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DOE'S EAT PLACE
Interviews and photographs by Amy Evans.
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Barbara
"Shug" Signa
When people come in that front door it's like Doe and I treat them as if they were coming into our home. [A]nd from the time they walk in to the time we leave, we try to keep that up. And it's not that we're trying to put a certain type of atmosphere; it's just that's the way we are. That's just the way we are and this is our home, because we spend more time here than at home. So it is a very wonderful experience to come to Doe's.
--Barbara “Shug” Signa
Barbara “Shug” Signa, one of eleven children, is a native of Greenville. The Signas were neighbors and Doe’s Eat Place has been a constant of Shug’s life. During her youth, Shug’s brothers and sisters fought over who got the steak bone her parents brought home from dinner at Doe’s. Later, Shug’s mother was determined that one of her daughters marry Little Doe Signa. In 1977, Shug won Little Doe’s heart, and they walked down the aisle. She was family, but by marriage only. Doe Senior warned Little Doe about sharing the family’s hot tamale recipe. To this day Shug still doesn’t know the secret to Doe’s legendary hot tamales. That doesn’t bother her; she would rather not have to make them. Instead, she spends her time greeting customers, tossing Doe’s signature salads – made from Mamie Signa’s recipe -- and maintaining the casual and funky atmosphere for which Doe’s Eat Place is known.
• • • Listen to this 3-minute audio clip of Barbara “Shug” Signa talking about her experiences at Doe’s before and after she married into the Signa family. [Windows Media Player required. Go here to download the player for free.]
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What follows is a portion of the original interview that has been edited for length. To download the entire transcript in PDF form, please click here.
SUBJECT: Barbara “Shug” Signa, owner
DATE: July 28, 2005
LOCATION: Doe’s Eat Place-Greenville, MS
INTERVIEWER: Amy Evans
Amy Evans: This is Thursday, July 28, I believe, and 2005. This is Amy Evans for the Southern Foodways Alliance and I'm here with Shug Signa at Doe's Eat Place in Greenville. And Miss Signa would you mind saying your name and…your birth date for the record[?]
Shug Signa: My name is Shug Signa. My given name was Barbara. I married into the family in 1977. I was born on August 7, 1950.
And how did you get the nickname Shug?
When I was born my sister was an only child, and she didn't want me. So my grandmother told her I was nothing but a lump of sugar sent from heaven, so she called me “Sugar-Do” until the sixth grade, and then after that I asked her please not to do that when I went into junior high school. So she called me Shug, and all my professors called me Shug, and I've always been known as Shug now. If I was in trouble they called me Barbara, and I knew that I was in trouble when that happened.
[Laughs]
Would you mind giving me just a short history of your family and are they originally--
My--my
family is from Greenville. My grandmother and grandfather opened a business
here. It was a tobacco company--candy and tobacco company on Alexander
[Street], and my mother was--had a--she and her sister; it was just two
children in their family, and her sister died at age fourteen. So mother
was really raised as an only child. And mother and daddy married--God--over
50 years ago. My father is now deceased but they had eleven children--nine
girls and two boys, all single births, and I'm the second child of the
eleven. And we have always lived here and--and my mother is still living
and still lives here. All of us are married. Most of us have left, you
know--we're all over everywhere now. But--and Doe and I met in--well we
knew each other. In fact, mother had Doe picked out. He was a neighbor.
And Doe--she had Doe picked out for my younger sister, and I happened
to be the one to catch him.
[Laughs]
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Well what did you know--growing up in Greenville, what did you know or what was your experience with Doe's Eat Place as far as meeting--?
Oh, you just don't know. My mother and daddy would come out with their friends and we would fight as to who was going to get the steak bone they brought home. I mean we never got to come eat here very much because Mother and Daddy were on a very fixed income. And with eleven kids, you just can't bring them all out to eat. So I really didn't get to experience Doe's until I got older and was working on my own really. And I would work for a company called Robison Limited and they would--they were an architectural company and they would bring us out to Doe's every now and then when they finished a project and--and Doe and I were not married then. I mean I was young; I was like--I think I was like 18 or 19 years old. So--and Doe was younger than me; he's two years younger than me, so he wasn't even here. But we would come in and it would just be packed full of--it was the best food. I will never forget how wonderful this food is. I mean it's just really good, and I still crave it all the time. [Laughs] And I don't get it; I don't get it anymore. I married the cook, so I don't get it. But you know just everybody came to Doe's. It's just--if you wanted to meet your friends that's where you came; so it's just been a wonderful experience for me.
