It’s before 8:00am on East 41st Street in Savannah’s Victorian District. There really isn’t a whole lot going on. The neighborhood is beginning to bubble though. The fast food chicken spot is still a few hours away from opening, but there is the usual traffic going in and out of Back in the Day Bakery down the street. A block over, the blue collar crowd is well into their day of car repair. Inside Starland Cafe, there is a ton going on, even if there isn’t a whole lot of activity. Starland has kind of always been that way. Quiet, unassuming and just doing its thing for the lunch crowd. It is so unassuming, there isn’t even a sign on the Victorian house they’ve converted into one of the best spots for lunch in Savannah. There is just a star on the building. If not for a few tables with umbrellas out front, you’d never really know. Unless, of course, you already know. Which more and more people these days do.
“Unfortunately we are stretched to capacity at peak lunch times.” says John Deaderick, who along with his partner Michael Pritchard, own and operate Starland Cafe. We have a laugh and refer to their problem as something of a Yogi Berra reference “No one goes there anymore because it’s too crowded.” Is that the case? I ask. “We are seeing ticket times stretching out a little bit.” John says. Clearly the secret is out, and frankly has been for quite some time. It’s a good problem to have, no? Of course, especially since they are only open for lunch. There are plans for expansion, but we will get to those in a minute. The morning I spoke to John, he had carved just enough time out for us to talk about a whole lot of things. The Starland neighborhood in general and its resurgence. Savannah’s growth as a whole and their latest claim to fame in Hollywood. Unofficially, of course, Starland has become something of the caterer of choice for major movie productions in town. The latest of which is the filming of “Baywatch” starring Dwayne Johnson and Zach Effron.
“A few years ago, we had someone walk in and ask if we could provide food for a movie.” John says. “It was a smaller budget over 40 days. Jeff Foxworthy was in it. So we thought, sure.” he added. “The next year we did Killing Winston Jones and Sacrament. We were doing probably 2 productions a year.” he says. Then the floodgates opened. “After that was Spongebob.” John says with a description of building momentum. “Then the tax breaks kicked in and Georgia became the most lucrative tax credit state. North Carolina had been. Our phone started ringing and theirs dried up. Like literally that exact same day.”
“We did 7 productions last year.” John says. “It kept us non-stop busy.”
It’s certainly easy to see how that would keep someone more than non-stop busy. Most movie productions are in town for several weeks. My understanding is the cast and crew of Baywatch are here in town for the better part of seven weeks. Just going by some raw math, if you multiply 7 weeks by 7 productions, that’s 49 weeks. Most of the year. That says nothing about time to prep or even potential overlaps in production. Oh yeah, and they run a successful restaurant every day as well.
“The best thing that ever happened was when we got a call from Magic Mike XXL” John tells me. “The producer said ‘Well, you guys have such a great reputation out here in Hollywood.’ I was like, hold on, I’ve gotta call my mom!” That was for Paramount Pictures, he says, which is also the studio in charge of Baywatch, so clearly the word is spreading among movie making support staff. “They’ve all been really great.” he says when I ask him what it’s like dealing with potentially demanding movie schedules and star power.
“It was really interesting to see how they did everything (During the filming of Magic Mike XXL) They had a 45 foot trailer following the guys around so they could pump iron between shooting so they could look really ripped.” John says. “And all they wanted was plain chicken with no seasoning, no salt, no oil and sweet potatoes.” “We went through about 25 pounds of sweet potatoes a day and 15 pounds of chicken. Just for 5 guys. Nonstop.” he adds. Sounds pretty disgusting if you ask me, but hey, that’s why I’m sitting here tapping this keyboard and not gyrating topless around town. “Once they finished the dancing shots, on the last day, everywhere we went they wanted meatball subs or lobster. They wanted it all.” John adds with a laugh.
I ask him about dealing with egos and high maintenance Hollywood A and B-listers. “They’ve all been really great.” he says. “Octavia Spencer was amazing. We all walked away thinking like we had made a really great friend. She’s on a job in Atlanta now and asked us to make her some fried pimento cheese. It’s being shipped today.” “We get the feeling they realize how lucky they are. We haven’t had any bad instances. They are so nice.” Truth be told, I’ve not heard one syllable from anyone about anyone in town on a movie shoot in the last couple of years. I’ve spoken to hotel staff members that have taken care of them. I’ve spoken to drivers and now some of the people responsible for feeding them. The movies may have enjoyed moderate (or worse) success once they leave here, but the reviews of their visits have been nothing but two thumbs up. “You have people standing on the side of the road for hours with signs.” John says of fans hoping to catch a glimpse of a star. “And the guys from Magic Mike always stopped the van to get out and take photos. Even Sofia Vergara (engaged at the time to Magic Mike star Joe Manganiello)” he says. “She turned Savannah into her playground. She was shopping and eating everywhere and all I heard from our staff was how great she was with everyone.”
Good times right now at Starland and here in Savannah in general. Last year social media buzzed with photos of Adam Sandler and David Spade around town while they were in Savannah filming a movie. The sightings of Johnson (The Rock) have already begun to pop up here and there, including his visit to the pediatric ward at Memorial Health a couple weeks ago while some scenes were being shot at the hospital. The guys at Starland, meanwhile? Not so star struck, really. After all, in the middle of all of this work, they are scheduling meetings with architects and designers to begin discussion on expanding their current restaurant. Their plans call for expansion of their kitchen into a full production kitchen, 35 extra seats outdoors in a wrap around covered porch, fire pits and more outdoor seating beyond that. They will eventually have beer and wine, which they don’t now. When it is done, they hope to start opening for dinner. “We are going to keep a lot of the same items.” John tells me “But add maybe 8 or so new dinner entrees in the same price range.” “We aren’t going to have $30 a plate dinners.” All of that, however is a year or so away. “People will then stop telling us we have weird hours.” he says through a laugh.
In the meantime, you’re going to have to settle for lunch. At peak times it is very busy. Especially on pretty days. They have some of the best salads in town and the sandwiches are excellent as well. Hey, if they are good enough for DeNiro, you might just eat it and like it.
See you on TV,
Jesse
