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Savannah, GA


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I'm sure it gets criticized alot, especially by locals, but my wife and I enjoyed the Sunday brunch at Paula Deen's two years ago. Not too expensive ($14.99), and the fried chicken was very good. The trick was to get there early to avoid the line. People (who are these "People"?) say her brother's place called Uncle Bubba's is also good. Haven't been though.

Ignacio

http://www.ladyandsons.com/

http://www.unclebubbasoysterhouse.com/

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I recommend Mrs. Wilkes' Dining Room, a humble, family-run restaurant that still serves its meals family-style in an old-fashioned dining room. It doesn't have all the hype of the Paula Deen places, but it is great. When I went, there was a line of people waiting to get in. You'll be seated at a table with other diners, then the waitstaff just starts bringing out huge bowls of Southern fare like fried chicken, greens, cornbread, biscuits, yams, etc. It's very communal and the food is plentiful. I recall that their sweet tea was good too.

http://www.mrswilkes.com/

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Help, y'all! I am going to Savannah this week and need some suggestions for fleshing out my eating itnerary. Can you believe I've not even researched the sites? Food is my mission, people! So far I've got the following under consideration:

Masada Cafe at the United House of Prayer for All People (lunch) I love a church basement cafeteria, don't you?

The Breakfast Club (Tybee Island)

Queeny’s To Go-Go (lunch)

I am short on dinner places and watering holes. I'm not planning to go to The Lady and Sons as I will be leaving my TOURIST shirt at home.

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Help, y'all! I am going to Savannah this week and need some suggestions for fleshing out my eating itnerary. Can you believe I've not even researched the sites? Food is my mission, people! So far I've got the following under consideration:

Masada Cafe at the United House of Prayer for All People (lunch) I love a church basement cafeteria, don't you?

The Breakfast Club (Tybee Island)

Queeny's To Go-Go (lunch)

I am short on dinner places and watering holes. I'm not planning to go to The Lady and Sons as I will be leaving my TOURIST shirt at home.

Clary's on Abercorn is one of my favorites. And for hipster doofus trivia, it was used in the movie 'Midnight in the Grden....' as a drugstore.

Thanks,

Kevin

Clary's

404 Abercorn Street

Savannah GA

(912) 233-0402

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I'm back, y'all! Our tour of Savannah was fun and delicious. Once we landed, we drove out to Tybee Island to check out a fort, lighthouse and breakfast. The Breakfast Club was wonderful. I had an omlette stuffed with house made sausage, cheese and the chef's "killer" tomatoes.

On Thursday, we were in Charleston where we brunched at Hominy Grill. Okra & Shrimp Beignets with Salsa & Cilantro-lime sour cream started the meal. The beignets were fluffy, but short on shrimp and the okra was rather bland. This idea is interesting to me, though, so I may do some home experements to come up with the taste I expected. The entree was a grilled pork chop with chow chow, collard greens and fried cheese grits. Chow chow is something I don't eat often anymore, but this spicy, sweet and crunchy relish firmed my resolve to incorporate it into my pantry. Fried grits always remind me of weekend breakfasts with my mother. I munched happily away, my head buzzing wth memories.

Friday found us back in Savannah, waiting in line at Mrs. Wilkes' Boarding House. An hour's wait on W. Jones was worth it when we sat down to the family style table laden with the foods of my grandmother's country Southern table. I had nearly forgotten how good hard boiled eggs chopped into dressing can be. This was not high brow cuisine, yet it was deeply satisfying. The fried chicken was perfectly seasoned and done to a turn; light and crispy. Black eyed peas, squash, collard greens, tomatoes and okra, macaroni and cheese, barbecue beef... The list goes on. This was my favorite meal of the trip. The total for two was $30. You really can't beat that.

One of the low points of the trip was our impromptu dinner at Moon River brew pub in Savannah. They make their own beers, and don't bottle or distribute them. Write them a note of thanks. The dark stout sampled was thin and burnt tasting the head disappeared almost immediately. The food was mediocre and overpriced for general pub fare.

The final meal of the trip was at Sweet Potatoes. I had the hand pulled roasted turkey sandwich with red seedless grapes and cranberries. This place is off the beaten path, a bit on the outskirts of town, and serves regional specialties at decent prices.

