SOUTHERN LADY MAGAZINE

Casual, Coastal Barbara Jean's

BY AMISTA ROWELL MCMATH

When a charming ice cream shop went up for sale on favored summer getaway St. Simons Island, Barbara Barta couldn't believe her luck. It was the property she had seen while on vacation, pointed toward, and told her husband, "That one." The shop was her choice location for a restaurant, a little place she'd call Barbara Jean's

"We started coming down here to St. Simons Island on vacation, and I just fell in love with it," says Barbara Barta, a trained dietician who owned and operated a Virginia eatery called Black-Eyed Pea for ten years before opening up her namesake restaurant in coastal Georgia. "As soon as we got to the island the first time, my husband said, 'This is where we're going to retire.' It took me longer. It took me fifteen minutes before I agreed."

Barbara and her husband, Jim, "retired" to the island in 1998 and promptly started serving down-home comfort foods alongside seafood specialties at their restaurant, which quickly became a local favorite. So successful was Barbara Jean's that the couple, along with their business-partner son-in-law, opened four additional stores throughout the Southeast.

"We don't have anything on the menu that doesn't sell," says Barbara. "Everybody raves about all the items." And rightly so. Virtually everything is made from scratch, including the delicious sweet rolls, jalapeño cornbread, and pumpkin bread served as soon as customers settle into their seats.

But as tempting as the bread basket is, it's not what Barbara Jean's is famous for. instead, crab cakes steal the show and have become so popular that the business opened a packing facility to accommodate the requests they receive. They now ship the savory cakes all over the country.

Barbara reveals that the restaurant's mainstays weren't original offerings. "All three of our signature items were not on our menu when we first opened," she says. Barbara whipped up the recipe for She-Crab Soup after a patron said he couldn't eat at her restaurant five days a week because once a week he had to go somewhere else to get his favorite-soup fix. "I thought, 'Why can't I make it?'" recalls Barbara. So she did.

The Chocolate Stuff, a rich, gooey, secret-recipe brownie topped with whipped cream-homemade, of course-was born after a customer said she wouldn't come back until Barbara Jean's had a chocolate dessert. the famous crab cakes were originally offered as a special but were quickly added to the regular menu after a friend who'd tasted a sample at Barbara's home couldn't stop raving about them. Other menu items include not-so-fancy favorites such as meat loaf, squash casserole, chicken salad, pork chops, and pot roast.

"We're not a dining experience; we're a food experience," says Barbara, who points out that their prices reveal customers won't be eating from fine china. But the laid back atmosphere only adds to the appeal of Barbara Jean's, a place perfect for summertime-make that anytime-casual dining.