The Society Garden, an outdoor beer garden and live music venue in Ingleside Village, and Satterfield’s Barbecue, a Macon favorite since 1983, announce that dinner — finally — is served.

After marinating on the idea of serving food at Society Garden since it opened four years ago, owners Brad and Meagan Evans and Andrew Collier partnered with Satterfield’s owners Ben Hampton and Marla Kaplan about seven months ago to begin construction on a prep kitchen. They launched a limited menu last week, with a more expanded menu coming soon.

“We’re opening with pulled pork, chopped brisket and chicken sandwiches, and sides like potato salad, slaw and Brunswick stew,” Kaplan said. “We’re also planning fun specials specific to the Garden, like our Society Sauce, a barbeque sauce only available at this location.”

Society Garden patrons can order food next to the main bar, or via their phones by scanning a QR code. A text is sent when the order is ready. Food will be served from 5-9 p.m., Wednesdays-Sundays, with expanded service until 10 p.m., Saturdays.

As neighbors and regular patrons of each other businesses, Hampton said the ingredients to this partnership were grown organically.

“We did a private event together, a five-course course tasting menu, and it went really well,” Hampton said. “We both felt like barbecue would be a great fit with the Garden’s atmosphere and the live music. Now, we’ll focus on the food, and they’ll focus on continuing the great drinks and craft cocktails.” 

Known as a barbecue aficionado himself, Evans was quick to praise Satterfield’s.

“I know this is a scary thing to say in Macon, but I honestly think Satterfield’s has the best barbecue in town,” he said. “They are run by a creative husband-and-wife team who can make good brisket, then turn around and make a killer ramen. They aren’t scared to try new things, so it was truly a perfect fit for us. I also love that everything they use is made in-house. From their pickles to their buns, it’s made right here in Macon.”  

Locally-sourced ingredients are a matter of pride for Satterfield’s Hampton and Kaplan.

“From the very beginning, it has been incredibly important to us to feed the community. If you use a local bakery and local produce, not only does it taste better, but it’s a beautiful relationship with our community as a whole,” Kaplan said.

To serve up that shared sense of community, Evans said Society Garden will feature special beer pairing dinners and one-off parties based around food. Tomorrow, Society Garden hosts Bluegrass and BBQ, which will happen 6-8 p.m. every Wednesday featuring Satterfield’s barbecue and live bluegrass music.

“We can’t wait to start programming our space with food, like we have with other things in the past. Outdoor beer and barbecue just fit together,” Evans said. “We’re so excited to bring this to Ingleside Village.”

The Society Garden is a locally-owned outdoor beer garden and wine bar in historic Ingleside Village that offers a casual, eclectic, family and dog-friendly space to mingle with friends and meet your Central Georgia neighbors. Visit Society Garden at 2389 Ingleside Avenue.