Newspaper Page Text
6B
♦ WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 2006
TV cook Deen fattens Savannah’s tourism by serving up fans
By RUSS BYNUM
Associated Press Writer
SAVANNAH - Paula Deen
can’t shop at her favorite
produce market without
hearing that fans dropped by
asking where she lives, and
she’s spotted tourists with
cameras ducking behind the
bushes at her home.
Cable TV’s queen of
Southern-fried comfort
food is still coming to grips
with the Paula-mania that’s
seized Savannah since her
Food Network show took off
in 2002.
But Deen, who called her
self The Bag Lady when she
started a catering business
in 1989 with her last S2OO,
has nothing ungracious to
say toward her fans _ even
those who go a little off the
rails.
“Some days you wish you
could be invisible, days you
don’t have makeup on and
your hair looks like poo
poo,” Deen, 59, told The
Associated Press after tap
ing the final show for her
second Food Network series.
“But isn’t it great for some
body to love you like that?”
A decade ago, John
Berendt’s best-selling book
“Midnight in the Garden
of Good and Evil” was the
pop-culture magnet that
drew tourists in droves to
Savannah. These days, it’s
Deen, who is whipping up a
fan frenzy that fattens the
coastal city’s $1.5 billion
per-year tourism industry.
Outside The Lady & Sons,
the local restaurant Deen
opened in 1996, visitors
start lining up at 8:30 a.m. -
2 1/2 hours before the doors
open for lunch - to
load their plates with
fried chicken, collard
greens and cheese bis
cuits. The restaurant
served 400,000 people
last year, nearly 1,100
a day.
“Paula Deen is why
we came to Savannah,”
said Gerry Adams, 59,
of Ft. Myers, Fla., wait
ing in line with two
friends and more than
100 other people on a
recent Saturday morn
ing. “We’re going to
come back and get in
line for supper. We’ve
got to come to Paula’s
as much as we can.”
Old Savannah Tours
hasn’t had trouble fill
ing buses for its Paula
Deen tour, even at $53
per ticket. Since the
tours started in March
2005, more than 15,000
tourists have taken the
four-hour, 20-mile trip
devoted to Deen trivia,
from Deen’s down
town restaurant to the
small brick home in
the southside suburbs
where she started The
Bag Lady to the quaint
chapel where she mar
ried her husband,
harbor pilot Michael
Groover, in 2004.
“These people want
to know what kind of
toothpaste she uses,”
said Rachel Butler,
marketing manager
for the tour company.
“We had somebody the other
day wanting to know where
Always Wish Upon a Star!
JLiyfitiny St cro
926 Carroll St. • Perry, GA 31069
478-224-8888
T-F 10am-spm SAT 10am-2pm
they could get a Paula Deen
tattoo.”
Others gladly pay $250
apiece to attend Deen’s
cooking classes. It’s the only
way her fans are guaranteed
to see her in person. She
rarely appears at her res
taurant anymore _ though
sons Jamie and Bobby still
oversee its management.
“It’s hard for momma to
come in, because it’s like
if you went to Graceland
and Elvis walked out,” said
Jamie Deen, 39. “If mom’s
on the dining floor, it stops
everything.”
There’s been no stopping
Deen in the decade since
she opened The Lady &
Sons. Random House picked
up her self-published cook
book in 1998 after an execu
tive wandered into the res
taurant. Four books more
have followed.
USA Today gave the res
taurant its “Meal of the Year”
award in 1999. A mutual
friend introduced her to TV
producer Gordon Elliott,
who gave Deen a guest spot
on his show “Door Knock
Dinners” before producing
“Paula’s Home Cooking.”
Besides promoting its
silver-haired hostess, the
show has kept a spotlight
on Savannah with Deen
featuring the city’s home
grown businesses _ from
sampling pralines at River
Street Sweets to shopping
for a cookout at R&R
Restaurant Supply.
“What Paula’s done for
Savannah is invaluable,”
said Melissa Yao with the
Savannah Convention and
Visitors Bureau. “My measly
budget isn’t going to be able
/'just
& Mont TIIAN 120 SWMT TtMrTATION*
\ 5J (I i jSm
i ilk*a /'*
PAULA H. DEEN
AUTHOR. OF T»f LADY ¥ SONS SAY ASS AH COVSTKY COOKBOOK AND
TH« LADY ¥ BOSS TOO; A VTHOU NtVf BATCH OF BFCIFtS F* OM SAVANNAH
to touch all the exposure
Paula has given to the city.”
Re HI
There’s no sign of Deen
slowing down. Besides film
ing a fifth season of “Paula’s
Home Cooking,” the Food
Network this year opted
to expand the Deen fam
ily franchise with two new
shows.
Jamie and Bobby Deen
debuted their own program
- “Road Tasted” - to strong
ratings in July (a month
after People magazine named
Bobby Deen, 36, among its
50 hottest bachelors). Deen
herself just finished tap
ing 13 episodes of “Paula’s
Party,” her new series that
starts Sept. 29.
