Steak and seafood restaurant with ‘a little Caribbean fusion’ to open in downtown Macon

A steak and seafood restaurant with “a little Caribbean fusion” is gearing up to open in downtown Macon.

Named after the corner where it’s located, 3rd & Cherry will be the first restaurant for Heriberto “Eddy” Lopez who’s made a career working in restaurants.

“It’s not fine dining but it’s a little bit up from casual,” Lopez said of the new spot. “We’re going to have an amazing shrimp dish. It’s called Edison shrimp.

“We’ve got an unique chicken breast dish that’s amazing. We are going to sell a pork chop that’s called kan kan pork chop … It’s the actual pork chop but with the pork belly attached and part of the rib attached. It’s a giant situation going on with that.”

Other entrees include sesame crusted ahi tuna, grilled salmon with white wine sauce, lump crab cakes, cast iron filet, cast iron ribeye, lamb chops with mint jelly and sides such as sauteed spinach, lyonnaise potatoes, sauteed mushrooms and grilled asparagus.

The menu is also expected to feature a few authentic Caribbean food such as mofongo and whole fried red snapper. The kan kan pork chop is a Caribbean dish, Lopez said.

He’s still working on the menu.

‘Our little restaurant’

Lopez, 45, has been working in restaurants since he was teenager.

“I’ve done everything from cook, food and beverage controller, manager, general manager. I’ve served as a bartender, washed dishes,” he said.

Lopez was born and raised in Puerto Rico. He lived in Miami for 13 years and headed restaurants down South.

Living in Macon for the last five years, Lopez most recently served as executive chef at John-Wesley Villas in Macon and before that, as executive chef at the Pond Restaurant in Warner Robins.

“This property popped up and I had to be fair to myself and go ahead and lease it and do our little restaurant,” he said.

Lopez said he misses the people at John-Wesley Villas.

“It’s a nice, very high-end retirement home. I had a blank canvas to do menus, train the staff. It was exciting,” he said.

Hands-on

Lopez said he expects to be hands-on throughout the life of the restaurant.

“It’s like a hobby. It’s what I love. Walking into a kitchen and a restaurant for me is like walking into a park,” Lopez said. “It’s our own little baby that we’re molding.”

He had originally planned to name the new restaurant Fuego, which means fire in Spanish.

“But just because the last two … have been Mexican food, I did not want to confuse people with the Spanish word fuego,” Lopez said. “So we went with 3rd & Cherry.”

The spot most previously was The Lazy Donkey, which was in operation for less than a year, and before that, Acapulco, also a Mexican restaurant.

Lopez wanted to make sure his restaurant had its own identity.

Lopez is getting a lot of help getting the restaurant open from his family, including his wife, his mother-in-law, his nieces and his brother-in-law.

“Everybody gets involved,” said Lopez. “The kids run around all day while we paint.”

He and his wife, Jennifer, have two children, Edison, 3, and Liam, 8. The restaurant’s Edison shrimp and Liam’s chicken are named after the boys.

Lopez is in the process of hiring the rest of his staff. He hopes to open the restaurant by month’s end or early May.