LEARN MORE ABOUT JESSICA’S FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN HERE

Jesse Blanco: Hey everybody, welcome back to the Eat It and Like It podcast. My guest, a very special guest if you know anything about the city of Savannah, then you know all about the young lady we are going to chat with here this morning. Her name is Jessica Leigh Leibos. She is almost as much a fixture on the Savannah social scene, I think is fair, as Lady Chablis was back in the day. 

Jessica Leigh Lebos: Okay, first of all, you called me young and then comparing me to Lady Chablis, you know, listen… 

JB: How about that?

JLL: I don’t know about either of those, but I’ll take it.

JB: Iconic status indeed. First of all, good morning. How are you?

JLL: Good morning, Jesse. I’m super, I feel like there’s that kiss of false fall in the air.

JB: Ain’t it though? Ain’t it though? And people keep telling me, it’s gonna go back up to 90, and I keep going out in the morning and it’s not 90 yet. And I’m like, okay, can we, can we? I am most certainly in.

JLL: Yeah, it’ll catch us by surprise. As soon as you get comfortable, you’re pull out a light jacket and then bam, you’re gonna be like, ugh, God.

JB: And have the sweaties. So, you have a new podcast you are launching. We will get to that in a little bit. I want everybody to know about it for reasons we’ll discuss in a second. But for those who don’t know you, so many people do in this town, but for those who don’t know you, tell us a little bit about who you are, how long you’ve been here—about almost as long as Oglethorpe. What brought you here? What year? How long have you been around Savannah?

JLL: Well, I’ve been around Savannah for about 30 years. I’m originally from Arizona and I met this cute southern surfer boy in Northern California in the 90s, and so I married into Savannah a long time ago and it’s just—enchanted, from day one. I mean, I’d always had fantasies about Southern life. And now the reality is that it’s very different, as we know, but it’s been such a good life. And we’ve raised our kids here who, God bless, went through the public school system and went through University of Georgia. We’ve got our son at Medical College of Georgia. So God bless the state public school systems for us. And I’m a writer. I’ve always been a writer. I’ve always been a local writer wherever I’ve lived. And I’ve now lived in Savannah longer than I’ve lived anywhere else, so I consider myself a Savannah writer. And I’ve published two books, one is called Savannah Sideways, the newer one is called The Camellia Thief, because I am one during the season. I write a weekly column still, I have a Substack called the Savannah Sideways Substack and people can subscribe to that. A lot of the content is free, and it’s just Savannah Sideways, my take on what it means to live here.

JB: There are few people in this town who can give us a better look inside Savannah and as well written as Jessica does than you. I mean, you’re one of the best writers, if not the best writer in this town. I hope I’m not offending anybody, but you know, she does incredible work. She knows this town inside and out. You said you’ve been here 30 years now?

JLL: Well, I think about 20 since we’ve moved here full time. We had our kids, our kids are hippie California born, and they’ll tell you that, but they are Savannah raised.

JB: Gotcha. Well you just mentioned you have lived here longer than anywhere else in your life. Sheila and I crossed—well, me, I can only speak for me—I crossed that threshold last summer. I’ve lived in Savannah longer than anywhere else. So, yeah.

JLL: But you can never say you’re from here, right? Like it’s still, unless you were born at Telefair Hospital or, you know… Even my father-in-law, my father-in-law has been here almost 60 years. He’s still, you know, “well, I’m not really from here…” We’re the new people.

JB: Yeah, no, I totally get that, and I’m respectful of that. I always tell everybody I’m from Miami, but I’ve been here forever. I’m almost a native, but you know, I will use this opportunity to say very quickly and I’m guessing it has been the same for you. Ever since I rolled up in here, 1999, the people of this town have been nothing but amazing to me, and treated me like I was born in Ellis Square.

JLL: I fully agree. I think that when you come correct in Savannah, you are welcomed with open arms. And I think that when you don’t, you get an experience that, you know, I hear a lot of people say that it’s hard to make friends here, it’s hard to fit in. And, you know, I always ask the question. I mean, well, are you asking questions? Are you listening? Are you valuing Savannah for the unique place that it is? I observe a lot of people coming here who have grand ideas and talent and energy and all of those things, but they misstep in that they lead with themselves, and they don’t kind of settle back and see what we’ve got going on here. And what we have going on here is often complicated and difficult and challenging. And none of it gets fixed overnight you know? I think that coming here with this idea of being part of the community is the path to success, to belonging.

