove by Madison when I-20 was closed,” he remembers, and he quickly fell in love with the place, which mixed his fondness for small-town tradition and his ardour for historical past. The sq. was in a sorry state, regardless of its latest recognition as a filming location, with an impressive courthouse and lots of boarded-up buildings. The couple and their two youngsters moved to Madison in 2018 and started doing what everybody is aware of greatest. Snyder first appeared for residential properties, then eyed the city sq., the place he revitalized two-story buildings with eating places, retail and lofts. Over time, the locals accepted the adjustments.
I not too long ago toured all MAD Hospitality companies on the Sq. and liked the look, mission and nibbles on show. On the Group Roots Market, Cindy Fetch networks with farmers who supply greens, pure-white turnips, and candied black radishes, as she sells books, items, and nice wines. I ended up within the eating room, all velvet curtains and fancy service. The wine listing was created by Michael McNeil, now director of schooling at Georgia Crown Distributing Co., and is as bold as you’d discover in big-city fine-dining spots. The weekly altering prix fixe menus are additionally spectacular.
In 2023, our very personal Sean Doty took up a month-long residency in The Eating Room when authentic chef Ryan Caldwell left for the Jekyll Island Membership and Resort. The present chef is the proficient Russell Hayes. As I dined in a small group, I felt the restaurant’s story of lengthy friendships and Atlanta relationships was distinctive.
Snyder is the pinnacle of Thomas Preston Actual Property, and owns a number of residential properties. “At coronary heart, although, I am a industrial developer,” he advised me. His transformation of Madison, a culinary vacation spot by no means earlier than seen, modified the town endlessly.
This text appeared in our July 2024 concern.
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