Do you remember some stories that your parents told about their times here?
Not really; I--I'm kind of old--it's kind of hard to remember but I do know that there has been some really funny things to go on here because you never knew what you were going to see. You might see some of them walk in--in a bathing suit with their hair cut off some or someone in a formal, you might see--we've had dignitaries come in and literally have a food fight, cutting up, which was horrible but that's happened and we've had other things happen, too. But you just never know what's going to happen in Doe's or who you're going to see in Doe's. I mean I--you know we were--had our--our second child, our first son. I was in the hospital and Doe's brother was cooking and he called and told us that Willie Nelson was here. And I wanted to come so bad; I said get me out of here. But anyway you know--and you just never know. Chelsea Clinton came in one time when we were here, but most of my eventful stories are what I have experienced more so than what my parents experienced here.
Well, let's talk about that. Let's talk about when you married into the Signa family and that kind of transition from being a customer to being…an owner.
And it was a transition. [Laughs] When Doe decided
that we were going to get married, he went to his father and at that time
who was still cooking and alive and he said that he wanted to marry me.
And his father told him that was great--that he liked me a lot but to
not to ever give him--give me the hot tamale recipe, that--that was the
family secret and if I ever divorced him, I would take the family secret.
So to this day I don't know the hot tamale recipe…To this day I
have never learned the hot tamale recipe. I don't want to know it; I don't
want to be cooking.
[Laughs]
But when Doe and I married I had--we of course immediately started having a family, and I had a job. I was working, so I really didn't get involved with Doe's on a working basis until--and you know, I would come down and help, but Doe's aunts all ran the business. So we had plenty of family involved; it's always been family. It's more family than anything. And as they passed on you know I've had to--it's kind of brought me in and then when Charles, Doe's brother, left and moved to Oxford, which was four years ago, that's when I had to quit my job and start helping Doe. So now I do all the bookkeeping and I do all the bill paying and I do all the promotions, you know talking to advertisements and stuff and I work two nights a week here and possibly more if his aunt who works…It's just a lot of fun. It's--it's--you meet people that you've known--I mean you talk to people that you know like--they're like your family because they come in here every week or two times a week or whatever, but then you meet people that are traveling from all over the world. We've met people from Japan, from Switzerland, from Germany, from--I mean it's just--Australia; you just never know who you're going to see in Doe's, and you know it's just a wonderful compliment to Doe's family to know that they have started a business 65 years in the making, and it's still going strong and it's still being talked about all over the world.
Do you think that's the reason for most of the success is that it's been a family?
I think it's because Doe and them are such warm people, you know. His people is such warm people…When people come in that front door it's like Doe and I treat them as if they were coming into our home and from that point--from the time they walk in to the time we leave, we try to keep that up. And it's not that we're trying to put a certain type of atmosphere; it's just that's the way we are. That's just the way we are and this is our home, because we spend more time here than at home. So it is a very wonderful experience to come to Doe's.
Can you tell me a little bit about some of the characters in the Signa family? I've been hearing so many stories about people like Broc Brocatto and--?
Oh, Uncle Broc--Uncle Broc, he was a character. Doe--Aunt Florence probably could fill you in better on their family history. Mattie, let's see--when Doe's mother died when Doe was around, I guess he was around two or three years old, Doe's mother died and Mr. Signa had four children. And so he freaked! I mean he was a little Italian man who just you know thought he would have a wife forever and he never remarried. So all the aunts pulled together and raised these kids and Aunt Mattie was a little bitty--a little old Italian lady kind of on the heavy side and she would sit in a chair and she would take the money and she would send bills out to the companies that charge, and now I do that. But just--just fine people; Aunt Jay used to live behind the store here; she and her brother, Paul, and Aunt Jay would come over every day and she'd stay here all day long and she would cook lunch for them and then on Sundays we would come down even though we were closed, she'd come in here and cook this feast like you've never seen, and we'd all come in from church and have lunch with her. And I'm talking--spaghetti was a side dish. We'd have fried chicken and roast and, you know, potato salad and salad and peas and whatever--whatever she felt like cooking and it would cover a whole long table and we'd all sit around and eat and talk and visit and this was every Sunday. You know and that--and from what I understand it had happened prior to--to Doe and I getting married. You know it had been going on for years and years and years. They used to have huge barbecues on the 4th of July where he would get--they would just fill the yard full of family and that went on even after we were married until they got too old or they started dying away. But you don't see that very much now. You don't see the--the family outings like we had back then--wonderful memories. My children--you know we tried to do things like that within our family, but it's just hard to get everybody together now with everybody working. Back then you worked, but it wasn't like you work now.
