‘Who could have dreamed that?’ Meet owner of Plains restaurant that served the Carters often
If it was late afternoon on a Friday in Plains and Bonita’s Restaurant was open, then Bonita Hightower would be ready for a special phone call.
It would come from less than a mile away, 209 Woodland Drive, the home of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, where one of their family members or assistants would call Hightower to order a takeout catfish dinner for the former president and first lady.
Rosalynn liked her catfish sauteed or broiled, with plenty of fresh vegetables. Jimmy would go full country: fried catfish, two hush puppies, coleslaw and cheese grits.
Regardless of their order, the honor was the same for Hightower, knowing the Carters enjoyed her down-home cooking.
“Who could have ever dreamed that? I’m from upstate New York and land in Plains, home of the 39th and the longest-living president, and I’m cooking and they’re eating it,” Hightower told the Ledger-Enquirer as she took a break between serving breakfast and lunch Thursday, the final of the six days of events comprising Carter’s state funeral.
Hightower met her husband, Willie, while they served in the U.S. Army. He was a first sergeant. She was a staff sergeant. When he retired, they moved to his hometown of Preston, about 9 miles west of Plains.
In 2019, Hightower brought two plates of her home-cooked barbecue to Carter’s private secretary, who was so impressed with her food, she told Hightower that one of the two restaurants in Plains was for sale.
After serving her nation in the military, Hightower figured she could serve her neighbors and visitors with her cooking. Bonita’s Restaurant opened in February 2020.
Since then, Hightower has fed people from across the United States and from foreign countries as far away as China, all making a pilgrimage to Carter’s hometown.
And during the two weeks since Carter died Dec. 29, she has fed more of them, whether they are visitors paying tribute to the former president or reporters and photographers covering the scene.
“People come in here and say this to me, ‘Yeah, he was America’s president, but he was the world’s president,’” Hightower said. “So that, by itself, speaks volumes to my heart.”
Thursday, whether it was her breakfast sandwich — bacon or sausage with egg and cheese on Texas toast or her homemade scratch biscuit — or her lunch menu of baked or barbecue chicken with green beans, black-eyed peas, cabbage, rice, gravy and cornbread, Hightower was committed to welcoming her customers.
She prayed, “Let me be ready to do my thing and give them a quality food experience in southwest Georgia, where President Carter not only ate, but he left here and did great things, and then he came back home to rest.”
This story was originally published January 9, 2025 at 12:53 PM with the headline "‘Who could have dreamed that?’ Meet owner of Plains restaurant that served the Carters often."