I would recommend all these places, save Moon River, and would not hestiate to visit them again should I be in Savannah again.

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My wife and I are traveling to Savannah next week with the kids for spring break. We will be able to dine out one night without the kids so we are loooking for a place to enjoy the best local cuisine in the area but also trying to avoid the tourist trap places. We were originally thinking Elizabeth's on 37th but were informed by a local that it is overrated. Someone else has mentioned Vic's on the River.

Any suggestions?

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My wife and I are traveling to Savannah next week with the kids for spring break. We will be able to dine out one night without the kids so we are loooking for a place to enjoy the best local cuisine in the area but also trying to avoid the tourist trap places. We were originally thinking Elizabeth's on 37th but were informed by a local that it is overrated. Someone else has mentioned Vic's on the River.

Any suggestions?

I knew the Gottlieb brothers in high school and practically grew up with baked goods from their grandfather's bakery which closed right after I went to college. Gottleib's has been critically raved in the past (if that matters at all to you)...one of the brothers was sous at Inn at Little Washington for a few years as well. Gottlieb's
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Paula and I just returned from a long weekend in Savannah. Some restaurant highlights included:

Mrs. Wilkes Boarding House - we went straight from the airport to this restaurant, which is only open Monday to Friday from 11am to 1pm. The one-hour wait was worth it and proved to be the culinary highlight of our trip. The fried chicken was crispy and juicy, yet night the slightest bit greasy. The BBQ pork and the grits were excellent as well.

Bistro Savannah - located near City Market. I had read and heard from several sources that this was the place to go for seafood. Clams in a white wine sauce were excellent, except for a couple of clams that were gritty from sand. Bacon and chive-coated scallops provided a nice smokiness yet the flavor of the scallops still came through. Service was extremely friendly and our waiter was helpful in providing personal recommendations.

Uncle Bubba's Oyster House - this is the restaurant owned by Paula Deen's brother located between Savannah and Tybee Island. Paula and I stopped in on our way back from Tybee Island and split a few appetizers including the Crab Bites and the Shrimp Quesadilla's, both of which were adequate at best. We also shared a dozen of the Chargrilled Oysters with garlic butter and parmesan cheese. The menu states that the oysters are “smothered with garlic butter and parmesan cheese”. Fortunately, they used a light hand with the garlic butter and parmesan so that the oysters remained the showpiece. These were excellent and worth seeking out if you are in the area. They have a lot of outdoor seating so this is a good place to chill over some oysters and beer.

Clary's Café - on Abercorn Street in the historic district. This place is probably best known as the "Diner" in the movie "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil". We had a very nice breakfast here that included very good grits, pancakes, pit ham, and biscuits. This place is your typical greasy-spoon diner, and definitely worth going to if you want a caloric bomb for breakfast.

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On our drive from Florida on Monday, we stopped at Lady and Sons in Savannah for lunch. Unfortunately, there was a long wait for lunch but fortunately, they do take out. So, we took our food to go and ate at a local park that was a couple of blocks from the restaurant.

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Since it's not too far away and does share the airport with Savannah, I thought I'd throw this Hilton Head recommendation on this thread. Check out the Sea Shack (low-tech website, but it will give you an idea of the menu). It lives up to the "Shack" in the name, but is a good bargain for fresh seafood and home cookin'. There is a long (and changing) list of different fish available and we were told what was caught locally when we asked. You have your choice of preparations and everything comes with hush puppies and two sides of your choice. Greens and sweet potato cornbread were both very good, as was the grilled grouper and grouper sandwich. The chef is a descendant of the island's Gullah people and that influence along with the low country can be seen in the sides.

Expect to wait in line - possibly for quite a while, before you make it inside to order at the counter (the place across the parking lot will pour your beer in a go cup ;) ). There was a short wait for a table after we placed our order, so we were asked to step back outside as the place really doesn't have any space to spare. Three of us ate quite nicely for ~$35. There's no alcohol, but you do have a choice of sweet or unsweetened tea :lol: Apparently Rachael Ray's been there, but don't let that deter you. Just go for some good, honest cooking and don't expect too much in the way of ambiance or haute cuisine.

