By Sean McManus
Staff Writer
Spend 45 minutes with Karin Tucker and Barbara Sutton and you begin to understand what it means to be an epicurean. The vivacious duo that parlayed their bistro expertise from Avondale landmark Biscotti’s into the hip Southbank eatery b.b.’s is still shaking up the Jacksonville restaurant scene.
“We’re not really wine experts but we’re experts at drinking wine,” said Tucker, the self-described “fru-fru” member of the team. (Sutton writes the business plans and handles the books, but isn’t demur).
The two met over nine years ago when Tucker was renting an apartment from Sutton’s then-husband to be. They began to talk about how Jacksonville needed a coffee place.
“We drove up and down St. Johns Avenue but could never find the space that was supposed to be for rent,” said Tucker. “Finally, we went into this flower shop to ask if they knew and the lady said, ‘This is it.’”
The rest is history.
They rented the store and Biscotti’s started out as a coffee shop but quickly began making sandwiches and small pizzas, salads and serious deserts. The exposed brick walls and open beam ceilings were ahead of their time. The neighborhood location meant people could walk there. And established restaurants like Sterling’s meant that the area could support upstarts. Now, there aren’t many people in Jacksonville who haven’t at least heard of Biscotti’s, which handles breakfast, lunch and dinner traffic.
b.b.’s, on Hendricks Avenue, is the old Thompson House, which was built in 1938 as the first freestanding, full service restaurant downtown. Tucker and Sutton actually looked at the site nine years ago when they were on reconaissance for Biscotti’s.
“When we first opened b.b.’s two years ago, we were thinking there would be a large dinner crowd and a lighter one at lunch,” said Sutton, looking around at a packed room with people waiting outside at 12:30 p.m. “Turned out to be kind of the opposite.”
But by “opposite,” Sutton means it’s always packed — at lunch and dinner. The restaurant even stays open all day (from 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.) to accommodate businesspeople who want to have a meeting at 3 in an upscale restaurant setting.
The Tuscan grilled chicken breast sandwich on asiago foccaccia roll is delicious; the horseradish mayonnaise reminds you of wasabi. And it’s $8. The Mediterranean chicken salad uses pieces of rotisserie chicken with French green beans, kalamata olives, tomatoes, feta cheese with lemon vinaigrette. That’s $7 and is definitely a meal.
“We want everything to be very fresh-tasting and we want people to be able to recognize it,” said Tucker. “We also want it to be affordable.”
Eric Fritsche is the executive chef and has worked for Tucker and Sutton for four years, starting at Biscotti’s. He’s a graduate of the Johnson & Wales culinary school in Rhode Island and has cooked at Epping Forest and the Cloisters.
“We give input because we travel a lot and we want to try different things,” said Tucker. “But let me put it this way — Eric takes our ideas and actually makes them edible.”
The dinner menu at b.b.’s is different every night.
Tucker and Sutton call their General Manager Allan DeVault “the wine guy” and say that he has relatively free rein.
“We’ll come in one day and there’s five new wines on the list,” said Tucker. “We don’t complain.” There are over 100 different wines on the menu and over 60 of those come by the glass. The restaurant throws four major “wine dinners” a year — to sample the selections.
“And that’s part of what appeals to the business customers,” said Sutton. “They like prompt service and they want us to make it easy to get great food and not spend a lot of money. The presentation should be crisp.”
The pair describes the cuisine as American bistro or “comfort food.” They call themselves “foodies” who are “expert consumers.” Sometimes they refer to the cuisine at b.b.’s as contemporary food, as in “of the times.” They have a staff of over 100 to implement it. That includes both restaurants.
Little b’s, or appetizers, include yellowfin tuna tartare, mozzarella bruchetta, and polenta styxx with creamy bleu cheese vinaigrette. They also have a bacon, lettuce and tomato pizza.
In addition to the grilled chicken sandwich, a swordfish BLT is on the menu and a crispy crabcake with tomato romoulade and Napa cabbage slaw.
Dinner, in addition to many specials, means a roasted seabass with porcini mushrooms or goat cheese and Dijon crusted lamb chops with a mint demi glace. They suggest a wine with each entrée. Grey grouper fritters are on the little b list at dinnertime.
“Everything is made completely from scratch,” said Tucker. “And very often you’ll see a guy in a white chef’s coat clipping herbs from the garden outside.”
Asked what cities they like to dine in, Tucker said her native San Francisco. Sutton, from Tennessee, likes Chicago, Charleston and even Orlando, where both proprietors said the Disney money fuels the latest in food trends.
The interior of b.b.’s combines European influences with the minimalist ethic of L.A. or New York. The bar is wide so that single diners — maybe staying at a nearby Southbank hotel on business — can eat with a laptop and Wall Street Journal. The table shapes alternative between square and round, and the bar and dining room is divided by translucent glass with steel beams — airy and industrial.
Mike Walburn, the architect who designed b.b.’s as well as the Grotto in San Marco, high-end super-restaurant Matthew’s, and the European Street on Beach Blvd., just took home an award of excellence from the American Institute of Architects.
“We were meant to be here,” they said, collectively.
“We love being on the Southbank,” said Sutton, whose restaurant joins a cadre of well-received spots like Bistro Aix, Matthew’s, Ruth’s Chris, The Chart House, Morton’s and The Wine Cellar but is less expensive but in an equally fashionable setting.
The next project for Tucker and Sutton is to expand Biscotti’s. They’ve been paying rent on the adjacent space on St. Johns Avenue for one year, and eventually hope to expand the kitchen there. And they do cater. In fact, Biscotti’s is working six parties Saturday.
“Jacksonville is getting more sophisticated,” said Tucker. “People are moving here from big cities and are demanding the best.”
b.b.’s, they agree, is there for that exact reason.
WHAT IT'S LIKE
Prices — Excellent value. Lunches average $7, dinners average $16.
Parking — Terrible. You’ll probably end up on the street.
Beverages — Full bar and a good wine selection with over 60 wines by the glass.
Service — Friendly and not too pushy.
Ambiance — Noisy, but an intelligent layout helps crowd control.
Hours — 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m. (midnight on weekends)
Reservations — Prefered seating which is a nice way of saying “first come, first serve.”