Recipe for success
Mah family extending restaurant reach in North Mississippi
At Bus Stop BBQ in Byhalia, owner Galvin Mah offers an unusual buffet for an unheard-of price: $2.99. The hand-lettered signs advertising the buffet declare “Serve Yourself. Pay When Full.”
A table at the front of the restaurant holds nine or 10 slow cookers of food, lined handle-to-handle. Although fried rice is a staple on the line, you never really know what to expect from day to day:
“I have no patience,” said Mah. “I try something, and if it doesn’t catch on in a week, I get rid of it and try something else.”
After spending much of his adult life in the food business — he’s owned several restaurants during the years — Mah prides himself on being able to open a restaurant on a shoestring.
“I opened this for $800,” he said of Bus Stop.
Jonathan Mah, owner of Sidestreet Burgers and Galvin’s son, is about a month away from opening Sidestreet Jr. a few doors down from his popular eatery in Olive Branch, expanding the family’s reach in North Mississippi. It’s only a few miles from Sidestreet to Bus Stop, a straight shot down the road to Byhalia. Galvin opened Bus Stop BBQ (8097 Miss. 178) in October in the town’s former bus station.
Among the restaurants Galvin has owned is the nowclosed Evan’s Café in Horn Lake (he opened it first in Southaven in 1996 but moved to Horn Lake in 1999), which enjoyed a loyal clientele until Galvin gave it away after running it for 11 years.
“I gave the Horn Lake restaurant to my landlord’s granddaughter and her husband,” Galvin said, explaining that his landlord had been very kind to him through the years. The old Evan’s closed after two years.
“This business is not an easy business,” said Galvin. With a grin, he added, “It’s not as easy as I make it look.”
But Galvin knows he has itchy feet: “I’m a gypsy,” he said. “I never stay around long enough to milk the cow. I’ll probably give this away once I get it going.”
Galvin will remain in the food business, though, and likely draw more family into it.
In fact, almost the whole Mah family is in or has been in the food business for decades. Youngest son Evan, the namesake for Galvin’s former buffet café, is food editor at Atlanta magazine. Ansi Mah, Galvin’s wife and the boys’ mother, operated Magnolia Café in Olive Branch for nine years before closing it in 2005.
Galvin and Ansi’s daughter, Cybil Lieu, is not in the food business: “Cybil doesn’t know how to cook,” Ansi said with a laugh. “But she does know how to clean.”
Even Galvin’s 88-year-old mother, Jean Wong, works at Bus Stop. She cuts all the vegetables — 10 pounds of onions and 20 pounds of potatoes a day — washes all the dishes and sweeps the floor.
“And that’s not enough for her,” said Galvin. “I’d have to triple my business to keep up with my mom’s pace.”
Tripling his business is not out of the realm of possibility; the $2.99 Bus Stop BBQ buffet features various Chinese and Southern dishes — from lo mein and fried rice to sausage gumbo. Galvin also offers other dishes such as salads, meatloaf, black Angus burgers, pulled pork, chicken sandwiches and steaks. Banana pudding is one of his regular desserts.
“I really love this little spot,” Galvin said.
Back up the road in Olive Branch, Jonathan also loves his location. And so do his customers, though they likely love the food more. Neither Jonathan nor his father is at all insulted when their eateries are compared to “hole-in-the-wall” restaurants.
“I lived in Atlanta 13 years and worked in the food business there,” said Jonathan. “Atlanta is a food mecca, and people there look for the hole-in-thewall places.”
And like-father, like-son, both Jonathan and Galvin rely on hand-lettered cards to announce the food they have available. (Jonathan does have printed menus, but most folks just order from the cards.)
Sidestreet Burgers (9199 Miss. 178), opened in May 2012, is Jonathan’s first restaurant, and he said he’s “still surprised” at how well it’s been accepted. His Sidestreet Jr. will serve as a production kitchen and sell five or six sandwiches. In true Mah tradition, it will be run by his uncle, Galvin’s brother, T.J. Mah.
Expansion is practically a necessity for Sidestreet; at midday Sunday before last, patrons were lined up at the counter, packed into the dining area and filling the recently added outside patio.
“This is one of the busiest Sundays we’ve ever had,” said the 35-year-old Jonathan as he bounced back and forth between the cash register and the sandwich preparation table, dodging the four other employees working in the small kitchen area.
One of Sidestreet’s offerings is The Fat Panda, sort of a hamburger but with beef chunks cooked in a brown sauce and served on French bread. The fish taco — mahi mahi served on flatbread — is a favorite.
“I moved here three months ago,” said Ryan L. Vanderford as he awaited his family’s order. “Two weeks ago, I was here four times. Everything’s good.”
Evan, for his part of the dynasty, is happy with his current position in the food business. He said growing up in the restaurant business prepared him for his job writing about food.
“I would never want to have my own restaurant,” said the 24-year-old editor. “I’m much happier being on the other side.”