When the Coltharp family — Steve and Angie, who made Jesse’s Restaurant in Magnolia Springs one of the Gulf Coast’s most talked-about steakhouses — opened a second location out Fort Morgan Road, they understood the assignment: build the room around the view. Jesse’s on the Bay, past the Peninsula Golf Club on Fort Morgan Road, is oriented so that nearly every table in the upstairs dining room faces Mobile Bay, with an upstairs elegance its downstairs sibling supplies the counterweight to.
That downstairs is The Cold Hole, the casual eatery and bar beneath the main dining room, and together the two spaces cover just about every evening mood the Fort Morgan peninsula produces.
The Cold Hole, Downstairs
The name is a playful theft from Magnolia Springs, where boaters have idled into the deep, cold cove on the Magnolia River for generations. At Fort Morgan, the Cold Hole is a gathering place rather than a swimming hole: casual food, drink and music, a new pier with boat slips for docking, and a bar and lawn that fill on summer afternoons. It is the kind of place where a day on the water ends without anyone changing out of boat shoes.
Upstairs, the Occasion
Jesse’s on the Bay opens at 5 p.m., and the dinner that follows is built for celebration. The kitchen’s reputation rests on beef and lamb — a prime dry-aged beef tartare, a weekly chef’s grill that might pair lamb over greens — but the day-boat fish program is what regulars cite first: only freshly day-boat-caught fish is served, which is why the daily special matters. On one recent evening, that meant a whole pompano over roasted vegetables and potato puree, served on a wooden platter for the table.
The Creole side of the kitchen shows in the pan-seared redfish over dirty Mimosa rice with tasso ham, peppers and onions in a horseradish-chive butter sauce, and a crispy iceberg wedge salad that has drawn superlatives from diners who thought they’d sworn off ordering wedge salads. The wine list is deliberately manageable — a short, well-chosen set that pairs cleanly with the fish program rather than overwhelming it.
Dessert runs family-style: the chocolate brownie arrives with four spoons, which tells you everything about who it’s for.
Why the Second Location Works
Magnolia Springs’ Jesse’s built its following on dry- and wet-aged steaks, bone-in cuts and fresh fish in a converted 1920s general store — a room with 75 years of history in the walls. Fort Morgan had the water but lacked an equivalent destination dining room, and the Coltharps’ expansion answered that without diluting the brand: same steakhouse instincts, different setting, boat access included.
For peninsula locals and Gulf Shores visitors alike, the practical math is simple. Reservations are advised — the room fills for sunset, and the deck and pier draw their own crowd at the Cold Hole below. Whether you arrive by car or by boat, the formula is the same: a spectacular view of Mobile Bay, a menu that treats the day’s catch and the age of the beef as matters of principle, and a staff that treats a Tuesday like an anniversary.
Jesse’s on the Bay and the Cold Hole Bar & Grill sit on Fort Morgan Road just past the Peninsula Golf Club, with information and menus at jessesrestaurant.com. Call ahead for the dining room; the Cold Hole takes walk-ins — and your wake.