What a ride it has been indeed.
We haven’t been big on celebrating milestones at Eat It and Like It. Not at all. Back a few years ago when we were coming up on (I believe) anniversary number 2 we thought it was the biggest thing in the world. At the time, you may recall, I was still anchoring a nightly newscast at 10:00pm. The mere thought of a 5 year anniversary was something that was beyond comprehension. So much so, we never discussed ‘where we’d be’ in 5 years or anything visionary and optimistic like that. There were no business plans, there were no 5 year goals. We were having so much fun doing what we were doing around town and around the South that the years start piling up on you. Fortunately, the sponsors lined up enough to allow me to turn this into a full time career. Or a job, depending on the day, of course.
September 24, 2016 will mark 5 years since we’ve been producing Savannah/Hilton Head Islands favorite foodie television show. That day we premiered with Chocolate. We featured local favorite Adam Turoni, who at the time had a tiny tiny studio in the Starland neighborhood. Now he has two full blown locations in Savannah’s Historic District. We featured a family from New Jersey out in Richmond Hill who was becoming the talk of the town there with their own chocolate creations. We also went into the kitchen and made chocolate covered bacon. With nuts. Fancy, huh? We followed that up with shows on area Burgers, Wings, Coffee, and a whole lot more. There’s been a lot of eating and liking.
One weekend back in late 2011, we had three hours between shoots on a Saturday after a big lunch so I ran home to watch a little bit of football and fell asleep sitting upright on my couch. My own snoring woke me up. Miami won that day, so that was a plus. Another weekend we shot at Mrs. Wilkes on a Friday, steaks at Ruth’s Chris on Saturday and a Brunch segment on Sunday. Do you know anyone that eats like that normally? Not really. I can’t lie, it was a blast. But at the end of the day, it was all a hobby. . We were just having some fun and really making only enough money to handle our expenses. All the while, I was still holding down a day job on the nightly news. I was spending all of my time talking about either Red Velvet Cake or Property taxes and how each can affect your bottom line.
By April of 2013 I knew this is what I wanted to do with the rest of my TV career. The popularity of my blog and the television show had spoken loudly enough that we thought we could make a go of it. We had begun to travel a little bit more featuring food around the South and we realized the potential in what we were doing long term. Was there an opportunity to turn this into real business? Sure. But that couldn’t be done with a day job. The term I used back then, and it is certainly not my own, is ‘you can’t steal second with your foot on first’. Giving up a 23 year TV news career was easier than I thought it would be. To this day, I believe it was made easier by the people in this community who have embraced everything we’ve done with Eat It and Like It almost literally from day one.
Many times I have said this is the hardest thing I will ever do, because if something harder comes along I won’t do it. We created something from scratch. There was no template for creating a food related brand in this market. I wasn’t starting my own law practice or PR firm. This was almost literally make-it-up-as you-go because no one had done it before. Early on we knew we wouldn’t be doing traditional reviews in a New York Times kind of way. There are too many of those on-line these days and the model frankly has been going the way of the VCR for quite some time. So what do we do? We talk about and shine a spotlight on those doing great things with food across as many places as we can find in Savannah, the Low Country or the South. That brings us to Season number 6 of Eat It and Like It with Jesse Blanco.
Savannah’s food scene has gone bananas. From our side of the street, that is great for business. Think about it, when my business partner Senea Crystal and I put this idea on a napkin at B. Matthew’s Eatery one summer day in 2010, we didn’t have The Grey. We didn’t have a Cotton and Rye, we didn’t have Treylor Park, Collins Quarter, Betty Bombers, Tybee Fish Camp, The Florence, Atlantic, or 22 Square. That’s just a handful. I could go on and on but I hope you get the point. The restaurants that are yet to arrive in this town will be equally as fantastic. We all know about Sean Brock and Husk, but I’ve heard some whispers about other huge names looking at this area as well. I believe it is only a matter of time before any or all of them set up shop here. If you love Savannah as much as I do, then there is no place you’d rather be watching it all evolve.
Speaking of evolution, our show has done so as well. Sure we feature some great eats around town or the area, but we have also made a real effort to introduce you to interesting people and find out what makes them tick. Find out what their motivations are for working 80 hours or more every week to provide you with a great meal. There is a lot of passion in this town. A lot of tension and a lot of stress as well, all in the name of providing you with a memorable dining experience. Similarly, there is a lot of culinary creativity within a 2 hour drive of your front door. My job has become to find it and share it with you. And in case you haven’t notice, I am having a pretty good time doing just that.
Season 6 of Eat It and Like It with Jesse Blanco will premiere Sunday morning, September 18, at 7:30am on WSAV-TV. Don’t want to wake up? Wellll, then you’re not with the in crowd because I am regularly stunned by how many people do wake up for our show. We have episodes coming up this season on oysters, chicken sandwiches, biscuits, wings, collard greens, soups, pies and more. A very special episode I am working on will look at the history of food in Savannah. It is significant and a wonderful story waiting to be told. Ultimately, Eat It and Like It wasn’t created to be a restaurant show. It was created to be more of a cultural show. It will always be about food in the South. A place that, if you are reading this you have very likely chosen to make your home. As I have. Thankfully so.
Thank you Savannah for you support. Here’s to 5 more years of Eat It and Like It.
See you on TV,
Jesse