I also was surprised to see a Burmese restaurant (Shwe Myanmar) in Hilton Head, but didn't get a chance to try it.

In Savannah, Kevin Barry's Irish Pub on the river street is worth a stop when Harry O'Donoghue's performing (and probably even when he isn't).

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Quick take on our couple-day trip to Savannah:

Garibaldi's--very disappointing. Maybe it was b/c it was Monday night, but the menu was boring and so was the cooking. My wife got the "signature" apricot flounder preparation. It tasted exactly like fish with a non-spicy General Tso's sauce slathered all over it. Not terrible, but not good. I got the red snapper special that was topped with a half of a small lobster tale. Snapper was fine but the lobster was easily the worst lobster meat we've ever had, tasting as though it had not been frozen, thawed, and frozen again at least 7 times.

Olde Pink House--Amazingly owned by the same people as Garibaldi's but probably my most satisfying meal in our Savannah/Charleston adventure. My wife was most allured by the appetizers, so she chose three, all of which she loved and none of which she finished b/c it was too much food. I had a Great shrimp and grits appetizer and a fantastic fried pork chop with the best collard greens we had the whole trip (better than both Hominy Grill and Mrs. Wilke's). Excellent southern dishes minus the overcooking. Proof that simple cooking done well can be the most satisfying.

Mrs. Wilke's--Neat experience. Not the best food we had but easily the MOST food we've ever seen for $16 a person and the best atmosphere of the trip. The communal table that matched us with a Savannah family and a Philadelphia family (including three kids enrolled at my Penn State). was the highlight. The mother of the Savannah family said that once when she asked the at-the-time still-living Mrs. Wilke's about her fried chicken, the boarding house chef replied, "Darling, if Colonel Sanders had my recipe, he'd be a General by now!" This place was worth the long wait for the experience alone. Don't eat breakfast though.

Pax,

Brian

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We had a terrific lunch at Vic's on the River, in a very classy renovated cotton warehouse space overlooking the Savannah harbor. Fabulous buttery biscuits with honey butter. Delicious shrimp and grits with soupy grits, andouille and tasso and perfectly cooked, intensely flavorful shrimp. Also the iceberg wedge salad with blue cheese dressing and applewood-smoked bacon was wonderful.

A late supper in the basement tavern of The Old Pink House was notable for the best crab cakes I've ever eaten.

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We had a terrific lunch at Vic's on the River, in a very classy renovated cotton warehouse space overlooking the Savannah harbor.
Last month in Savannah, we also had lunch at Vic's. Food was great, but the service was, well, not awful, but the guy was constantly forgetful. First he forgot our drink order (sweet tea), which didn't bode well for our entrees. He completely forgot what we ordered, and then didn't ask us, and served us something completely wrong. He did apologize, and gave us free salad, but lunch was significantly longer than what we wanted, and definitely altered our perception of the restaurant.
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We were in Savannah for Halloween last week-even "participated" in a wedding at the cemetary where the bride and groom left in a hearse/limo.

I could not be more critical of Paula Deen's. I've never seen more Rubenesque tourists in my life scarfing down mediocre mounds of food. I'm surprised more of it wasn't fried-it would have been appropriate. Sorry, Zora, but while we loved the ambience of Vic's we thought the food was good but no better. Still, a memorable experience because of the setting and a window table adjacent to the bar overlooking the river. Having said this the Sapphire Grill (which Zagat just gave a 29 for food) was/is one of the best restaurants in the southeastern United States. An outstanding experience. (Fried calamari-interestingly-is the best version of this I have ever had.)

Even better is Sobe's in Greenville, two hundred miles away and well off of the beaten track for anyone from Atlanta, Charlotte or D. C. A shame because this place is absolutely outstanding and well "worth the journey." The food is superb; they have a cookbook which has recipes as "refined" as the French Laundry! I would suggest this place is easily the equal of Atlanta's Bacchanalia. A helluva statement but after three dinners I am convinced.

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Back from Savannah. Here's the lowdown.

