THE DISH couple of rules: Taste everything every day and hire cooks, not chefs. “Cooks follow the recipe cards,’’ she says. “Chefs want to make everything their own, and that can deprive regular customers of the consistency they rely on.” The Bartas know what that’s like. They once drove hours to a favorite restaurant in Annapolis only to find the interior and menu changed. They haven’t been back. The menu has changed at Barbara Jean’s but usually from growth. She once cooked crab cakes for a construction manager, who asked, “Are you going to put these on the menu?” “Absolutely not,’’ she responded. She finally relented and they’ve been there for years and are one of the reasons some customers keep coming back. They were popular enough at Barbara Jean’s that other restaurants added them to their menus.
Barbara Jean’s restaurant, an island institution
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WORDS AND PHOTOS BY TERRY DICKSON
For 23 years, the sign on the corner of Mallery Street and Beachview Drive has said Barbara Jean’s. The sign designates more than ownership. It also tells diners the dishes on the tables were prepared to the exacting taste of their creator, Barbara Jean Barta, who owns the restaurant with her husband of 54 years, Jim.
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“We got married on April Fool’s Day,” he says. “Guess who picked the date,” Barbara Jean says. “Even I won’t forget April 1,” says the trim man who led Marine recon units in Vietnam and then piloted Phantom fighter jets. The Bartas had a number of restaurant franchises before they decided to start a new business in the place they would retire. They came to St. Simons where Jim asked Barbara Jean to pick out a location for a restaurant. She found the corner where Don and Wendy Hogan operated Clifton’s, an ice cream parlor, about perfect. When they learned the Hogans wanted to lease the space, they acted quickly to secure it. It also secured a long-time relationship with what the Bartas call wonderful landlords. The Bartas have always stuck with a
“Our goal is to make as many people happy as we can,’’ Jim says. They realize, however, that tastes differ and not everyone enjoys their mostly Southern fare. But perhaps the biggest fan of Barbara Jean’s cooking is Jim who enjoys home-cooked meals almost every night. “Her best food is Italian, and she ain’t Italian,’’ Jim says. Barbara Jean has a record of every meal they’ve eaten at home since January 2013. They do their taste tests before lunch and stay around to greet their regulars.The booths on either side of the door bear little brass plaques that read “One of Wally Spencer’s.” Both were reserved for the World War II Navy veteran the late Wally Spencer. “He’d get up and ask, ‘Are we going to Barbara Jean’s?’’’ she recalls. “He’d always sit and fuss at Jim.” The Bartas were always within easy fussing distance. They take tables near the door and jump to their feet, menus in hand, to seat diners as they arrive. Jim often exchanges good-natured insults with male regulars. The Bartas usually end their day in the early afternoon and leave their son, Tyler, in charge. The food is not the only important thing and Jim Barta notes that people use more than their taste buds to judge restaurants. Indeed, the ketchup bottles and other condiments are lined up laser straight from table-to-table down the center of the restaurant almost like Marines in formation. Customers notice that, he said.