The new show lets Deen
cut loose with her Southern
sass in front of a live audi
ence at Uncle Bubba’s Oyster
House, a restaurant run
by Deen’s brother, Bubba
Hiers, on Wilmington Island
just outside Savannah.
Deen wraps herself in a
grass skirt for an Hawaiian
themed episode. Behind the
kitchen counter, she sticks to
the no-frills approach that’s
made her a favorite of every
woman cooks, rarely using
ingredients too exotic for
the aisles at Piggly Wiggly
supermarkets.
Deen substitutes a pork
butt for roasting a whole
pig. She wraps chicken
chunks in tropical ti leaves,
but reminds her audience
“you can use tin foil.” For
a dessert, she cracks open
coconuts with a claw ham
mer.
When her producer rules
out reshooting a scene in
which a fan ducks a limbo
bar to deliver Deen a bowl
of coconut pie ingredients,
her buttery drawl turns
downright salty: “Well, I’ve
already thrown a cup of the
FOOD
PAULA DEEN
& Friends
fjfy mi wjpß R
lf|t w l|r Ju gyj
K - PAULA DEEN fcj
!:L iM/! L Ley: i'; I 1 ■ . ■ M
’’ s 1 MA R » " ' '< t SIM ! ””n
y
damn mix down the sink!”
Fans in the audience eat
it up. One of them is Kenna
Wiggins of Springfield,
Mo., who was among
more than 600 fans to
write the Food Network
hoping to attend a tap
ing of “Paula’s Party”
in Savannah.
The 54-year-old
teacher said she felt an
instant kinship when
she discovered Deen
while channel surfing
two years ago.
“Here’s the most
charming, bubbly lady
making this sinful con
coction with Krispy
Kreme donuts and but
ter,” Wiggins recalled.
“I said, 'That’s my
kind of cook!’ Between
family and butter,
those are my two great
values in life.”
It’s a formula that’s
found Deen a solid fan
base. “Paula’s Home
Cooking” consistently
ranks among the Food
Network’s top shows.
“I really had no idea
that America was so
hungry for somebody
that made them think
of momma or grand
momma,” Deen says,
heading for the rem
nants of the crew’s
lunch after her shoot.
“By the time Food
Network got me, I was
too old to change. I’ve
been around the block
and I know what’s
important and what’s
not.”
A spoon, for example,
MBgBgSSI
Featuring At All Buffets
Oysters, Crab Legs, Shrimp.
Steak and much much more!
w/this ad receive FREE
drinks for your table!
Fra. a Sat. Night Buffet 4-llp.m.
Adults S 10.49
Sunday All day buffet 11a.m.-10p.m.
$9.49
Sat a San. Ml day buff at 5 yrs. old & under eat FREEI
IBS
is unnecessary when Deen
starts gulping gazpacho
soiip straight from its foam
coritainer. She sticks her
wad of Nicorette gum to the
rini. She quit smoking July
1, to buy more time with her
first grandchild, Jack. Jamie
Deen’s wife, Brooke, gave
birth to the 6-pound, 9-once
boy Monday.
Deen has been buying
produce from Becky Polk
Bashlor since she started
The Bag Lady, when Deen
had her sons sell her bag
lunches door-to-door. Back
then, Bashlor says, Deen
often had to buy groceries
on credit, and return with
cask from the day’s sales.
flow Deen’s paying back
the favor. More than 20 tour
ists are lined up at the regis
ter at Polk’s Fresh Market
with armloads of boiled
peanuts, red pepper jellies,
poppy-seed salad dressings
and peach preserves.
Bashlor makes S4OO off the
visitors before they return
to their bus to resume the
Paiila Deen tour.
“These people come in,
bus after bus, and they’re
herb for my little friend who
stalled out frying chicken
and cooking greens, ” Bashlor
said. “But she’s just as real
as She was back when she
was doing bag lunches.”
Subscribe May!
CM 987-1823
1406 Sam Nunn Blvd. • Perry, GA
478-988-8838
lunch Buffet Mon.-Sat. 11-4p.m.
Dinner Buffet Mon.-Thurs. 4-lOp.m.
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
Want to know
more?
The Lady & Sons is
located in the Savannah
Historic District at 102
W. Congress St. Lines
are almost always long.
No dinner is served on
Sundays. For reserva
tions, call (912)233-2600
Paula Deen’s cook
books can be bought at
all area bookstores or
ordered on line. For a
wealth of free recipes
visit her site at www.
foodnetwork.com
More information
on the restaurant and
Deen’s magazines and
books can also be found
at www.theladyandsons.
com
Great Deals
Free AD
for items
under SSO
Call 987-1823
for details
Adults $5.95
Kids
3-5 yrs. $1.99
6-11 yrs. $3.99
Adults $9.49
Kids
3-5 yrs. $2.99
6-11 yrs. $4.99