That alone would be a hell of a story, but it's not even the most notable thing about this place. Alexander built his staffing model around second chances: “Ninety-five percent of my men are ex-offenders and some of the girls. I believe in second chances,” he's said — and it's worked well enough, and been documented well enough, that it created an actual Secret Service problem. Then-Senator Barack Obama interviewed Alexander twice for The Audacity of Hope and dedicated real pages to him, and the two were genuinely close — “He'd come in the restaurant sometimes or call me...
He'd have his meetings, here,” Alexander recalls — but Obama hasn't been able to visit since becoming president, because Secret Service protocol bars anyone with assault convictions from being near a sitting president, and that's most of MacArthur's staff. Kanye West, R. Kelly, and Shaquille O'Neal have all stopped in too. Underneath all of that is a straightforward cafeteria-style soul food menu — meatloaf, fried chicken, collard greens, mac and cheese, cornbread, smothered chops, beef short ribs — served in generous portions at reasonable prices, open daily 11 a.m. to 8 or 9 p.m. with breakfast from 7 to 10:45 a.m. No discount special to point to, and Alexander's own explanation for the restaurant's staying power doesn't need one: “My main thing, though, was to treat people right. Treat them with respect.”
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