Choose Kind
We pour a lot of beer here, and a fair amount of whisky. Why we back the ChooseKindACD Foundation, what our staff are trained to notice, and why the designated driver at the table should get a drink worth ordering.
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Notes, Press & Guides
Maisie’s Journal
Things worth writing down.
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Our Story
Maisie’s Green Brae began with a hillside, a one-eyed foxhound named Maisie, and two people — Christine and Karl Schaefer — who wanted Tega Cay to have a proper gathering place. A brae is a hillside; Maisie is the rescue who gave it her name. Here’s how it came together.
Read Our StoryWho’s Setting Up on Opening Sunday
Eleven tables are booked for the first of six Sundays. Cookies baked inside the tin, two sisters who write children’s books, a trailer you can walk through, and the rest of the opening lineup.
Read the StoryA Sunday Market, Built for Tega Cay
Six Sundays from September 20, twelve to twenty Tega Cay businesses set up on the property from 1 to 5. No booth fee, no ticket at the gate. Why we are doing it, who can get a table, and how to apply.
Read the StoryWhere to Watch Football in Tega Cay
Six TVs, a stage screen, and NFL RedZone every Sunday afternoon. The whole Saturday slate, the full Sunday early window, and an honest word about the one thing we can’t give you — the night game, because we close at eight.
Read the ArticleEvery Second Counts, Except the Two We’re Taking Off
Why we close Monday and Tuesday, what those two days actually get used for, and how the whole site can be yours for a few hours — a milestone birthday, a rehearsal dinner, a holiday party, a board retreat. Plus something new landing on Tuesdays.
Read the StoryOutdoor Dining in Tega Cay
Half of Maisie’s lives outside. A covered bar patio at the bottom, a brick stage patio in the middle, an upper garden patio above that, and open grass beyond it. Which one to ask for, and what happens when the sky doesn’t cooperate.
Read the StoryBirthday Parties in Tega Cay
A sixth birthday and a sixtieth need different things from a room, and the brae holds both. The play area and the fairy garden for the little ones, the upper patio strung with lights for a milestone, or the whole backyard if the guest list calls for it.
Read the StoryHoliday Parties in Tega Cay
A hotel ballroom fits a slideshow. A backyard with a stage, a full bar, and a kitchen built for a crowd fits an actual party. What a December booking looks like here, and why the Saturdays go first.
Read the StoryWhere to Play Mahjong in the Fort Mill and Steele Creek Area
There are more good mahjong teachers around here than there are places to sit down and play. Who teaches, who runs open play, when the classes are, and the standing invitation to bring your group to a four-top Wednesday through Saturday.
Read the StoryWhere to Eat Near Anne Springs Close Greenway
Anne Springs Close Greenway is 2,100 acres and 40 miles of trail, and we’re a few minutes down the same road. Muddy boots are fine, the dog yard is the off-leash reward the trails didn’t offer, and nobody is rushing your table.
Read the StoryThe Thinking Behind Sunday Brunch
Our Chef de Cuisine on the new Sunday brunch menu — where Southern and Scottish breakfast traditions meet on one plate. Scottish salmon and grits, Highland hash off the smoker, the Outlander burger, and the thinking that ties them together.
Read the StoryTeam Dinners and End-of-Season Parties
Room for the whole roster, indoors or out — eight spaces, and 250 seated across the property. Teams of every age, a kids’ menu, and the team dog welcome in the backyard. Walk in the same afternoon or plan it weeks ahead.
Read the ArticleWhere to Eat After the Game in Tega Cay and Fort Mill
A backyard big enough for the team, the parents, and the gear bag. Where families land after fall ball, spring soccer, and the Saturday tournaments that run three games deep — and how a patio table for a few becomes the whole roster at the end of a season.
Read the ArticleOur Seat on the Taste Trail
York County’s restaurant week runs August 19 to 26, and we’re on the trail. How the Taste Trail Week Pass works, and our three-course, $42 menu — a clarified whisky cocktail, a Cock-a-Leekie Pie, and your choice of dessert.
Read the StoryA Month of Mupp Cups
All October we give ten percent of every Mupp Cup — our house dessert for dogs — to Fort Mill High School Crucial Catch. What Restaurant Wars is, where the money goes, and what the three ingredients in a Mupp Cup actually do.
Read the StoryThe Charities We’re Supporting in 2026
A few months in, here’s where our time, our tables, and our till are going — the causes we’re showing up for across Tega Cay and Fort Mill, from the Humane Society of York County and the Lions to the Fort Mill band and the Tega Cay schools.
