Jones’n for a big ol’ plate of beef? Look no further than Paul Signa. This hunka hunka Doe’s Eat Place owner serves up the best steak in town, with a sizzlin’ side dish of good looks and good manners. While you sometimes need an interpreter to translate his Greenville, Miss., accent, frankly, Signa says it all with his sweet, shy smile.
Paul Signa, you are cute, cute, cute, no doubt about it! How did you get from Doe’s Eat Place original restaurant in Greenville, Miss., up here to Paducah?
I was managing our restaurant in Oxford when Carol Gault of Paducah Main Street and Spivey came in. Spivey knew about Doe’s – we have a lot of Paducah river industry people who know about Doe’s because Greenville is one of their stops on the river.
And Carol just said, “Come on to Paducah”?
She sent us a package with information about Paducah, the population of the city and county, the average income per household and all that. It was clear that Paducah hasn’t yet reached its full potential. It looked to us like a good time to come in, get a good location and hopefully it will snowball and get bigger.
So you opened in 2006?
Yes ma’m, April 27, 2006. We’re a year and eight months into the project.
How does the 136 Broadway location compare to your other sites?
It’s too early to judge that, but so far it has exceeded our expectations. I’m a hands-on person, so I save myself some money by being here all the time. If I had to pay a full-time salary, we wouldn’t be doing quite as well.
You’re third-generation in the business, aren’t you?Yes m’am. My grandfather Dominick (left), he was called "Big Doe," and his wife, Mamie, started the first restaurant in Greenville, which is where I grew up.
And Big Doe was a bootlegger during Prohibition?
That’s what they say. He did that to support the family after Greenville’s big flood in 1927. Then he sold his still and his Model T and started cooking up steaks in the back of his father’s grocery store. And then in 1941, my grandmother got a partial recipe for hot tamales. She improved the recipe and began selling them. And that’s how it all started.
And that restaurant is still open?
Yes m’am. It still wins all sorts of awards. Last year, we won the James Beard Foundation Award for small, regional restaurants that offer good, down-home food and hospitality. That was exciting.
Well, Paul, you won that because you are just so cute. How old were you when you got involved in the restaurant?
I started working for Doe’s when I was 14, and I worked my way up. I cooked for and managed our Doe’s in Oxford for three or four years before coming here.
Where did you go to school?
I have a physical education and recreation degree from Delta State in Cleveland, Miss. That’s a long, drawn out way of saying PE. I just took an easy major. I really wanted to coach football, and I did that as a volunteer for a junior high school when I was going to college.
What’s a typical day like for you now?
I wake up around 10 a.m., and then I get ready to serve lunch downtown. I run errands between 2-5 p.m., and start back at 5 for dinner until we close at 10 or 11 p.m. But I take off on Wednesdays and maybe a few other shifts here and there.
What do you do on Wednesdays?
I play goalie for an indoor soccer league in Mayfield every week. I haven’t played soccer since I was 12, but it’s fun.
Goalie! I bet you’re all Beckham-like.
There are a few of us in town on the team. We call ourselves the Benchwarmers. I enjoy it. It’s a good time. I also like to fish and hunt and stuff like that, but I don’t get to do that very often. Sometimes I’m lazy and just lay around and watch TV.
Me too. But don’t tell anyone. Paul, Doe’s is such a huge hit! What is your secret?Having a good product and good staff and great location. And we have that. We’ve never deviated from menu since the first Doe’s opened in 1941. If you have something and stick with it, and if you become one of the better ones at it, you’ll succeed.
Do people really order three-pound porterhouse steaks?
Yes m’am.
Do you ever have to resuscitate anyone?
No, no, not yet. Usually they share.
Whew, that’s good. Paul, you should write one of those business success books.
I depend on my staff a lot. I employ 15 people, and about six or seven have been here from the start. That means a lot. I do have some rotation, which is pretty normal in restaurants, but it’s good when your customers can get familiar with your staff.
OK, so besides Wednesday soccer, have you made a lot of friends since moving here? I hear you like to cut loose at Fat Moe’s.
Oh yeah. I have so many people coming in and out of the restaurant, I’ve made plenty of friends. There are plenty of people to go out with if I want to.
What about your love life?
I haven’t really had a love life since last summer. I dated a girl for two months. She was here studying nursing but then moved back to Orlando. We talk every now and then.
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| Travis Potts, Paul and Matt Duncan keep the bar and the restaurant running smoothly. |
I met her at Jeremiah’s. She was out one night and so was I.
Well?
What?
Wellllll?
Oh. Well, long-distance is…. I mean…. We still talk on the phone every two months or so.
Do you ever date customers?
That can be tricky – especially if you hook up with someone – you know, just kissing maybe – and then they come in with a friend, that can be awkward. But if I wasn’t open to dating patrons, I’d eliminate 95 percent of the people I come in contact with. So I’m open to it, but it can be tricky.
How about your staff? You’ve got some total hottie totties up ’round here!
No, no, I don’t date employees. They can all date each other – they can do whatever they want socially, of course – but I have a strict rule about my not dating staff members.
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| Emily Tinsley and Katie Arnzen tease Paul. |
Ambition. That’s it. Other than that…. I don’t have a particular…like dark hair, blue eyes – that doesn’t matter. I tend to like dark hair, but it doesn’t matter.
So ambition?
Yes m’am. I want someone who has the ambition to be successful. To do her own thing and be successful at it. Until I find that, I’ll just continue to do what I do. I’m only 26 years old, so I have plenty of time to find someone. Until then, I guess I’m married to the restaurant.
Yeah, but you can’t be lovin’ up on no restaurant!
That’s true.
OK, so I just have to ask. What’s up with the m’am thing? I’m only 43. I’m too young to be a m’am. Aren’t I?
I guess it’s just a Southern thing. Respect, maybe.
Well, shoot, at what age does that kick in?
I guess 40 something!
Ha! Paul Signa, you are just delish – the best thing on Doe’s menu, even though you insist on prematurely m’am’ing me. I think I can order for all the females in McCracken County: Serve us up a big ol’ hot dish of Paul Signa anytime! Sizzle on, Paul Signa!