JB: Yeah, I completely agree. So many people and not everybody, obviously these are tiny samples, but a lot of people come here and think, “they’re not doing a, whatever, ABC? Well, we used to do them in LA all the time. We should start it here. And they expect Savannah to be as excited about something they want to do as everybody was in whatever city they came from. And it doesn’t always work that way. You got to fit into your… you said it best, the words you used were come correct. When I got here, you observe, and you fit in, and when in Rome, you do as the Romans. And I never tried to say, well, this is how we did it in Miami, or, you know, this is how, this is how, this is how… How do you do it? And if I like it, I’ll join you. If I don’t, I’ll go home and watch Netflix. Although back then there was no Netflix. But it’s been… like one tiny, tiny, tiny example is, I spoke to a guy a few years ago and he talked to me about trying to lead a push to get restaurants the ability, by the city, to set up dining in the squares. And I thought, yeah, no, that’s not going to happen. “Well, they do it in every European city,” okay, well then go to Europe. You know, that’s just not going to fly here because it would destroy a lot of the integrity of these squares. But people don’t think that way. They think “this is how we did it.” Okay, well, you need to do it how it is here.

JLL: Right, right. And it’s not to say that Savannah doesn’t adapt and change. I mean, it has, it’s changed a lot. But I think you get that by working with a consensus and working together.

JB: Sure. So, what have you been up to this summer?

JLL: Well, so I have a new gig. One of the things I wanted to say about Savannah is that it used to be smaller. We used to have this centralized media, right? I mean, we used to have one daily paper, one weekly paper, a couple of different glossies, a couple of different local news channels, and that was it. And now that is all gone away. We still have our daily paper, and they work really hard to keep it local, they’re owned by the USA Today. I encourage people to read the Savannah Morning News because it really is local reporting. Awesome people over there. We don’t have a weekly paper anymore. We have Savannah Magazine… 

JB: Well, we do have a weekly paper. It’s just now the Savannah Morning News, but. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

JLL: Right, right. I mean, it’s just, so much has changed, right? And so, I mean, I grew up, I came up in the weekly paper, the alternative weekly… the industry. So, I mean, I worked at weekly papers all over the country, and that really doesn’t exist anymore. And I’ve been really lucky, I’ve been a freelancer and I’ve gotten great gigs, but I’ve always wanted to find a home. I like structure, I like being part of a team, and so I’ve been looking for a gig for a long time in Savannah, and I finally, in December, have found such an awesome position for me. Money is like the third most important thing. Having autonomy and working for a mission and with people of integrity is really my priority. So, I am the Director of Marketing and Communications at the Tybee Island Marine Science Center, which is such a gorgeous facility on North Beach.

A lot of people remember it as a small, tiny little concrete block next to the bathrooms on the south end at the pier. And when we came to Savannah, my husband’s family has a house on Tybee and we spent a lot of time there. So when my toddler was… you know, 20 years ago, we went to the Tybee Island Marine Science Center every day because my daughter wanted to touch the crabs. So that was what they’ve built, they’ve provided such a wonderful service. They had such a wonderful board and support that they built this incredible building out at North Beach. Have you been there lately? Cause you got to come out.

JB: No, no.

JLL: Yeah, it’s, I mean, Christian Satele designed it, floor to ceiling windows, tremendous exhibits, really, it’s so educational, and its focus is educating on the stewardship of our unique coastal environment, which is kind of always in danger of so many different things. So I’m so proud to be there and so honored to work with the team there. We have a great board. So, that’s what I’ve been doing all summer, and we actually got to stay out at Tybee all summer long. And I don’t know when this is coming out, but we are releasing a turtle this Saturday. One of the things that the center does is we have—you know, turtle hatching, nesting and hatching season is a big deal all up and down the Georgia coast. We’ve got lagerheads and green turtles… five of the seven sea turtles of the world come and nest on the Georgia coast. S