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Well how has--if at all, how have--has the food changed here since you've worked [here]?
It has not changed a bit. The only difference is we now
serve a fillet that we didn't serve back then. Another thing we do is
a broiled shrimp that we started about ten years ago, and it was so funny
because Doe came up with the recipe and 
Charles
says I'm never going to fix that around there. I'm not going to do that.
Well he started doing it because it started to become such a hot item.
And Doe has got so many creative ideas in his mind. I would give anything
if he would do some of the things that he could do, but he just doesn't
have the time. It's--it's tough; he just doesn't have the time.
Do y'all ever cook at home?
All the time; we cook, yeah. We have--every Sunday we have our kids over to eat and--the ones that are here, you know--we try to anyway. As--as a matter of fact, the last four years have been harder on us getting people together because we're here so much, but every now and then we'll still do that. And every holiday we'll have everybody over--every holiday…Oh gosh; Doe--Doe will fix spaghetti gravy or we'll have--we--it used to be a joke that when my kids were in high school they would always have their friends over on Sunday evening. I always told them I didn't care what they did--what they were doing, everybody was to be home on Sunday for a family dinner and we'd have two or three meats, and--and you know just a feast like Aunt Jay used to do and everybody would sit around and they--I mean our whole conversation was centered around a meal…Yeah; and we--we really spent--and my mother would come and my sisters that were in town and their kids and everybody would bring something and just different things, just depending on what we felt like eating, you know. Doe fried chicken sometimes or we'd do a roast or we'd do lasagna, you know--all this at one time. You just never--you just never knew what we were going to fix. We'd always say Doe is going to create, so y'all come on over. [Laughs]
So he's always cooking?
Oh, he loves it. He--he--it's in his blood and our son is the same way; he loves to cook. He's not in the business as of right now, but I think in the future he will be.
What's his name?
Doe; he's a Doe, too.
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Well, all the people that have come through here, you know lots of political figures and famous folks and physicians and whatnot, do you keep a record of that or do you--I know there's some photographs around but--
Well, we have pictures, yeah and we do have a book--a guestbook that I don't know how many people have signed it recently, which the waitresses-- I'll tell you what's happened; we've gotten so busy it's hard to remember to bring it out and I'm sure they forget, but we do have a register for guests to write and a lot of people ask for it to see--if we're not real busy we can sit down and visit with the people but you know it's--it's kind of tough sometimes to get it out. [Shug gets the guest book and brings it to the table.] Let's see; what does that say--'78?
Yeah, 1978…So is that--that's been the only one that I would imagine was--?
Yeah; and--and you know back when Mr. Signa and them opened up the restaurant, they--you know they were simple folk. They didn't know to--to record things and they didn't even have any kind of a bookkeeping system. They didn't--you know all that wasn't--he'd buy his meat locally so he'd just go pay for it. He wouldn't you know--there wasn't any supplies--it wasn't near like it is now. And so it's kind of--look at this; this is in Japan. Look at that…I really need to push this. Look, they have the menus.
There's an old menu from [nineteen] '86. Huh, you had a lunch menu.
We did start serving lunch in '86 but that--it--it was hard because we make the tamales and stuff here; so it was like we were using one room but it was just--it was just too hard and people didn't think of Doe's as lunch, so they didn't--you know it was hard.
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Can [you] read aloud some of the comments that people have written [in the guest book]?
