From the time he was baking cakes for his grandparents as a 12-year-old boy, Mike Clawson had always thought about opening a restaurant.
In November 2010, he bought the Tortoise and the Hare Café on Bristol’s North Main Street, hoping to infuse some Southern flair into the menu. Within a few years, he realized it was time to rebrand and overhaul the 30-seat restaurant. He’d kept the name, adding “Mike’s” to distinguish himself as a new owner, but it wasn’t enough to draw crowds. “We wanted to give ourselves our own identity,” Clawson said.
With limited resources, he reached out to Bristol Rising, a community organization that crowdsources revitalization ideas for the city. And by January 2014, a successful Kickstarter funding campaign had raised $7,900 — more than $1,400 more than its projected goal — to help invigorate the café with a new menu, logo, signage and updated décor. Now a “plaque of gratitude” hangs from the wall of the revamped eatery, bearing the name of every backer who contributed.
The new restaurant’s name, 457 Mason Jar, borrows from its street address and a nod to Clawson’s Southern heritage. After moving to Bristol from Salisbury, N.C., in 1995, he began working toward his longtime goal, graduating from Connecticut Culinary Institute, working for The Cottage restaurant in Plainville for nearly 11 years, and later opening Mike’s North Carolina BBQ, a food cart in downtown Bristol, for another four years. “I had 18 items coming out of a 4-by-8 cart,” Clawson said, including his renowned desserts.
Each day at 457 Mason Jar starts at 8 a.m. with a hearty breakfast menu (entrees $4.75 to $10.50): two-egg omelets, Benedicts with housemade Hollandaise, egg sandwiches, large pancakes topped with amaretto-flavored peaches and bananas Foster French toast made with banana bread. Another French toast dish, “The King,” pays homage to Elvis Presley’s favorite sandwich with banana, peanut butter and bacon, topped with whipped cream and chocolate sauce.
Southern favorites appear on the lunch and dinner menus: Carolina hush puppies, cheeseburgers and grilled cheese sandwiches with pimento cheese; fried, grilled or broiled catfish sandwiches and entrees; and fried chicken with gravy. Pulled pork in a vinegar-based sauce, chicken, baby back ribs and rib eye steaks are smoked in-house, and a slaw recipe gets a splash of Cheerwine, a cherry-flavored soft drink produced in Clawson’s hometown. He buys the regional soda in bulk when possible, he said.
Traditional half-pound Angus beef burgers with a variety of toppings are big sellers, Clawson said, hand-formed and “cooked as rare as you’d like.” The menu also features unique twists, like Clawson’s “chicken Oscar” recipe of grilled chicken breast over shrimp grits with asparagus, crabmeat, Hollandaise and Southern-fried okra. “I wanted to do a classic French dish that I could make Southern,” he said. An appetizer of fried calamari shuns traditional marinara dipping sauce in favor of a preparation with spicy pepper vinaigrette, arugula and lemon aioli, and sweet potato fries are served with a pineapple-mango ketchup. Lunch items range from $4.50 to $11; dinner entrees are $12 to $17.
Clawson said he likes to play with specials during dinner hours, like boiled lobsters, a recent sausage mixed grill (venison, wild boar and cheddar bratwurst) with an arugula, melon and berry salad and a bone-in pork chop marinated in sriracha and lime. Diners enjoy the BYOB policy with no corkage fee. “People are a little more relaxed [at night.] They come in, bring a bottle of wine, they don’t have to get back to work.”
Save room for the sweet endings like banana pudding, key lime pie with blueberry coulis, peach cobbler and Clawson’s signature carrot cake, baked with pineapple to keep it moist and topped with cream cheese buttercream and shredded coconut. He was inspired by a winning recipe at the Terryville Fair, and has made his own modifications to the confection over the years.
“People come in just for the carrot cake,” he said, particularly if they remember it from his time at The Cottage. He also experiments with creme brulee, offering flavors like coconut coffee and Mexican hot chocolate.
Dessert is “where I started,” Clawson said, dating to his childhood. He recalls delighting his grandmother and grandfather with handmade birthday, Easter and anniversary cakes over the years. “My grandparents were my biggest fans,” he said. “I’ve always really wanted a restaurant. … I just wish [they] were around to see it.”
He honors them with his family-oriented business — his wife, Sallie, a Bristol native, and adult sons Alex and Brad pitch in frequently, in front-of-the-house and kitchen roles. “We try to make [customers] feel like they’re at home, like they’re part of the family,” he said. “I love cooking, I love serving people. My greatest satisfaction … [is] for you to sit down and say ‘Oh, this is great,’ that’s my pay. To know that I’m making you happy, that you’re spending your money well.”
457 Mason Jar, 457 N. Main St., Bristol, is open Tuesday and Wednesday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Thursday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and then 4:30 to 8 p.m. and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. (breakfast menu only.) Reservations are suggested. 860-582-6616, 457masonjar.com.
