BARRY BARBE describes his newest restaurant, Shirley’s Urban Eats, as “Unpretentious, casual and fun, with good food collected from a lifetime of memories. It’s what I like to eat.” Shirley was Barry’s mom, and this restaurant is a tribute to her memory and to Barry’s food memories of the Ohio town where he grew up and some from his later food adventures.
“I grew up with a big garden in a small town,” Barry says. “We had garden wars — who could grow the best tomatoes or biggest pumpkin. We canned, butchered chickens, collected eggs, dried corn, made ice cream, picked grapes, strawberries and blackberries. Most of our food came from the backyard garden. Summers I spent at Cape Hatteras, clamming, shrimping, crabbing and oystering. The macaroni salad is my grandmother’s recipe. The coleslaw is from the Fireman’s Festival in my home town. The Knights of Columbus put on a big fish fry with the best scalloped potatoes and yeast rolls. I grew up with food, and Shirley’s is a remembrance of that time and place.”
Barry didn’t plan on being a chef. In college he majored in music and business and wanted to own and run a restaurant. That interest drew him to culinary school, where he fell in love with sauces, spices and cooking. Since Barry came to Prescott 27 years ago he has opened eight restaurants and consulted on or designed several others. El Gato Azul, Tormé, and Shirley’s Urban Eats are his current line.
Shirley’s is fun, not fancy. Barry says that every menu item has a story.
Matzo Ball Soup started with catering a Passover dinner about ten years ago. The host provided recipes and everyone loved everything except the matzo ball soup. Barry made huge matzo balls, one for each bowl, that swelled hugely — to the size of softballs — as they sat in the broth. Instead of being light and fluffy, they were dense and hard in the middle. People said “You gotta work on the matzo balls.” Barry went back and perfected them. Now people come in just for the Roasted Chicken Broth and Vegetables with Homemade Matzo Balls, the most popular item on the menu.
Keilbasa and Kraut is an ode to Barry’s German family roots. They made big earthenware rocks of sauerkraut every fall, stashed them in the cellar to cure, and cooked the tangy kraut up with smoky Polish sausage for good luck at the new year. Barry still makes kraut in-house for good luck, and for the Kielbasa and Kraut menu item.
Barry tells me that lately he’s been on a fried-chicken mission, to find and duplicate the best crusty-crunchy exterior and tender interior. It’s on the menu as Buttermilk Battered and Deep Fried Chicken Basket with Red Bliss Potato Salad and Scallion Biscuits.
I’m ready to bite.
Other menu items include food memories from Barry’s travels around the country and around the world:
Pulled Pork and Biscuits: straight out of his Ohio childhood
Muffaletta Sandwich: an original from Central Grocery in New Orleans
Bahn Mi: the famous Vietnamese sandwich with French influence
Cubano: Cuban-style sandwich with roast pork, ham, mustard spread, Swiss cheese and house dill pickles
Commoner Cassoulet: a homey pot of beans plus whatever you have with rosemary and herbs and meats, cooked for a good long time.
Triple Threat Grilled Cheese Club: a menu favorite from Belvedere’s Bistro, Barry’s first restaurant
And many more: Mac o’ the Day, Chicken
Liver Paté, Fried Okra, Chocolate Cake and
Rhubarb Strawberry Pie
All the sauces, dressings, meats, pickles, desserts and breads are made from scratch every day.
Shirley’s brings us back to flavor, community and family connections. In a time of divisiveness, food brings us together. It is one thing we can share. Shirley’s is that kind of gathering place, with that kind of food.
Barry ended our conversation saying, “The creative process is the whole joy of it. That and seeing people happily enjoying what you created.”
Shirley’s Urban Eats is open Mon-Sat 11am–7pm, 623 Miller Valley Rd., Prescott.
More at shirleysprescott.com.
Chef Molly Beverly is Prescott's leading creative food activist and teacher. Photos by Gary Beverly.