“Best food in the world,” and that was from Indiana. “Very, very good” from Eudora, Arkansas. “The oyster loaf is great--and we've never had an oyster loaf”…“Excellent, great tamales, lot of atmosphere, good food and hospitality,” and then we go back and read some. “One of the best; the food is good; great steaks; excellent size and quantity; superb; far out.” CBS something--60 Minutes; here's--Tom Rather was in here. I didn't even know that; look at that.
Dan Rather and it's 1979.
Dan--not Tom; what am I saying, yeah? “Fantastic; I'm full as a tick; best ever”--I sure didn't know that.
You need to sit down one day and just pour through this thing.
I need to go back through this 'cause I haven't been through
it ever. Almost as big as Texas. [Laughs] So--always great; isn't that
something, and nothing is changed about the restaurant. That's what is
so amazing to me. It's all the same; the food is the same. I mean we have
people that--that come in here and they say we haven't been here in 28
years and they'll sit down and then say and it hasn't changed a bit you
know and--and--or someone 
will
come out this week that was here last week and then say it's the best
steak I've ever had here. And they said the same thing last week, which
is great. [Laughs] I just love it. I love comments like that.
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Well [about] the employees, what [do they all] do and what are their duties?
[Laughs] Doe-Doe [coincidental nickname of Ernest Hardy,
who works up front with Doe] helps Doe with anything and he helps put
the--like when the stock comes in he splits it up. He knows exactly where
the--he packs the tamales to be cooked and he helps make the tamales;
he cleans up--he mops, he cleans the stove for Doe, he sets--it's really
kind of cute when I'm here in the afternoon, he'll mop the whole room
clean up front and he has a table that Doe takes the platters and puts
by the stove so that he can easily put the steaks on the platter. He calls
it Doe's Money-Making Table. He said this is the Money Table; so he'll--he'll
make sure that Doe--it's like a surgeon. He'll have his--his towel wrapped
up right there ready for him with his knife and his fork, and it's really--it's
really cute. But he has all that done and then he puts newspaper down
in front of the stove like Doe likes it and then he'll say okay I'm through;
can I go home now?...But he works hard. He's here every day Monday through
Saturday from 9:00 to 4:30--4:00--4:15, whenever he gets through.
And now what Marie does--she kind of oversees the kitchen, especially
when we're making tamales. She has to do the papers and keep the employees
in line and make sure that they're working and not back there chitchatting,
and she helps Doe make the gumbo and the chili and she just knows--she
watches the lettuce and she wraps some of the food for the night and,
you know, just kind of oversees…Essie helps Marie; she just helps
her. They washed all those big pots. They make tamales--Essie will come
in here and wipe the tables down and you know sweep and mop in the two
rooms and that kind of-- Essie is just here because Essie has been here
forever, so we just kind of keep her on to kind of do whatever. She doesn't
work but like until Noon, and then she goes home.
How did--how did they get their jobs here? Was it kind of word of mouth in the neighborhood or--?
Well, actually like Marie, we have--she is the mother of three children and all three of her children work for us. Her one--her one daughter is a home health[care worker] and she rolls tamales for us on her off days. And then we have Tinker Bell who is one of her daughters who works at night washing dishes and busing tables and prepping and all that. She's here at night and then we have her son who helps us on the weekends washing the cloths. So they all three--it's just like that; I mean she was probably brought in by some of the--you know, somebody that knew her. That's what we usually do. You know because you have to be able to trust them and we've never had a problem with not being able to trust them. When I get to that point I don't want you up here, you know. If we can't trust you get on out because it's not what we're about. The best I can tell you--I really am not the walking encyclopedia of Doe's. I've only been in the business for 28 years and it's got a lot more history before that--a lot of history that brought it up to this point.
[W]ell what about the future?
It's really funny because we've really been talking about bringing Little Doe into the business and Doe is concerned because Greenville is not like it used to be. But we have got franchises that will keep the name going and as long as we keep this place open, I think we'll be fine. And this compared to four years ago our business has increased, so it looks like the future is okay. You know I'm not going to go as far as say--I mean who knows what the future brings. We hope that we can continue to bring family, to keep the family operating and keep it like it is because that's what it's about; so--That's what we hope.
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To download the entire transcript in PDF form, please click here.
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