I love stories about women who turn setbacks into opportunities, making lemonade out of lemons, if you will. In Sally Stringfellow's case, she made a champagne crab bisque! A single mother with 2 young girls, she needed to figure out a way to make ends meet. 

“I had $99 in my checking account, so I decided to make a huge pot of champagne crab bisque and my friends were thrilled to buy some, and I turned it into $300. After that, I made a weekly menu and texted it to all the nice people who supported me, and they would order, and I would deliver. I put thousands of miles on my car,” she said with a happy and proud laugh. 

This endeavor, Sweet Magnolia Private Chef Services, evolved into a steady workload. For seven years, she supported her family from her home kitchen while she looked for a permanent place to grow her business. 

Fast forward to 2023, when she found an historic cottage on Pine Street in Fairhope, and turned her dream into reality. Sallie,named after her grandmother, who taught her that good food starts with respect—for ingredients, for tradition, for the people you’re feeding, was opened as a venue.

“I didn't want to open a restaurant; I needed flexibility since I was raising children. It started out slowly, my clients kept me busy with personal chef gigs, and I would just make the meals in a bigger and better kitchen. Because Thursday was my cooking day, when I was preparing food at home, Thursday is the night we open for dinner service, and we usually have reservations for 45 to 60 people.” 

The rest of the week, she hosts private celebrations: rehearsal dinners, birthdays, anniversaries, baby showers, and more. In 2024, she got her liquor license, and her business is doing really well. She has 3 full-time employees and about 15 part time who she calls in as needed for events. I, personally, have been fortunate enough to enjoy Sallie's culinary expertise, having had her dishes at many catered events, private dinner parties, and luncheons. She describes her creations as seasonal southern cuisine, elevated through French technique, and I can attest to their deliciousness. 

A favorite aspect of Sallie for me is the intimacy and attention to detail at her table. The cottage feels as if you are dining in someone's home. She uses antique crystal, china, napkins, and flatware that she finds at estate sales. “I go to estate sales every weekend and bid a lot on eBay.. I'm on a mission to find sterling silver chargers, and I'm obsessed with Limoge china.”

These niceties elevate the dining experience and make a very memorable and sophisticated impression, something unique in the Fairhope culinary scene. Sally is working on expanding the space to extend her seating capacity and will soon have a very large art deco bar in the back of the cottage.

Sally grew up in Crossville, Alabama, on a dairy farm, and her childhood was spent feeding calves before and after school. She told me they milked 250 cows twice a day and grew the cows' food too, a real working Dairy farm. Her mother had some condos on Perdido Key, so she vacationed and was familiar with the area. She graduated from the culinary program at Faulkner State, now Coastal Alabama College, and got her first internship at a sushi bar in Orange Beach. From there, she worked at Mango’s fine dining until Hurricane Ivan blew it away. She was then hired as a sous chef at Jesse’s in Magnolia Springs and worked her way up to executive chef. In fact, the crab bisque that started her on this journey was something she created at Jesses. 

Sally is full of exuberance and energy, and she seems to do all she does with happy determination. She has created something entirely her own, shaped by courage, creativity, and resolve. To say I am proud of her is an understatement!