When Angie and Steve Coltharp bought Jesse’s from previous owners Charlie and Janie Houser seven weeks ago, they knew they had some challenges ahead.

The restaurant, long known for its excellent food and an elegant, historic atmosphere, needed a change.

“It got off track for a while,” Angie said. “I can tell it’s very important to Charlie and Janie to get it back how it used to be — it was alive and people loved it and the environment was great and the food was wonderful.”

Angie said the restaurant’s staff was always dedicated, talented and devoted to their work, but they lacked leadership and creative direction.

The Housers chose Angie and Steve, who have 18 years of experience each in the corporate restaurant industry, to bring the restaurant back to its former glory.

About four weeks after purchasing the restaurant, Angie knew she couldn’t get it to the level she dreamed about without the help of an executive chef, someone who could cast a creative vision, bring in new recipes and form relationships with local producers and growers.

“I thought, ‘The kitchen is beyond, the product is not good, the food is not good. We’re doing an injustice to every single guest that sits down,’” Angie said. “I need to figure this out, or I’m going to have to close the restaurant to figure this out.”

Even after working for many years as a successful proprietor, or what she calls a “fixer,” for several large restaurant chains, Angie said she knew she was in over her head at Jesse’s. She couldn’t do it alone.

“I’ve never failed, ever,” she said. “But I realized when it came to the kitchen and when it comes to the food and the vision I had, it was bigger than me. I was smart enough to say we need help and we need help now, and this is the other piece we need.”

She spoke with a friend in the restaurant supply industry and asked him to spread the word that Jesse’s was looking for a new executive chef.

Two days later, Jeremiah Matthews called. The Coltharps met him at Ruby Tuesday in Foley for an interview.

“The minute we shook his hand, he was our guy. It was the same feeling I got when I first walked into this restaurant,” Angie said. “We spent four hours going back and fourth, and it was as if he scripted everything we had. He read our minds to the T.”

The vision Matthews and the Coltharps share is one of fresh, local, high quality food served simply and elegantly.

“We just want to get back to the basics and put out a great quality product,” Matthews said. “We’re getting back to the highest quality meat we can find, done in a simple fashion — kosher salt, pepper and olive oil — that’s it. To me it’s all about the freshest, best ingredients we can find, not necessarily how much stuff we can put on the plate. You want to enhance it, not cover it up.”

Angie said she, Steve and Matthews plan to focus on becoming the best steakhouse in the area. Soon, the restaurant will offer dry-aged beef, a product that is generally only offered at the finest steakhouses in the country.

“And that’s if you’re willing to pay for everything a la carte, and that not us,” she said. “We’re not trying to be something we’re not. We’re realistic to who we are, but we can also have some select great items for people to try.”

Eventually, they will age the meat at the restaurant, a rare, delicate practice. 

But steak isn’t Matthews’ only focus. He also wants Jesse’s to be a restaurant that serves only local, fresh seafood.

“It costs a little more to bring in fresh, local fish, but I don’t have to worry about somebody coming in and asking me where my fish comes from,” Matthews said. “I’m happy to tell them — right down the road. I can’t imagine working in a place where somebody asks where your seafood comes from and you’ve got to tell them China or Vietnam.”

The produce the restaurant uses also comes from local farmers. Matthews said he has enjoyed traveling around the county to build relationships with growers.

“It’s actually a lot of extra legwork for me, but when I can tell somebody, ‘Hey, those potatoes you’re eating came from Fairhope,’ and “It’s not just Baldwin County squash — that came from County Road 26 — and you can ride down the road and see it growing,’ to me, that means a lot,” Matthews said.

Matthews said in addition to valuing Baldwin County producers, he is also grateful for a staff that already knows Jesse’s customers and are dedicated to them and the restaurant.

Coming into a restaurant that already had a staff was a different experience for Matthews.

“I’ve opened several restaurants, but I always built my kitchen and my staff,” Matthews said. “It’s a lot different. I’m glad we kept the staff, because it turns out, the kitchen staff back there is probably one of the best staffs I’ve ever had. They’ve been without leadership for so long that they were hungry to learn, which makes a big difference.”

Shorty Cate, day bartender, said she and the other staff members are excited about the policies and standards Angie has set in place as well as the energy and creativity Matthews brings to the staff.

“This will truly be one of the best destinations in South Baldwin — or really, all of Lower Alabama,” Cate said.

Matthews is originally from Fairhope. He began his culinary career in washing dishes in the kitchen at Bogart’s in Gulf Shores at age 12. He started cooking there at 16 and worked his way up the ladder. 

Matthews then became a corporate trainer for Ruby Tuesday.

“I decided I didn’t really like cooking, so I did a few other jobs, and I liked those even less,” Matthews said. “So my dad was like, ‘Why don’t you go to culinary school?’”

Matthews studied at Paul Smith’s College in upstate New York for three years before moving to France to attend the renowned Le Cordon Bleu culinary arts school in Paris.

Matthews is known locally for his part in opening The Colony Grill in Fairhope as well as Naman’s Midtown Market in Mobile. He also spent time as executive chef at the Renaissance River Plaza and The Fairhope Inn.

Four years ago, Matthews moved to Wyoming to become the head chef at the Spotted Horse Ranch.

“We got so lucky because he had literally just moved back to Fairhope,” Angie said. “Had anybody known he was in town, because he had such a huge following from people in Fairhope, we probably would not have gotten him.”

But Matthews said he was selective in choosing a job, and he saw great potential at Jesse’s. He hopes customers will ask to meet him when they visit so he can get to know everyone who eats at the restaurant.

“If they enjoyed it or even if they didn’t, ask the server to tell the chef to come out and talk to them,” he said. “I want to get to a point where I have nothing but friends eating here. I want to know everyone. I want to know their likes and dislikes. The more they feel like it’s their place, the more they’ll come.”