So we’ve had 19 nests on Tybee this summer, and we’ve had volunteers patrolling the beach, making sure they’re safe. So every year, or every three years, we take a little hatchling, they hatch the size of a potato chip, and there’s usually stragglers, so we kind of rescue a straggler, bring it to the Marine Science Center, and raise it for three years. They educate our visitors on the ecosystem and where turtles go, they are amazing because they hatch out of the nest this big, they crawl into the ocean, they swim miles and miles out to the Sargasso Sea. And in 30 years, they come back. Somehow, they swim back and they’re huge and lay their eggs within a mile of the beach of where they were born and hatched. So, amazing creatures.

JB: Wow, yeah.

JLL: We have a Westie being released on September 6th, Saturday morning. Came as a little tiny girl and is now a big, you know, 50 something pounds. And so she’s going to march her way down the beach and swim off.

JB: That’s pretty awesome. That’s pretty awesome. Well, we are now about 11 minutes into this conversation, and if anybody’s listening, they’re saying, I thought this was a food podcast. (laughing) What do you think of what has become of our city’s food scene? Loaded question, I know.

JLL: Oh gosh, Jesse… you know, first of all, what I noticed most—you know, there’s a lot of great people and I find myself, we go to kind of the same places again and again because of the consistency, a lot of places coming and going. Really, we’re really missing a mid-priced tier of just food, of just well-prepared, nothing fancy, but just well-prepared good food. Something where entrees aren’t $25 for a very small amount of food. I think people go out to eat because they want to sample things or they want to have an environment sometimes, but you go out to eat because you’re hungry, and you just want to have a meal that is satisfying. So I think we’re missing some things, but I also admire all of the talent that we have here.

I mean, we’ve got some awesome creativity. I feel like I’m the only person who has not been to the Municipal Grand yet, I have yet to. I haven’t got to try out the Chio’s Pasta Bar, but I’m excited that Kyle’s got a new spot. You know, I’m always at my girl Natasha’s place Sixby, because I think she’s amazing and she’s got the best bread in, like, the world. But yeah, I mean, the scene is, I think it’s interesting. I wish that it would—I mean, we went to New York City earlier this summer, and we ate less expensively and better than when we do in Savannah.

JB: Yeah, yeah, there’s a thousand reasons, we could talk for another 40 minutes about what some of the reasons for all of that are, but I think you would agree, you’ve been here long enough to know that from where we came to where we are now, it’s pretty damn good.

JLL: Yeah, when I came here, all there was to eat was Carrie Hilliard’s. Which is, not knocking it, I love a fried shrimp platter, listen to me, that’s no problem. And they’ll bring it to your car, you know, very fun, very fun. But you know, yeah, lots more options, so that’s good.

JB: Absolutely, yeah, I had lunch at Carrie Hilliard’s about 10 days ago, believe it or not. Had me a pulled pork club sandwich, which was originally referred to me by one of the better chefs in town when he was here a handful of years ago, he said, have you tried? I go, no. He goes, best sandwich in Savannah. And he chased me. He would text me, have you gone yet? Have you gone yet? Have you gone yet? And finally, like four or five months later, I finally went and it was, I don’t know if it was the best sandwich in Savannah, but it was really, really good… pulled pork club sandwich. It was delicious, I had it last week. Yeah, we ain’t knocking Carrie Hilliard’s that’s really good stuff. In fact, Carrie Hilliard’s got some run on a national podcast with Shannon Sharp, who you know went to Savannah State. He and, what is the young lady that played at LSU? I forget her name. 

JLL: Flage?

JB: Yes, yes, she was on his podcast, I believe, and they were talking about Savannah and they brought up Carrie Hilliards, absolutely. Which, good for them. 

JLL: Legit! You know, it’s endured. It’s still here.

JB: So, we’re going to get into some of your favorites out on Tybee here in a minute, but I will ask you one last question about food for right now. If there was one cuisine or one type of restaurant that you could open next week in Savannah, or see it open, what would it be?

