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January, 2020: Cabarrus Magazine Reader Award Winners!
BEST FINE DINING
73 & Main: Setting the Standard
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When 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. 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,
Cabarrus Magazine Publisher, Jason Huddle (Left), poses with Jodie Bodes (Center) and Gary Morrison (Right), of 73 & Main at Celebrate Cabarrus, where they were given their award.
Photo Courtesy: Michael A. Anderson Photography
Dobson says they have four head chefs, who work in cohesion with each other. This formula has worked well, as the restaurant has served over 140,000 people since opening in December, 2017, according to Dobson.
Even Dr. Dobson sounds a little surprised by the number as he said it. “Typically, when a restaurant opens, you get a surge and then a drop (in customers). But that hasn’t happened to us.”
In 2017, Dobson expressed his desire for residents of surrounding cities, like Concord, to come and enjoy the restaurant. Little did he know, he may have been setting his expectation bar a little low. “Just the other night we had some customers in who live in south Charlotte,” Dobson said. “They told me they had been here just a few days before and had enjoyed the restaurant so much, they had to bring their friends with them to experience it as well this time.” He also went on to say they not only enjoyed the experience at the restaurant, but the quiet drive up, with minimal traffic, as well as the atmosphere Mt. Pleasant naturally offers.
As for what’s ahead for Dobson and the restaurant, things don’t seem to be slowing down for them either anytime soon. Dobson also is a major investor with Whiskey Prison and is working hard, in the wake of owner, Leanne Powell’s passing, to continue to make it a thriving tourist destination. He is also heavily involved with the renovations of other buildings,
In regard to the restaurant, Dobson says customers can expect them to keep things fresh. “We want to keep moving with the menu,” Dobson teased. “We ask the customers what they want and we’re not afraid to try new things.”
Indeed, “new thing” summarizes everything about 73 & Main – from the very concept of the restaurant itself, to the execution of it, and Dobson’s desire to never rest on its laurels and continuously give their customers a reason to return.
Congratulations to 73 & Main on their selection by our readers as the best fine dining option in Cabarrus County. We have no doubt they will have any trouble living up to those expectations as their third year in business begins.