Local Eleven 10 - Had an awesome 6 course meal here for New Years. The wine pairings were spot on as well. Go to this restaurant! - http://www.local11ten.com/

Vic's on the River - Good seafood. The price point keeps some of the tourist riff-raff out. Nice interior. - http://vicsontheriver.com/

B & D Burger - Good Place for a good burger. About 30 or so choices. - http://bdburgers.net/

Broughton and Bull - WIne Bar with Southern Flair. Good place for a nice dinner. - http://www.broughtonandbull.com/

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Reporting back. We ended up going to Noble Fare and Local 11Ten, and Mrs. Wilkes' the next day for lunch.

Local11Ten is definitely our favorite of the three, tasty and innovative cooking, lots of interesting looking choices, beautiful space and location. It's also a really good value even though the prices are average for DC (so probably high for Savannah) because the portions here are huge. The $8 soup of the day was entree size and it was a really interesting and tasty take on beef chili. In retrospect, I really wish I had skipped our (quite excellent) first dinner at Noble Fare to try more of the menu here.

I almost feel guilty for relative downgrade of Noble Fare, since I should have had a closer look at the menu and realized that it's not a good fit for grazers such as +1 and myself. The cooking is quite good and I have absolutely no complaints about the salmon tartare, duck, and scallops that we got. It is a small menu and a relatively formal restaurant, and felt like steakhouse, is not my cup of tea. The decor (boudoir? upscale whorehouse?) and the funny waiter outfits were not our thing either. It's a distinctive style and I imagine lots of people would love this this place and may even prefer it to Local 11Ten.

I was quite disappointed by Mrs. Wilkes. Given its reputation, I expected very good fried chicken. But the several pieces of chicken that I tried were quite dry and bland, as though they did not brine or marinate the chicken at all. The crust on the chicken was okay, but not noticeably tasty. The sides were decent to good, and very generously portioned. It was a fun experience and we only waited about 25 minutes in good weather to get in, but I would be rather annoyed if I had waited 1+ hour in sweltering heat for the food here.

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Papillote is a short walk from the City Market area and was the perfect spot for a late lunch/afternoon snack. The menu includes a nice selection of salads, sandwiches, and other savories, along with daily specials, most of which were sold out when we arrived. We shared the Bouchée a la Reine from the regular menu and the duck fat fries off the specials board. The bouchée was filled with a generous portion of chicken, mushrooms, and other goodies and paired with a small, fresh salad. The presentation of the duck fat fries was quite impressive, despite it being on a paper plate. Four massive "Lincoln Logs", were arranged in a square, drizzled with truffle oil and topped with a flurry of Parmesan. Based on appearances, I'd have been equally happy with Le Parisien sandwich, or the Goat Cheese, Spinach, Roasted Tomato Pie. The baked goods were tempting, especially the almond tea cake, but we were saving room for our dinner at...

Local 11 Ten. We arrived a bit early in order to enjoy a drink upstairs. The rooftop lounge at Perch is furnished with low, comfortable couches, and features an interesting cocktail menu. Service was little spotty, but friendly and helpful when they did stop by. Dinner downstairs was very good, with more hits than misses, though everything got an A for effort. We started with the cornbread stuffed quail and a special baby octopus terrine. I preferred the quail, mainly because the terrine was more aspic than anything else. Perfectly cooked scallops, with spring peas and lots of other fresh flavors, edged out the bison hanger steak, which was probably predictably tough. The accompanying polenta and roasted cauliflower were excellent. A shared German chocolate cake for dessert made me happy (my favorite cake) and wasn't overly sweet. A fun setting with a variety of ages, dress, etc. in a converted bank space, complete with an alcove room in front of the vault door.

We were lucky to arrive for brunch at Firefly Cafe just between rushes. The food was decent, not great, but the setting - outdoors on a corner across from Troup Square - more than made up for it. If you're looking for a Bloody Mary on Sunday in Savannah, you may as well sleep in - no booze until 12:30 pm. We made due with coffee. The quiche du jour sounded good, if a bit busy - prosciutto, mozzarella, grilled pears, and asparagus. The unfortunate (and unmentioned) inclusion capers pushed it into salty unpleasantness, though the custard was quite light. A different combination of ingredients would have made for a very enjoyable quiche. The banana nut bread French toast sounded interesting, but will have to wait for another visit.

