AUTHOR: ARTSY CHOW ROAMER

Dining Out

EXPLORING THE FOOD SCENE IN SAVANNAH, GA-Part 2

As promised in my last post we continue to explore the fabulous food choices available in the beautiful city of Savannah, Georgia. While there will always be Southern classics available in their earliest forms most every Chef is preparing their own riffs and thinking outside the box when it comes to contemporary preparation and use of traditional ingredients.

In this listicle post we are going to concentrate on a few newer restaurants to open in this famous city along with some classics that remain crowded and difficult to get a reservation for to this day. There are so many choices you could stay in the city for weeks and never hit the same place twice. Are you ready to eat with your eyes?

• HUSK

Located on West Oglethorpe, Chef Chris Hathcock is “transforming the essence of Southern food” at Husk. It’s a big place with lots of options on where to enjoy your meal. You can dine on the open porch, the dark Southern dining room with fireplace or the whimsical fun contemporary bar upstairs.

I usually go for the upstairs and sit at the bar so I can watch them make the cocktails because we normally drop in for drinks and a couple of starter plates for apps before we move on to dinner somewhere else. Dinner is very good here as well we have just developed habits. 🤣

So we grabbed a couple of ice cold perfect martinis and studied the menus. If you want to try a couple of great signature cocktails I would go for the Pear Teani with vodka or the Greenball with gin. They also have some super craft beer options if you only do beer.

The happy hour menu that evening featured six different plates ranging in price from $6 to $13-very reasonable for the city. We opted for the Pimento Cheese with cracker and pickle and the Thai Beef Jerky mainly because my husband was curious about the heat factor.

The cracker was an unusual but very good choice-a more crunchy bread type taste. The pickles were also unusual being made in-house but went perfectly as a texture and contrast to the creaminess of the pimento cheese. I sensed a different flavor from the sharp cheddar normally used for this classic which was very welcome.

The jerky was a hit with my husband who isn’t even normally a beef eater. He liked the texture and the low heat incorporated which made it a perfect choice as a cocktail pleaser-just like potato chips. About the only criticism I could offer would be plate styling. There really was none and maybe that is a specific choice by the chef.

The wine list featured a French Malbec which we tried for finishing up the jerky which was lovely for $8 a glass. If you wanted to stay for dinner you would have a choice between eight different first course starters ranging in price from $12-18 and five different supper plates at $34-38 featuring two fish, one chicken, pork and beef dishes.

• THE GREY & GREY MARKET

The Grey is located on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in a 1938 Art Deco bus terminal where James Beard award winner Mashama Bailey rules the kitchen. Mentored by Gabrielle Hamilton and Edna Lewis, Chef Bailey is putting her personal spin on port city food.

Offering comfort that is familiar but elevated, The Grey has managed to stay in service during a very trying pandemic and successfully so to the degree that a sort of baby Grey has been born in the form of The Grey Market located on Jefferson Street offering take out, coffee, grocery items, a lunch counter and sundries. Grab some joe, have a cheeseburger and take fresh bread to go! What’s not to like?

Let me just say it is not all that easy to get reservations so make your plans as early as the darn website will let you and try not to make changes to your times. They are popular enough that they don’t have to be as accommodating as other restaurants or at least that is the impression I got when trying to get in or maybe it was just me. 😆

You can dine early a la carte at the diner bar or later in a couple of different areas prix fixe. You can pick whether you want the four course meal for $65 per person or the six course for $85. The menus change depending on the availability of ingredients and the season.

I arrived late for my reservation having smartly dropped off my husband to get seated as I circled around and around looking for a parking spot. I felt hassled arriving nearly 20 minutes later. I suggest Uber, taxi or trolley! Cocktails were in order for sure while we looked over the choices for the evening along with a nice wine and drinks menu line up.

We went with the four course meal, ordered a glass of wine and sat back to people watch as the place started filling up. First up: Crab and Coconut with peanut, lime and serrano chilies drizzled with oil. This dish was one of the best of the evening. Simply beautiful and absolutely delicious. The balance between textures, the heat of the chilies, the crunch of the peanuts and the tartness of the lime-sublime!

Second course was Shrimp Middlins with tarragon, ruby red shrimp and carolina gold rice. While my husband enjoyed it something was off for me. I am not a fan of tarragon for one thing and I didn’t love the flavor of the shrimp-since it was in a red sauce I am unclear what ingredients were used to produce it as a support to the rice and shrimp.

The third course was billed simply as Chicken with braised greens, summer squash and green garlic. While tasty I thought the dish was too simple in conception but probably would have pleased Edna Lewis to no end. Ms. Lewis never liked for people to mess with simple, good ingredients. Chef Bailey also sent out the Wreckfish course that was offered on the other menu for us to try and it was delightful. Moist, tender, tasty and pretty on the plate.