Read the StoryBack to School, Tega Cay
The teachers are back and the students follow Monday. On third places, cafeteria logistics, and why teachers and school staff get 10% off every day we’re open.
Read the StoryThe Nine Allergens We Track
A guest’s question deserves a real answer. How we mark the nine major allergens on every menu item, the ticket flagged in two places, and why it’s ‘gluten-friendly,’ not ‘gluten-free.’
Read the StoryWhat Does Maisie’s Green Brae Mean?
The name Maisie’s Green Brae — what each word means, where it came from, and how to say it. A one-eyed foxhound named for a little pearl, a Scots word for a hillside that settled York County three hundred years ago, and how the three found each other.
Read the StoryNeeps & Tatties
The history of Scotland’s most beloved side dish — where it came from, how it’s traditionally made, and why we serve it instead of mashed potatoes.
Read the ArticleWhisky vs. Whiskey
One letter. Two spellings. The history of how and why the two spellings diverged — from the Gaelic origin of the word to a 19th-century commercial rivalry — and why we spell it without the “e” at Maisie’s Green Brae.
Read the ArticleThree Weeks on the Brae
What happened when we finally opened the door — the food that landed, the music on the stage, the reviews that came in early, and one moment during service nobody planned for.
Read the StoryWe Opened the Door
We didn’t wait for July 4. We opened quietly for soft opening on June 5 — walk-ins, taps poured, stage warm — and let the first weekend tell us what it would. What we learned, what our neighbors said, and what came next.
Read the StoryPilates in the Dining Room
We had a different morning planned. Then it rained, and forty minutes later thirty-three mats were down on the dining room floor and the room had become something else entirely. A record of the day Vibe Pilates came to the Brae.
Read the StoryWhere the Good Life Gathers
Christine and Karl Schaefer opened Maisie’s Green Brae on July 4th, 2026 — building a third place for Tega Cay around the bones of a 1977 building, the Scottish roots that shaped Low Country food, and a one-eyed foxhound rescue named Maisie. Read the full Tega Cay Sun feature on how the founders came to Tega Cay, what drew them to 2150 Gold Hill Road, and why a brae and a rescue dog ended up at the center of the restaurant’s name.
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About Us and Our Team
A Chef Who Wastes Nothing
Meet Jamisen Booker, our Chef de Cuisine — a Charlotte native who cooked his way from fast-food lines to fine dining, competed on Chopped, and calls what he makes “new age Southern.” The waste-nothing chef who already belonged in this kitchen.
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About Us and Our Team
The One Who Built the Room
Meet Karl Schaefer, co-founder and Facilities Director — the designer who turned a tired building at 2150 Gold Hill Road into a room that feels like a living room. The beams, the uncovered siding, the quiet Scottish and Southern notes: his work, mostly out of sight.
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About Us and Our Team
Not Easily Defined
Meet Christine G.D. Schaefer, co-founder and Head of Operations — from everywhere and easy to like, with a business degree, a sociology master’s, and a simple hunch that neighbors would rather sit outside together. The neighbor who saved you a seat.
Read the StoryHow to Stop Your Awards Ceremony from Becoming a Room-Killer
The recognition program is the part people remember longest and rehearse least. Where to place it, how long it runs, the microphone, saying names right, and the choreography that keeps a room with you.
Read the GuideStructure Is Generosity: Hosting a Corporate Event Without the Liability Hangover
A company party is generosity, and so is the structure that keeps people safe. What South Carolina law already decided about your venue, the five decisions that carry the weight, and getting everyone home.
Read the GuideMoving Beyond Mandatory Fun When Planning Company Events
A company party asks people to perform a relationship that doesn’t exist, so they stand against the wall. The fix is structure designed for the evening, not the org chart — purpose, inclusive timing, and a program kept short.
Read the GuideWhat a Client Event Is Worth
When the CFO asks what a $14,000 client dinner bought, most marketing leaders fumble the answer. The metrics that hold up in a budget review, cost per meaningful conversation, and the one thing you should refuse to fake.
Read the GuideThe Attendance Paradox: How to Fill a Room, Reliably
A good program with fourteen people in a room built for forty still feels like a failure. Attendance is a design problem — the list, the sender, the boxes every guest checks, and the three-touch reminder sequence.
Read the GuideSound, Screens, and the Things That Break in the Night
A restaurant and a conference room have opposite acoustic goals. The sharp questions to ask about a venue’s A/V — microphones, cutting the room quiet, screens and sun, the live demo, and the 90-minute test.
