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The Union Mac
One dish, thirty years, more than a million orders. Here is what is actually in it, how to get it, and why a town of three thousand people ended up with a mac & cheese scoreboard on the wall.
1995 · The recipe
It started with a béchamel and a trip to Eastern Market.
When the Union opened in the old church in 1995, opening chef Bill Fortin built the dish the long way: a proper béchamel, penne rigate rather than elbows, and a cheese blend he assembled by walking Detroit's Eastern Market until he found the two that behaved together.
Those two are still the ones. Vermont sharp cheddar for the bite and mild Pinconning — a Michigan cheese from a Michigan town about ninety minutes north — for the melt. A grating of nutmeg goes in, which nobody guesses. Then it is layered, topped and baked until the crust cracks under a spoon.
Thirty years later almost nothing about it has changed, which is the entire point.
The board on the wall
The Clarkston Union has served
dishes of mac & cheese right here since 1995
That works out to roughly 114 dishes a day, every day, for three decades. There is a chef whose job is the mac and nothing but the mac; Curt Catallo calls that corner of the kitchen the Mac Lab.
Six ways to get it
However you want it, then.
Full Order — 21.00
The whole dish. Vermont sharp cheddar & mild Pinconning layered with penne rigate and a crunchy crust. Frequently described by first-timers as “enough for two sittings.”
Half Order — 11.50
The sensible amount, if you also want a sandwich or intend to have dessert. Add ham for 2.25.
Gluten Free — 15.25
Half order, same cheese blend, gluten free crunchy crust. Tell your server about the allergy and the kitchen will handle it properly.
Take & Bake — 15.95
Unbaked, boxed and yours. Finish it in your own oven whenever the mood arrives. Grab one on your way out.
Kids Mac — 9.45
The same recipe in a smaller dish. Comes with a pop. Has converted an enormous number of children into regulars.
By the Party
Union Catering will bring it to your office, your garage or your wedding in a pan that feeds a crowd.
CateringDecember 2011
Kid Rock brought Guy Fieri here on purpose.
For Kid Rock's Detroit Tour — season 13, episode 3 of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives — the tour guide was a Romeo, Michigan native who had a fairly short list of places he wanted a camera crew to see. A converted church in Clarkston with a mac & cheese scoreboard made the cut.
The phrase that came out of it, “the most-macked mac & cheese,” has been doing free advertising for us ever since.
Reasonable questions