GREENSBORO, N.C. — As steak sizzles from his grill, Maho’s Bistro owner Marcus Hood sits back and smiles.
“I’m really adventurous in the kitchen, so I started putting different things together,” he said.
What You Need To Know
Marcus Hood started Maho's Bistro back in 2014
This is the first time the N.C. Folk Festival has approved him to sell there
Hood says the festival is expected to have more than 100,000 people
Hood started Maho’s Bistro back in 2014. It took some time, but it really took off in 2017 when he moved his restaurant mobile.
“We really came on the scene with our food truck and our hot dog cart in 2017 with small mom and pop events and stuff like that,” he said.
It’s hard to classify exactly what Hood makes. He simply likes to call it “uniquely different.”
“When you think about egg rolls, you think about Maho’s,” Hood said. “When you think about hot dogs, you think about Maho’s.”
He even has a cheesecake eggroll and cheesecake lemonade, but it isn’t his favorite item on the menu. That would be something else.
“Our steak and cheese,” he said.
He cooks it in a couple different ways. When he made it in front of me, it smelled so good that I had to try it myself.
It was absolutely fantastic. But what’s Hood’s secret?
“I rarely cook with any sodium, salt-salt. I like to use powders. And so, when it comes to my food, it’s just packed with flavors, so it’s like it’s doing karate, like you’re like heee-yahh,” he laughed with a karate chop.
Hood doesn’t teach karate, but he does stand out. The North Carolina Folk Festival chose Maho’s to have a stand at the event, which is expected to see more than 100,000 people over the course of the weekend.
“It’s really going to benefit me economically because a whole lot of people coming into town,” Hood said. “We’re new to this event, so it’s going to help us get some things we’ve been looking for as far as like upgrading our food truck, upgrading our trailer.”
He was the first food truck to show up and got a grand tour of the area.
“I said 'I feel like a celebrity right now,'” Hood said with a laugh.
Locally, he just might be.