As I live and eat, no Hollywood producer is looking at Jennifer Lawrence thinking, “Yeah, she just needs to fix her chin.”

In the same vein, no modern musicologist is listening to the entirety of Purple Rain and noting the ‘flaws’ in each track, and no one who gazes upon Botticelli’s Venus would question the hues he used for the goddess’s hair.

Any dramaturg who dares alter one word in Act Five of Hamlet should be hoisted on his own petard.

We all know the maxims that begin “never mess with” and “if it ain’t broke,” but there is something to be said for and duly respected about a restaurant that refuses to rest on its well-earned laurels.

Though Bar Julian turned just three back in August, the Thompson Savannah’s food and beverage team took what was already an impeccably designed drink-and-dine destination and implemented an intentional refresh, a few thoughtful nips and tucks to the airy aerie’s layout, decor, and food offerings, all pointed in a decidedly more Mediterranean direction.

If you have not ridden the elevator to the top floor in a few months, head down to Eastern Wharf soon to see and to taste what is new because this raised bar has raised the bar yet again.

AN EVEN MORE MARVELOUS MENU

More than half of Bar Julian’s menu, already abundant with Mediterranean flavors, has remained, notably the fattoush salad, the mezze platter, and that indescribably delicious house bread and pepperoni butter.

Otherwise, the mussels and a couple small-plate shareables were 86ed, but in their stead are several dishes that are mainstays.

The Balkan burger and the chicken kebab were the “two biggest additions” this past spring, said Thompson Savannah executive chef Victoria Shore.

“With it being a bar, everyone kept asking for burgers,” Shore shared, “and the chicken kebab was to have more of a meat-focused entrée, something more substantial that was also gluten-free.”

Braised lamb also joined the carte, an add-on that the chef says works on “anything and everything.”

“When I put it on, the idea was that it would be really great with the potato wedges or the nachos,” said Shore. “You get that nice meaty richness with all the carbs, but I’ve had people put it on pizza and salads, and I get people who just order it on its own.”

“It’s really a nice addition,” she said of the lamb shoulder, salt-and-spice rubbed and slow-cooked overnight and then pulled. “It renders out a ton of that fat so that it is not super, super-fatty, but it’s nice and unctuous.”

The loaded potato wedges were given “a little bit of a refresh,” per Shore, with more toppings, a pan-Med medley of crumbled feta, tahini sauce, and za’atar seasoning.

“Honestly, if I remember correctly, that might have been something that I made myself for a snack from leftover banquet potatoes,” she recalled. “The feta hit the hot potatoes, and it was really toasty and delicious.”

Fettah ‘nachos’ made the menu at the same time with crispy bread chips filling in for tortillas, topped with chickpeas, citrus pickled onion, herb yogurt, and tahini.

The Goes With Everything salad was “switched up a little bit,” subbing in ricotta salata for Parmesan and a lettuce mix, instead of straight arugula, to make the bowlful a little less full-on Italian “to fit in with everything else on the menu.”

Each salad is now available in $5 and $10 sizes to meet demand.

The flatbread ranks were reinforced with a za’atar version and the Garden, both “kind of mutations of older dishes” Bar Julian used to serve, said Shore.

“I love putting salad on my pizzas, so I wanted to make pizzas with salads on them,” she continued. “The za’atar flatbread is a half-za’atar half-cheese pie that you can just fold up and you get all of those flavors together.”

“That one is my homage to a Lebanese bakery breakfast,” Shore said.

BAR MED

Though the web presence remains sleek in its fonts and rectangular design, the actual artwork and printed menu, which debuted back in March and April, respectively, now fully reflect Mediterranean countrysides.

“It’s all part of my 2024 rollout. We’re really proud of it,” said Brittany Hahn, Thompson’s director of restaurants, bars, and entertainment. “We’ve made a lot of changes in one year.”

Hahn herself took care of the design and layout of the new menus and credited “dear good friend” Nono Flores for executing all of the artwork.

Hahn said, “She does all of the murals inside Bar Julian, so she’s a very big part of it.”

Flores also did the artwork for Bar Julian’s Christmas Holiday Bar a year ago and will be onsite on December 7 sketching portraits for guests to use as holiday cards.

Even the restaurant’s interior changed a bit and for the better.

“We’re known for the sunsets, so we were going on a waitlist, especially in the fall, for brunch and for nighttime sunsets,” Hahn shared. “We needed to find a way to fit more people.”

She redesigned the seating layout in the anteroom to “allow for more people to come in” and also had the wallbreak taken down “to make it a more open area for more people to enjoy the view.”

That means no more long waits seagulling seats on the westside balcony.

Just last week, a new cocktail menu was launched, every drop freshly juiced and scratch-made by beverage manager Thomas Villani and his bar team.

“Everyone, including staff, thinks it’s the best we’ve had since opening,” said Hahn. “We’ve gotten a lot of compliments.”

In past years, the Holiday Bar was held in the hotel’s Sunroom, but this winter’s celebratory drinkery will be something special as Bar Julian becomes Frosty’s, a nostalgic Christmas-themed space serving the familiar fare as well as a seasonal slate of sips and bites.

“I had a vision for a snow globe on top of the city since we’re the tallest,” Hahn shared.

A snow-soft opening will begin the week of Thanksgiving and then Bar Julian will “go live, advertising as Frosty’s the night of the boat parade,” she added.

Wintertime “experiences” will include rentable igloos on the terrace and a hot chocolate bar.

“It’s going to be very cool,” Hahn promised.

Cool: pun definitely intended.

Bar Julian at Thompson Savannah (201 Port Street) is open Sunday through Thursday (7 a.m. to 11 p.m.) and Friday and Saturday (7 a.m. to midnight), offering breakfast, brunch, and dinner menus.

This article appears in Connect Savannah I July 2024.