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From my weekend in Savannah:

Saturday Afternoon Snacks & Drinks Along the River

Rocks on the Roof at the Bohemian Hotel

Cocktails and small plates. I had a Moscow Mule and shared the Chicken and Waffles. It had a Boursin and strawberry garnish, which I didn't think I would like, but it worked.

Dub's

Towards the far western end of River Street. Wandered in randomly. Had a chorizo taco, which at $4 could have had a little more chorizo, but I liked the two white corn soft tortilla shell and fresh toppings. Also tried the Angel Wings. I thought the meat from the wings themselves was really good and the honey sriracha sauce was nice. Not too spicy. The outside of the wings wasn't very crispy, so with the sauce, they got a little slippery and hard to hold on to when eating. Decent draft beer selection; I had some sort of Hendricks, lime, basil cocktail served in a Mason jar. Sports on the many TVs, ping pong and pool.

Saturday Night Dinner

Cha Bella

On the eastern edge of the Historic District. Nice outdoor space. Not sure if they do it all the time, but they were showing Italian movies (no sound) on the wall of the building in the outdoor seating area. Had the Fried Green Tomato Salad and Scallops on Fettuccini. Salad was excellent, entree not so much. I suppose it was the "sage infused citrus cream," but I thought it was way too acidic. It was not even a week ago, and the BF's salad and entree were not interesting enough for me to remember. Based on my entree, I wouldn't recommend going out of your way for Cha Bella, but if you're in the area, the cocktails, salads and service were very good.

Sunday Brunch

Wish I'd read goldenticket's post a little more carefully. No Bloody Mary at brunch? How can you even call yourself brunch without a Bloody Mary?

The Public

Saw this place near the hotel, then saw that it had been voted Best New Restaurant by Savannah Magazine (conveniently placed in our hotel room.)

No Bloodies, so just coffee. (I loved that they let us take our second cup to go!) The BF had Shrimp and Grits, which despite having a hint of curry(?) flavor, were very good. I had the Eggs Benedict with Crab, which was good. It didn't have a typical Hollandaise sauce, but the sauce was really good. I might have tasted sun dried tomato in it. Compared to most brunch-sized servings, portions could be considered small (neither dish came with a side), but definitely enough food.

Afternoon "Snack"

Vinnie Van Go Go's Pizza

At the western end of City Market (approach from that side if you don't want to walk through City Market.) Smelled so good when we had walked by the previous day, so we decided to stop in for a slice. There can be really long waits for a table, but you can always order slices or whole pies to go and grab a seat in the City Market or Franklin Square. It was an off time, so we got a table outside. I'm not a pizza expert, and in fact, rarely eat it, but this really hit the spot. The thin crust still held up to the toppings (sausage, onion and tomato.)

Sunday Night Dinner

The Crab Shack (watch out for video on the homepage)

This place is about halfway to (or from, I suppose) Tybee Island. It is exactly what you want it to be. Outside, rolls of paper towels on the tables and tables with a hole cut out in the middle for a trash can. The walk on the beach at Tybee and the smell of the sea air had me craving a stuffed Quahog, but knowing I wouldn't find that, I had a Deviled Crab to start, then the Half & Half, which is a 1/2 pound each of snow crab legs and shrimp. It also came with half an ear of corn (which was not very good.) The BF had been talking about the Low Country Boil, but ended up with the Capt'n Crab's Sampler, which was shrimp, snow crab, Jonah crab, some shellfish (mussels?), corn, potatoes and sausage. So pretty much the the Low Country Boil, with twice as much food... The food tasted good, but I think what makes this place is the setting. Watch out for the cats that roam the place. Several placed themselves at the BF's feet, having correctly identified him as someone who might drop food. :)

