1.0The Sourcehttps://the-source.netrich600338<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="dIs71xqW82"><a href="https://the-source.net/meals-served-with-a-side-of-community-love/">Meals served with a side of community love</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://the-source.net/meals-served-with-a-side-of-community-love/embed/#?secret=dIs71xqW82" width="600" height="338" title="“Meals served with a side of community love” — The Source" data-secret="dIs71xqW82" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script type="text/javascript"> /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(c,l){"use strict";var e=!1,o=!1;if(l.querySelector)if(c.addEventListener)e=!0;if(c.wp=c.wp||{},c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage);else if(c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if(!t);else if(!(t.secret||t.message||t.value));else if(/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret));else{for(var r,s,a,i=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),n=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=0;o<n.length;o++)n[o].style.display="none";for(o=0;o<i.length;o++)if(r=i[o],e.source!==r.contentWindow);else{if(r.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message){if(1e3<(s=parseInt(t.value,10)))s=1e3;else if(~~s<200)s=200;r.height=s}if("link"===t.message)if(s=l.createElement("a"),a=l.createElement("a"),s.href=r.getAttribute("src"),a.href=t.value,a.host===s.host)if(l.activeElement===r)c.top.location.href=t.value}}},e)c.addEventListener("message",c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",t,!1),c.addEventListener("load",t,!1);function t(){if(o);else{o=!0;for(var e,t,r,s=-1!==navigator.appVersion.indexOf("MSIE 10"),a=!!navigator.userAgent.match(/Trident.*rv:11\./),i=l.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),n=0;n<i.length;n++){if(!(r=(t=i[n]).getAttribute("data-secret")))r=Math.random().toString(36).substr(2,10),t.src+="#?secret="+r,t.setAttribute("data-secret",r);if(s||a)(e=t.cloneNode(!0)).removeAttribute("security"),t.parentNode.replaceChild(e,t);t.contentWindow.postMessage({message:"ready",secret:r},"*")}}}}(window,document); </script> https://the-source.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/meals01.jpg700467By Lynn Colburn Mark Schierl wasn’t born in Jacksonville, but when talking to him you learn how much he believes in the Jacksonville area. He and his wife, Sherry, have done what they can to provide the Jacksonville area with a variety of restaurant options. The Schierls are personally celebrating their 20th anniversary in November but have been together for 30 years. They first met when Mark managed a company called Comtech and Sherry worked for him. Mark Schierl was in the utility business and along the way, he joined the team at the Illinois Power Company. When he was hired, a new employee at that time would fill out a form stating his or her goals in life. Schierl enjoys the memory, saying, “I will never forget that. What I put was that I would love to be entertaining people – cooking and entertaining people. That was my goal in life because I enjoyed it! My mother is an outstanding cook, and I like to cook, so I learned from the best. It was in the back of my mind for a long time. I also like building, and with all the restaurants … my friends and I have built from the ground up. I have some good friends and they’ve taught me a lot.” The Schierls began their restaurant business with Muggsy’s in March 1999, while Mark Schierl was still working for Illinois Power. “My mother and father originally helped me out a lot with the food and choices and our menu was mainly steaks and some fish,” explains Schierl. “As we got busier and busier, we knew we needed to step it up, so we hired a local chef, Benjamin Ford. He took us to the next level – to a better dining experience – and he stayed with us for five to six years. I came back over for a while, but we had gotten to such a level that I wasn’t comfortable, so we hired another local chef, Richie Fredericks, who he is now at Lonzerotti’s and we remain friends. Today, we have a good chef in Eric.” “Muggsy’s was actually named after one of our dogs,” Schierl said smiling when asked how he came up with the name of his first restaurant. During his many years at Illinois Power, he spent time driving back and forth to other cities for work, all the while continuing to live in Jacksonville. In 2004, Ameren acquired Illinois Power Company, so Schierl decided to retire rather than move his family to St. Louis so he could spend more time with them. Their children are Brandy Lomelino, who has worked at their restaurants over the years, but now has a career of her own as marketer and admissions coordinator for Prairie Village Healthcare; Tommy Schierl, who runs Brickhouse and other restaurants as needed; and Lacey Schierl, a senior at Routt Catholic High School, who helps out with the restaurant in a variety of ways. “When I started, I was hoping to get into a couple of restaurants, but not four or five,” laughs Mark Schierl as he looks back at their beginnings. He started building another restaurant in 2005, opening the Brickhouse, 49 S. Central Park Plz. in 2006. “I thought I wanted to get into barbeque,” he remembers, “because it was getting huge at that time and there was no one else in Jacksonville to compete with then … and, of course, everybody thinks they are great at backyard barbeque. I was in the kitchen at Brickhouse for two years.” “Mulligan’s [7 W. Central Park Plz.] opened in 2008,” recalls Schierl. “With Mulligan’s, I wanted to get into simpler food. We went to Ireland and we liked the atmosphere of the bars. We wanted to get into more of a bar [type] food and have more of a family atmosphere with a little sports mixed in. The idea was that a family of four could eat for under $40.” “We own all of our buildings except for Schiraz,” he says. “I got to know Mrs. Becker and that was her dad’s first bank. She asked us if we’d be interested in it, and we jumped at the chance because it is a gorgeous building. We had very little to do inside it when we began in 2012. We went for Panera Bread-type atmosphere for lunch because Jacksonville was hurting for a healthier version of food.” “We change up the menus in all our restaurants about every six months to keep them fresh. We also try to remodel each of our restaurants every five years,” reveals Schierl. Muggsy’s has grown a lot over the years, for example, from seating 22 people to currently seating 200 when including both the upstairs and outside. “The kitchen has also moved to a completely different area and we have built onto Muggsy’s seven times,” he says proudly. With all the growth, there have been rough times. “When we had the flood in Jacksonville and the water treatment plant flooded, it just about broke us. You couldn’t serve fountain sodas without water. Without water, you can’t run your dishwasher … you can’t do anything! It was terrible! We had to boil our water to cook anything. I was thinking about going back into the utility business, but fortunately we were able to stay open. Tommy was young and helped haul tanks of water and would go to Springfield or White Hall to get ice every day!” They have, once again, remodeled Muggsy’s inside and out. The hidden, back garden area is serene with several beautiful water features. Tommy and Mark Schierl even installed a bocce ball court in the back in June 2019 using some old Illinois College (IC) football field turf. Tommy Schierl said, “We also just gutted the walls, repainted everything inside and out, updated TVs, brought the pool table in, reorganized, and put in the slots at Brickhouse in January … and are currently working on a new menu.” “We...