Huge, stuffed potatoes will give ‘delight in every bite’ at new Warner Robins eatery

Promising “delight in every bite,” a new restaurant is expected to open soon in Warner Robins that takes the baked potato to the next level.

At Potato Po-Ta-Toe, co-owner Phillip Hinson starts with a 16 to 20 ounce potato.

He next drapes it with homemade cheese sauce that he’s dubbed cheddar cheese drip and seasoning that he calls tater dust. He then sprinkles on some chives.

What comes next is made to order.

Customers may choose from a variety of proteins to top their spud, including filet steak, jumbo shrimp, ground beef, bacon and chicken breast.

Veggie toppings include spinach, broccoli, mushrooms, onions, jalapeno peppers, tomatoes, a sweet pepper melody and lettuce.

He does the same with fries, nachos, salads or bowl entrees.

Not his first rodeo

Maconites may know Hinson from his soul-food restaurant, Fall Off The Bone, at 1897 Shurling Drive in Macon, while Warner Robins residents may know him from One Potato Time at 280 Carl Vinson Parkway. That restaurant is now called My Potato after a partnership with Hinson dissolved and the restaurant changed ownership.

In May, Hinson and his fiancee, LaVerne Whipple, a real estate agent and broker, plan to open Potato Po-Ta-Toe at 778 Ga. 96, Suite 135, within The Shoppes at Houston Lake. The restaurant spot formerly housed Yogurt City.

The shopping center is anchored by the Kroger Marketplace off Ga. 96 and South Houston Lake Road. The city annexed the shopping center.

Hinson and Whipple hope to open shop May 13.

“Hopefully, that will be my birthday present,” said Whipple, who plans to work alongside Hinson at their restaurant while also selling real estate.

Hinson added, “We’re just waiting on all the inspections and licensing. When the inspections and licenses come through, we’ll be ready to open.”

At Potato Po-Ta-Toe, potatoes start at $8 and include cheddar cheese drip, tater dust and chives.

The price goes up depending on veggies and proteins added. Veggie toppings are one for $1 or three for $2. Proteins range from $3 for bacon to $4 for steak.

“It could be an $8 potato or a $30 potato — whatever you want. I have had somebody order a potato with three orders of shrimp, with salmon, with steak, with bacon and ended up being like $30,” said Hinson, referring to his previous potato restaurant.

For $10, Potato Po-Ta-Toe offers up “the sweetest potato” — a 1 pound sweet potato packed with light brown sugar and candied pecans drizzled with caramel and sweet cream and dusted with cinnamon sugar.

“They’re very good and filling,” he said. “It’s a big potato.”

But Hinson also offers to serve up the sweet potato a different way.

“We had a lot of customers start to come in wanting the sweet potato, but they wanted to make it with chicken and broccoli on it,” he said. “I ended up starting to eat ‘em like that after a lot of customers were ordering them that way.

“In my mind a sweet potato has got to be sweet. But when you eat it like with chicken breast and with spinach and broccoli and peppers and maybe a little cheese and sour cream, it’s delicious.”

The Potato Po-Ta-Toe menu also includes an offering of freshly cut vegetables sauteed or steamed with the price depending on the number of vegetables desired.

Soul food Sundays

On Sundays, the menu will change 100% to soul food, he said.

“Sunday, we’ll have ribs, oxtails, turkey wings, fried chicken wings, fried pork chops, a steak and shrimp, a salmon and shrimp, those will be meat proteins,” Hinson said.

“The vegetable sides are collard greens, macaroni and cheese, dressing, potato salad, squash and broccoli casserole, sweet potato souffle, candied yams, lima beans, fried corn on the cob and fried okra.”

Entrees will come with a meat, two sides and cornbread. Veggie plates will also be an option.

Speaking of soul food, the fate of his Macon restaurant remains uncertain. It may remain open under different management, or Hinson said he may close it. He wants to devote himself fully to the Warner Robins restaurant.

Operating hours are expected to be 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and noon to 8 p.m. Saturday. On Sundays, the restaurant will open at noon and remain open until the food runs out, or until 6 p.m. otherwise. On Mondays, the restaurant will be closed.

Potato Po-Ta-Toe will be geared for take out, but Hinson said he may include a couple of tables inside the restaurant and possibly a couple outside also.

He’s confident that if people will give him a chance and taste his food, they won’t be disappointed.

“It’s definitely something that everybody should try …The quality and the expectations that we’re trying to look for, it’s something you don’t find in every day eating out.

“Whoever comes in, I definitely can get them to come back. Just give me one shot.”