JLL: Oh gosh… listen, we need a Jewish deli, you know? I mean, like a really good—you know, we ate at Barney Greengrass off of Central Park when we were in New York and I mean, like real cured, like lox salmon and, you know… 

JB: What’s the name of the one in Atlanta? There’s a few of them. I forget the name of it, but they were trying to get them down here a few years ago. Yeah, it’s like legit. I forgot the name. But anywho, so you’re starting a podcast of your very own.

JLL: Yes, I am. And I do host the Tybee Island Marine Science Center podcast, which is, I interview people, like you do, in the community who are really the movers and shakers of our environmental community and our nonprofits. So give a listen to that, I really love that part of my job. The Savannah Sideways podcast is a little different. It’s a story. And it is a 10 episode story about some ancient Roman statues that the city of Savannah owns. And I’ve been obsessed with this story for about five years, it came to me during COVID as like a very small news clip. John Mekinowski, a friend, sent me this thing.

He’s like, do you know about this? Because the city brought up that they wanted to sell these surplus statues. And I was like, what are these? Where did they come from? And that story is so fascinating. I mean, the throughline is the first soybean farm in America, Casimir Pulaski, The Gilded Age, Asaba Island the silent film era, Sappolo Island and the Gullah Geechee community. There are so many touch points of this story and that’s why I’ve written about it a bunch and I just couldn’t quit it. I just couldn’t get out of my system. So I feel that telling the story in a podcast form, I’m calling it a true crime podcast, no crime and no murder. It’s just a mystery, it’s a mystery without the murder. And I think that anybody who is interested in Savannah is gonna learn something and be entertained. So I’m very excited about it. And that premieres on October 9th, anywhere you get your podcasts.

JB: Very good, October the 9th and it’s weekly?

JLL: The first two are gonna come out together, and then it’s gonna be weekly.

JB: Ten parts, all about Savannah, Savannah sideways podcast, correct? 

JLL: Right.

JB: So then what do you do for your next one? Are there plans to continue telling stories?

JLL: I do, I do have another story that I’m inquiring about, another Savannah… like, I think that when we go back and we kind of revisit some of these historical stories, when we shine light on them, we can talk about what’s kind of happening now. History repeats itself in a lot of ways. So it’s interesting to tie how one thing done hundreds of years ago can affect the way we think and the stories that we tell now. So yeah, I’ve already, I’ve got something else, but let me get this one out, okay? I’m still working on the last episode.

JB: Very good, very good. Well, you are a great storyteller, I know that. And so it will be good, I will certainly give it a listen. I’ve gotten into, in my later years now, I’ve gotten into audio books and, well, everybody listens to podcasts, but I’ve probably been through more audio books and I’m talking big name books in the last two years then a previous fifteen combined. I really love it.

I go to Hilton Head a lot, so I have long drives but short drives. So yeah, that’s how I eat up my time, with audiobooks.

JLL: Yeah. Yeah, these will be, exactly, I think each episode is gonna be between like 30 to 40 minutes. So I figure it’s like perfect for, you know, sitting in carpool line, going to the Hilton Head, like, you know… 

JB: Perfect, yep, perfect. I mean, there are some people out there that, you know, national people can do three hour podcasts, but there’s some local people who like to do hour plus, three hour, two hour… no, no, no, no. 

JLL: Yeah, it’s a lot.

JB: So, okay. Before we go, you’re gonna give us some tips. Everybody wants to know where the secrets are, even though if there’s any secrets, they go to social media. There are no hidden gems anymore. Anything that’s good goes to social media. But–

JLL: Oh, speaking of social media, just want to say, there is a Kickstarter for Savannah Sideways, for the production. It’s not just me sitting in front of my computer, I mean, we have professional sound engineers, professional designers. It’s really going to be a quality podcast, because I really want this story… I think, like I said, anybody… you don’t have to live in Savannah to be interested in the story. It really is interesting. So if you wanna help kick down, I’m having an amazing launch party at Ships of the Sea Museum on launch day on October 9th. So you can visit my website, savannahsideways.com and get more info. So, sorry, had to do a little pluggy plug.

JB: All good, no, I get it. And I’ll also have a link when I post this on my website, eatitandlikeit.com that will take it to your thing. Okay. Three or four spots that you’ve been loving to dine at, eat at, grub at, on Tybee.