The final course was a lovely Brown Sugar Tart with chantilly, candied pecans and bourbon milk. A super success just as the first course for being so perfect at contrasting textures and flavors beautifully for the eye and in the mouth. Chef Bailey uses lovely white plates; perfect on presentation that let her food shine without any color distraction.

• THE PUBLIC KITCHEN & BAR

The Public Kitchen & Bar sports a hipster mid-century design while hammering down on their farm to table locally sourced fresh ingredients. The managing partner’s family farm provides the free range, grass-fed, all natural beef for one sweet juicy burger.

Daniel Reed Hospitality has created an elevated casual dining experience with a well rounded menu beginning with signature cocktails like Lucy in the Sky with pear vodka, Harvest Moon with mezcal and Snowbirds Flying South with four roses bourbon. They don’t just taste delicious-they look it too.

All photos this section: Courtesy of Daniel Reed’s The Public Kitchen & Bar

You can move on to the five offerings on the starter side that range in price from $10-14 including hummus, oyster stew or grilled shrimp. You can also price up your own charcuterie & cheese board by choosing between six or seven different items.

Can we talk about those burgers mentioned above? They are a premium 8 ounce serving on a brioche bun (as they should be…just sayin’) in four different styles including a venison option. They cover the bases whether you like it just simple, Southern with bacon, mushroomed up with caramelized onions or barbequed.

I liked the range offered on the entrees as well. Classics such as Shrimp and Grits, Pork Belly and Roast Chicken with yams work well right along side some unexpected yummy stuff like Hunters Stew with venison, Coconut Red Curry and Sesame Crusted Tuna bringing creative variety to the table. All offered at a price range of $19-30. You’ll be impressed with this casual dining option with the fine dining feel in Savannah.

• COMMON THREAD RESTAURANT

If you desire that charming date night dinner in the big Southern mansion, I suggest a reservation at Common Thread on 37th Street. Born from the building of relationships between farmers, chefs, foodies and restauranteurs, Ryan & Joanne Williamson decided to step out of their farming life to open their own restaurant and they found a mentor in the very chef that had been buying their fresh local ingredients, Chef Brandon Carter.

First they needed the perfect spot: enter the Krouskoff House built by Soloman for his second wife Matilda for their wedding in 1897. Well to do, he built his large Southern mansion on what would become “millionaires row” where it would stay intact through the various years of owners and businesses who occupied it.

Extensive renovations began in 2018 and what would emerge was truly breathtaking. Bright open architecture that manages to blend classic coastal with Southern elegance. Traditional moldings, brick chimneys and columns on the exterior blend seamlessly with wide open coastal porches to catch the breezes, palm trees and a light refreshing color palette which must come in very handy in the summer.

All photos: Courtesy of Common Thread

Enter dining rooms with soft green sages, pale violets and floral wallcoverings and be seated in contemporary wood Windsor chairs. Just relax and order cocktails like a Starter Pistol with bourbon, a Gold Pocket Watch with Irish whiskey or a Puddle Jumper with dark rum while you decide what Chef might be up to that evening that sounds perfect for you.

Begin with Oysters one of two ways, Wahoo Ceviche or Flounder Crudo. Move on to very innovative salad and vegetable options that will change your concept of what that should be (read not lettuce, tomato and cucumber here). Think roasted carrot with tahini, shallots, raisins and hibachi dressing for instance-delicious. These run a range of prices from $3-15 ish.

Move into dinner entrees and find octopus, short rib with shrimp, pork collar and Chef Carters dry aged New York strip which is a specialty and one of their best dishes in his mind. All the offered plates use the freshest farm to table ingredients mixed with unusual things like tamarind, collard kimchi, candied kumquats and violet mustard (say what?). Prices range $19-37 with the beef the most expensive at $65.

Chef usually offers around six to eight exceptional vegetarian options for the non meat eaters in your party that include some pasta dishes. He also has a lovely dessert menu with three or four choices and some really nice selections of after dinner drinks to go with them. Put this place on your bucket list-don’t miss it.

• CONCLUSION

Savannah is one of the best cities to go exploring in. There is a mysteriousness to it at night. It is Southern Gothic at it’s best. The architecture is lovely and the old trees with Spanish Moss hanging on their wide limbs elicit fond memories from my childhood vacations.

Try out the restaurants here and eat some fabulous food. Don’t miss part 1 in this series that will give you some more choices from our days eating around this pretty city with a gourmet food scene. Enjoy the video below too to get you in that port city mood.

If you liked what you read, you might like other posts under Explore the World and Edible Fare. Hey, don’t be a stranger! Have you ever visited Savannah? Give me a holla and tell me where you love to eat. Until next time…

Cheers,

ArtsyChowRoamer

Follow me on You Tube, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram & Twitter