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In the black predawn of August 26, 2014, Seni and Janetta Alabi-Isama (\u201903 ) watched a dream go up in red flames. Their fledgling Statesboro restaurant, South and Vine Public House, was gone. In under two years, the eclectic menu and the ever-present sense of welcome had made it a downtown favorite, attracting students and their visiting parents, alumni and the Statesboro community. It had earned favorable reviews in regional publications and even a visit from former President Jimmy Carter for a post-commencement meal with a graduating grandson. Now it was gone.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were 30- to 40-foot flames coming out of the building,\u201d said Seni. \u201cIt was just devastation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet, from those flames came a flicker of new possibility. Within months, 441 Public Kitchen and Bar began to rise: a new location on South Main, a logo and a Facebook page with over a thousand fans, literally hungry for the bistro\u2019s return. That\u2019s high praise for any restaurateur, but no one is more impatient than the owners for the opening. \u201cWe need this restaurant,\u201d affirms Janetta. \u201cIt\u2019s an outlet for us, and we didn\u2019t know how much until we lost it.\u201d<\/p>\n
If that seems like an unusual viewpoint, a little history on the Alabi-Isamas will help. Seni, an Atlanta-area native, came to Georgia Southern in 1997 to study history and English. He and Janetta dated in high school, and she arrived on campus a few years later, graduating with a bachelor\u2019s in Special Education. Seni had already launched a successful computer business and Janetta began her career as a special education teacher.<\/p>\n
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As they began to build a post-college life in Statesboro, they found themselves drawn to a local restaurant, Christopher\u2019s. \u201cThat\u2019s where I met everyone who\u2019s a friend,\u201d laughs Seni. When it closed, there was a hole in their social life. The couple sometimes filled the gap by entertaining their old friends at home at what they call \u201cSeni\u2019s feasts.\u201d Seni started cooking with his mother and grandmother when he was 8 years old. \u201cPeople told him for years he should open a restaurant,\u201d Janetta insists, \u201cbut he didn\u2019t realize what he does is special.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the meantime, Seni\u2019s computer business was going well. \u201cToo well,\u201d Janetta says. \u201cHe was busy, tired and stressed all the time.\u201d His stress reliever? Cooking. \u201cHe\u2019d come home at 8:30 or 9 o\u2019clock and start cooking to relax.\u201d<\/p>\n
When another restaurant Seni loved closed in 2013, he decided to take the space \u2013 and the leap of faith into his own restaurant. \u201cI had no idea what it took to run a restaurant,\u201d he recalls. In fact, he\u2019d never even worked in one. What he did have was a gift for cooking, an entrepreneurial edge, and experience running a business. \u201cI researched everything,\u201d he laughs, \u201cand changed if something wasn\u2019t working.\u201d
\nSuccess came quickly, built as much on guests\u2019 warm connection with Seni and Janetta as their appreciation of the food. The couple recognized people who came in, knew their favorite dishes and remembered their favorite table. \u201cWe made it a place where people felt at home, enjoyed the food, and wanted to hang out,\u201d says Seni. \u201cIt was so much fun,\u201d adds Janetta who would teach all day and still find herself energized by the hustle and bustle of the dining room. \u201cWe\u2019re just very social people.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the rebuilding of the new restaurant, their recipe for success has been super-sized. In a tasty twist of fate, it takes over the space of Seni\u2019s beloved Christopher\u2019s, creating a restaurant double the size of the lost South and Vine. There is twice the seating and a full bar. The kitchen is state of the art, including a full bakery. \u201cWe made a lot of our food from scratch before, and now it will be almost everything. The new restaurant features house-made barbecue sauces, desserts, breads, and even ketchup and mayonnaise.\u201d There\u2019s a focus on locally grown, seasonal and sustainable food, too. \u201cPeople who come here have an expectation of quality. \u2018Good enough\u2019 is not what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n
The restaurant plans to continue a tradition of bringing the unexpected to the table. It might be a new take on an old favorite or a chance to sample rabbit or elk. Says Seni, \u201cWhy would people want to eat the same thing every time they come?\u201d To garner fresh ideas for their business, Seni and Janetta spend their vacations visiting restaurants. 441 Public even has a library of hundreds of cookbooks to inspire Seni and the staff.<\/p>\n
With the move to a new location, you can see there\u2019s a different kind of fire burning in this new restaurant\u2014the fire of Seni\u2019s and Janetta\u2019s spirit to serve up great meals and good times. \u201c441 Public is going to be the kind of place where I\u2019d want to be whether it was mine or not,\u201d promises Seni. Janetta agrees. \u201cWe want people to come as they are and stay as long as they want.\u201d – Lynn Lilly<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Eagle Couple Raises Hot New Restaurant from the Flames<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2834,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[47],"class_list":["post-2703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","tag-spring-2015"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}