BEST FINE DINING
73 & Main
Setting the Standard
W
hen Allen Dr. Dobson decided to turn the abandoned hosiery mill in Mt. Pleasant into a fine dining restaurant, some people said he was crazy. To put a fine dining eatery in the middle of the most rural of all Cabarrus County municipalities was a recipe for disaster, some expressed. Still, Dobson and his partners pushed on. With a budget of more than $2 million dollars, Dobson and his partners spent the better part of 2017 turning the dilapidated old mill into a restaurant people now come from miles around to experience and enjoy. Walking in to 73 & Main is like stepping back in time. When they were building the restaurant, Dobson told CM at the time, they had worked painstakingly hard to salvage whatever history they could from the building and incorporate it within its new purpose. “Old cabinets from the mercantile are being used throughout the building,” Dobson cited as an example during the construction in 2017. “We put two behind the bar. They were two-sided, so we cut the back off to fit them inside the bar area…These are the original wood floors and the original windowpanes were in there. There were only two or three panes that had to be replaced.
Offers more than 32 beers on tap and 50 bourbons.
Located in the Historic Mount Pleasant Hosiery Mill. The tin ceiling is original where possible, then patched to match.” It’s no wonder, with this attention to detail and conservation of history, 73 & Main was named the 2019 Cabarrus Magazine Reader Award for “Best Fine Dining”. Dobson says it is a testament to his team and the work they have done over the past two years, since the restaurant opened. “It’s not about being a restaurant, or even the food,” he explained. “You have to pay attention to the whole experience.” The experience is what the customer decides he, or she, desires. The way 73 & Main was constructed, there are actually four completely different eateries under one roof. There is the main, or fine dining room, the bar/pub area, a patio area and a bourbon bar. Each offers its own completely different experience, which Dobson says is key. “You need to have variety, so people don’t get bored.” With a chef’s table you can reserve for a small party and enjoy a custom menu or items on the regular menu we well, a customer could come to 73 & Main every night of the week and never have the same experience twice. Another key to success, according to Dobson, is he considers 73 & Main a “customer-driven restaurant”, as opposed to “chef-driven”. Rather than employing one executive chef,
January 2020 | 9
