Charles Signa and Doe Signa, whose parents brought them up in the kitchen at Doe’s Eat Place, can cook more than just steak.
While there’s no denying their abilities at the broiler in the old restaurant’s kitchen, their new venture, Signa’s, is giving them a chance to stretch their culinary legs.
It’s also a different business model than the restaurant that’s been on Nelson Street for 90 years.
The menu, that a menu actually exists is a major point, is full of items Charles and Doe have cooked at home and for friends over the years.
It’s seafood and pasta heavy, along with duck and other items not found at many restaurants in the Delta.
And that’s the point, according to Charles.
“We wanted to make something you can’t get here,” Charles said. “We have a lot of good stuff we cook at home that we can’t cook at Doe’s.”
While many of the ideas for the restaurant are focused on the kitchen, the two men also have an eye for possible business opportunities.
According to Charles, the business model they are attempting to employ with Signa’s is one they hope could be easily replicated in other markets. Does’ has already been franchised through several locations in Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and Mississippi, but Signa’s pricing should make it more marketable. The average entrée price is a bit less than $30, with a variety of seafood, pasta, beef and pork options. Some of the offerings include broiled seabass, shrimp and grits, cheese-stuffed tortellini in a creole cream sauce, pan-seared scallops, rigatoni and meatballs with a house red sauce, porterhouse pork chop with garlic compound butter and grilled duck breast with a port wine glaze.
For dessert, patrons can try tiramisu, vanilla bean pan cotta with a fresh fruit compote or lemon Italian cream cake with a fresh fruit compote.
While the restaurant business is work, Doe also said he wants both the patrons and the employees to enjoy their time at Signa’s.
“We’re gonna have fun,” Doe said.
Though many restaurants have experienced difficulty in maintaining or even finding staff, Doe said they’ve been lucky so far and that’s owed to their parents.
While their parents are not directly involved in the restaurant, the precedent they set with staff at Doe’s made the pathway clearer for staffing at Signa’s.
While staffing and running the business will always be an issue, right now the most difficult problem for Charles and Doe is keeping a reign on their ideas.
Both said the plan at the outset was to have a more limited menu than what’s at the restaurant now, but they simply couldn’t keep some of the ideas off the paper.
Doe said they will eventually settle on a menu and then have a rotating cast of specialty items, “or we may just do something new all together in six months. We’re still figuring it out.”
While the menu doesn’t resemble anything served at Doe’s Eat Place, there is a steak on it, but it’s not a Doe’s steak. It doesn’t have the same seasoning and is cooked in a different manner.
For now, the restaurant, which is located at 1443 Trailwood Drive, is open from 5-9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. There are plans for a brunch opening in the near future.
