Eleven years ago, two sisters brought their mac and cheese food truck to Drexel University's campus.
Mac Mart has since evolved, becoming a Rittenhouse brick-and-mortar staple, and it's about to have a second location in Ardmore next week.
"We weren't allowed to eat it as kids," laugh sisters and chef-owners, Marti Lieberman and Pamela Lorden.
So it would seem ironic that now, Lieberman and Lorden are Philly's mac and cheese queens!
It all started in 2013.
When Pamela graduated from Drexel University, she made the dish for her party and a star was born.
The sisters got a food truck, parked it at Drexel's campus and sold that mac and cheese with their new business: Mac Mart.
Their Mac Mart truck turned into a brick-and-mortar eatery on 18th Street in 2016.
The Dish: Making mac and cheese with sister owners of Mac Mart
This is a true sister act.
"We do sometimes make people dizzy," Lorden said.
"We will sing and dance too," laughed Lieberman.
They start with their classic, famous seven-cheese mac and cheese, and build all kinds of savory, mind-blowing bowls.
"'In the Buff' is our best-seller, hands down," Lorden says. "If we do 250 bowls a day, 150 of them are the 'In the Buff.' People love buffalo chicken."
Vegetarian or gluten-free? They will make your mac and cheese any and every way.
"Our favorite is the 'Cowboy Cup,'" Lorden says. "That's a jalapeno-infused mac. We make the jalapeno oil infusion here, add crispy bacon, Pam Pam's Ranch and a sweet cornbread crunch."
Each batch of cheese sauce is hand-stirred.
The shirts they wear and sell, say it all: "Body by Mac."
"We are everything mac and cheese," Lorden laughed.
The sisters even have matching elbow noodle tattoos to prove it.
Mac Mart caters and they're also expanding.
"There's only two of us," Lieberman says. "We've decided to open it up to other people who love the brand and the product."
The first Mac Mart franchise opens in Ardmore on November 2.
The trick to their mac and cheese is that there's no roux and no bechamel, just whole milk and whole cheeses.
"It's made every single day in 70-quart pots," Lieberman said. "It's fresh. There's not anything out of a packet."
"We take our cheese sauce very seriously," Lorden added.
They use seven different cheeses, but choose your adventure as you wish. They do say that mild cheese works best.
"We love using mozzarella, Colby Jack or a Colby blend," Lorden said. "These cheeses just melt really nice. You get that cheese pull that everybody loves."
They always use parmesan cheese and cheddar cheese.
The key is that they don't add any salt. The cheese provides that.
However, they do add lots of black pepper and a blend of herbs.
You can also choose your own profile, but it always starts with parsley.
"We like a little bit of bite, so there's a little bit of cayenne in there," Lieberman said. "We use paprika for color. We play around with onion powder, garlic powder and Adobo too."
The cheese sauce starts with one gallon of whole milk.
Heat it on a low flame.
"You have to keep stirring it," Lieberman said. "Cheese sauce will burn very, very easily. Low and slow is the way to go about this. You don't ever want to walk away."
Once the milk foams a little on the top, start adding your seasonings.
"We'll mix that in and then we usually go with our parmesan cheese next," Lieberman said. "There's a method to the build. You want to go with your finest grated cheeses first, because those can burn the easiest. You want to get them mixed into the milk really well. You want to go with your shredded cheese second, because that will take a bit longer to melt. Anything cubed goes last."
As you add each cheese, the key is to make sure it's all completely combined.
"As you stir, you want to pick it up and see that there are no clumps, no lumps of anything," Lieberman suggested.
Here's how you know how when the cheese sauce is done:
"It's silky, but yet it has body," Lorden explained.
To grab that sauce, choose your pasta wisely.
"Mac Mart is known for our shell bows," Lieberman said. "We use shells and elbows. We say the shells hug the cheese and the elbows are for tradition."
"We cook these very al dente so that they can sit in the cheese and not get mushy," Lorden added. "We don't want you to have a mushy mac."