JLL: Thank you. Okay, well, I’m gonna give some love to Tybee, because I was there all summer long. Hands down, I think we eat at Bubba Gumbo’s like twice a week. I mean, that place—the gumbo, first of all, is amazing. They just have the freshest fish in town. It’s the place, every time, we have our favorite little table, down the stairs, in the back, the sloped floors, it’s just, it’s great in there. Everything is so, so fresh. I love Salt Island as well on Tybee, and they really got some super creative dishes, and a lot of like vegetable-forward dishes. When I go out, I struggle to get enough vegetables. I’m an omnivore, 100%, but like, I can only do so much starch and meat. So I had some, they had some caramelized carrots at Salt Island, and they did a beet salad, really good stuff.

JB: Nice.

JLL: Let’s see what else. North Beach Grill is no secret, but it’s right next to my work and it’s like the best lunch, they have great drinks.

JB: What’s your go-to there?

JLL: I usually get a burger. I’m always a specials person, I’m always interested in seeing what chef’s got going on. We just tried The Kelpie, which is a new place on Tybee, a new Irish pub that is kind of next to Chu’s on the corner of Butler and Campbell. Legitimate Scotch eggs, which are my favorite, I love those. And we had the cottage pie, which was delicious. And then the special there, I told you, I love specials, was this really interesting, it was a slider platter, but without the buns, because, you know, a girl’s gotta watch her carbs–it was like three different–it was like a salmon patty, and a lamb patty, and a beef patty, and one was under a portobello mushroom, where we had a fried green tomato. It was really creative and delicious. So, anybody who’s looking for something a little different on the island, head in there.

JB: Forgive me for saying so, but based on your list, Tybee’s come a long way.

JLL: I think so, yeah, I mean, it really has. And then the window, the walk-up window over on the south end is great too, just for a little breakfast sandwich and, you know, a pastry. 

JB: Yeah, that was the last time I saw you, I was inside there making those guys famous and you’re outside and I stuck my head out, “Hey, whatcha doing?” Jessica outside, Jesse inside. So what was the name of that pub again? I know where it is, the old dog house it was. It was the Highway 80 gastropub?

JLL: Yeah, it’s been a few things. It’s called the Kelpie.

JB: Spell that:

JLL: K-E-L-P-I-E. I believe it’s a mythical Celtic creature of some kind. 

JB: I hope so. Because when you said kelp, I was thinking, is this like a seaweed place?

JLL: A seaweed place. Although I wouldn’t be mad at it. Listen, I lived in California for a really long time. I would eat seaweed all day long.

JB: Yeah, you tree huggers. No, love me some California cuisine. In fact, I’m going in a few weeks and I’ve been looking up, you know me, I’m looking up my restaurants, like oh I could do that, I could do that. 

JLL: Yeah, where are you going?

JB: My daughter’s moving to LA. 

JLL: She was in New York. You’re so lucky, you know? Like, wow.

JB: Yeah, but, you know, now it’s a longer trip. She’s like, “I can’t come home for Thanksgiving?” Girlfriend, it’s a day trip each way.

JLL: Yeah. It’s a little further away, yeah. Crossing time zones is a lot. Yeah, up and down is a little easier. I get it.

JB: Much easier. 90, 80, 83 minutes to LaGuardia. You’re there. know, LA is a little different animal. You got to change planes and the whole nine, so, anyway. Jessica, one more time. The podcast is Savannah Sideways, that debuts October 9th. The website for your Kickstarter is what?

JLL: Well, I’ll have to send you that link, but my website is savannasideways.com. And if you go to Kickstarter and type in Savannah Sideways, you’ll find it. I’d love to have everybody in town at this party. So go to the Kickstarter website, type in Savannah Sideways, small contribution, you’re going to get swag, you’re going to come to a great party and I’ll get to meet you, which would be awesome.

JB: October 9th at Ships of the Sea, downtown Savannah on MLK. All right, girlfriend, you remember the little people when you’re winning all those awards. 

JLL: Oh, Jesse, you’ve got the biggest heart in town.

JB: All right, I like the sound of that, so we’ll leave her right there. Jessica, thank you. You have a great day. We’ll see you soon.