Read the GuideDesigning an Event That Makes Business Happen
Getting the right twelve people to say yes is where most client-event planning stops — and where the outcome is actually decided. On away teams, seating as strategy, and killing the deck.
Read the GuideAn Event Run of Show
A run of show relies on three truths: every line gets a precise time, a single owner, and the venue gets a copy in advance. How to build one backward from the finish, with slack and contingencies.
Read the GuidePreventing a Food Fail at Your Next Company Event
The moment a guest realizes they can’t eat their plate is entirely preventable — solved months ahead, on a registration form, with one precise question. A dietary and allergen planning guide.
Read the GuideHow the Room Decides the Event
The furniture wins every time, against every agenda. How rounds, long tables, standing layouts, and the hybrid shape guest behavior — plus the gravity triangle, sightlines, and bottlenecks.
Read the GuideThe Friday Night Test: A Pro’s Guide to the Perfect Site Visit
If you haven’t seen the space at game time, you haven’t seen the venue. A walk-through for corporate planners — sound, sightlines, arrival, tasting, and the same-day recap.
Read the GuideHow Food and Beverage Minimums Actually Work
Food and beverage minimums aren’t fixed prices — they’re flexible. What venue managers are really thinking when they set the number, the four levers that move it, and the per-person math to do before you panic.
Read the GuideThe Essential Private Event Contract Checklist
A plainspoken checklist for reviewing a private event contract — what ‘private’ really means, headcount guarantees, minimums and fees, deposits, and the clauses people miss.
Read the GuideCan I Work from Maisie’s Green Brae?
Yes. Free wifi, indoor and outdoor seating, Cold Nitro Brew on tap, and a kitchen happy to keep you fed while you work. What to expect if you bring your laptop to the brae for the afternoon.
Read the GuideHow to Plan a Company Event Near Charlotte
Corporate events in this region usually mean a hotel ballroom or a conference room. There’s a third option that gets overlooked. A plainspoken guide to picking a date, planning headcount of 80 or more, the food and the backyard stage, parking and logistics, and why a team outing at the Brae beats a boardroom.
Read the GuideWhere to Eat After a Day on Lake Wylie
A day on the lake ends the same way every time — everybody’s hungry, nobody wants to cook, and the question is where to go. We’re a few minutes from the marinas, not on the water but where you head after. Boat hair welcome, lake-tired dogs welcome, room for the group that grew over the afternoon.
Read the GuideThe Unofficial 19th Hole
Where to eat after a round near Tega Cay Golf Club — about five minutes up the road. Not for the golfer who wants a quick one at the turn, but for the foursome bringing the families along and the group too big for a bar stool. Room for the crew, a kids’ menu, and a dog under the table.
Read the GuideLive Music at Maisie’s Green Brae
Most Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings, the backyard stage is warm and the music carries across the lawn — local and regional acts, always free, no cover. Dinner and drinks keep the music going. What to expect, when it happens, and how to find the schedule.
Read the GuideIs Maisie’s Green Brae Dog Friendly?
Yes. Dogs are welcome — on-leash throughout the outdoor space, off-leash in the fenced dog yard. What to expect when you bring yours.
Read the GuideIs Maisie’s Green Brae Good for Kids?
Yes. A family-friendly spot with a children’s play area, fairy garden, Wee Bairns menu, and acres of outdoor space. What to expect when you come with kids.
Read the GuideHosting a Private Event
Birthday parties, company gatherings, rehearsal dinners, neighborhood celebrations. Indoor and outdoor space, catering, and a full bar, with room to seat 80 or more inside. What to expect and how to start the conversation.
Read the GuideThe Best Place to Eat in Tega Cay
The question I get asked more than any other, answered honestly — my short list (Sabor, the Greek Grill, Pho & Sushi), a fair survey of the rest of the town, gluten-free notes, and where we fit. A top-five list you can actually trust.
Read the GuideHosting an Event at a Neighborhood Restaurant
Corporate events in this region usually land in one of two places: a hotel ballroom or a dedicated event hall. A neighborhood restaurant is the third option, and it gets overlooked more often than it should. What you get, what you don’t get, the questions worth asking before you book, and how to tell whether a venue is right for the kind of evening you’re planning.
Read the GuideThe Hidden Logistics of a 50-Person Team Lunch
Team lunches at scale look simple from the outside. Someone orders food, food arrives, people eat. The honest answer is that quite a bit goes into a clean catering job, and most of it is invisible until it isn’t. A pulled-back look at the timeline, the dietary handoff, what setup actually means, and the two moments that decide whether the planner looks good.
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