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We flew into Savannah two Fridays ago and it was a fairly slow day in Savannah.  We visited the SCAD museum, railroad museum (cooler than I thought it would be), Fort Jackson (not nearly as cool as Fort McHenry or Pulaski, but hey).  We also ate lunch at the diner in The Grey.  I love the inside of this place, it is just perfect like someone shut the doors of an amazing restaurant in the 60s and then opened it back up.  The food was excellent.  We had a blue plate special of fried chicken, quick pickles of cucumber and carrot and then a field greens (real field greens not what you buy at the store) salad with green goddess dressing, we also got cornbread and then the cuban sandwich.  The cuban sandwich was stellar, I believe instead of ham they used prosciutto.  Their pickles are some of the best pickles I have ever had.  I don't love regular pickles, but the quick pickles and the pickles that came with the cuban were so well balanced and still resembled the taste of the actual vegetable they came from.  The fried chicken was very good, as were the accompaniments.  They served the cuban sandwich with a yellow mustard that was really spicy and gave your nasal passage that feeling when you eat a lot of wasabi.  I wish I knew if this was made in house or bought, as it was really good, again I don't love regular yellow mustard, but this was addictively spicy.  It is a very small section of the restaurant, mostly bar seating, a few booths, I imagine during higher season or on a weekend that it is packed, but we had no problem getting seats.  Matt and I would love to go back for dinner based on lunch, as there was just a lot of care put into each ingredient on the plate.

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We are doing a family trip to Savannah to celebrate my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. 

I'm looking for a nice restaurant that is anniversary worthy. 

The catch is the militant vegan sister-in-law who expects restaurants to cater to vegans.  A plate of steam vegetables won't cut it.

Any suggestons?

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6 hours ago, Tweaked said:

We are doing a family trip to Savannah to celebrate my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. 

I'm looking for a nice restaurant that is anniversary worthy. 

The catch is the militant vegan sister-in-law who expects restaurants to cater to vegans.  A plate of steam vegetables won't cut it.

Any suggestons?

Vegan will be your problem here. I would get on the phone, and talk with the managers at (in no particular order), Cotton & Rye (912) 777-6286, Mrs. Wilkes' Dining Room (912) 232-5997, Circa 1875 (912) 443-1875, Elizabeth on Thirty-Seventh (912) 236-5547, and The Olde Pink House (912) 232-4286. Ask if they could arrange a single vegan meal in a large group, and if they can't, ask whom they'e each recommend. This will give you a pretty good start.

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I just returned from a brief trip to Savannah, and while it's certainly something I tried to avoid, I enjoyed an excellent dinner at 22 Square Restaurant in the Andaz. I was waiting for my daughter, and a guy who works at another place enthusiastically recommended the restaurant, and mentioned the chef was from New York. (Not sure if that's true).

My daughter has been sticking to a vegetarian diet, and there were a number of options on the menu, including a "BLT" that featured burrata, arugula, and fried green tomatoes. She also had a peach "gazpacho" that was delicious, but was more akin to a chunky fruit salsa. We also shared a cheese plate featuring locally/regionally made cheeses, but I don't recall the name.

There are plenty of choices for omnivores as well. I settled on a massive (16oz) pork porterhouse, which was cooked perfectly and served with purple mashed potatoes.

Service was fine, but I must caution you this is not the place for a quiet dinner, as the acoustics make for a loud room. 

During a previous trip, we had a vegan in our group, and she was also able to eat very well. 

Savannah has a ton of casual places suitable for vegetarians and vegans, but I doubt any are suitable for an anniversary dinner. 

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Savannah

So Savannah was mostly underwhelming.  To be fair the public squares are lovely and dripping in history and Spanish moss.  But the rest of the city (we walked around the downtown area and river front) was, frankly, quite unattractive.  The river front area was lined with tacky tourist trap type restaurants and stores.  Much of the rest of downtown was kinda bland and boring.  The tourist trade seemed to be a bunch of people being lugged around by tour trams...look it's Paula Deen's restaurant!  I don't know, maybe we missed the good sections.  I can cross Savannah off the list.

Given the vegan requirements, we ended up at the Green Truck Pub, which is way off the tourist track but very busy on a Saturday afternoon.  The vibe is college town pub making everything from scratch, with sandwiches and burgers and a long list of "Best of" awards from the local newspapers.  I enjoyed the veggie patty reuben and a couple pints of the Elysian Space Dust IPA.

Hilton Head

We stayed at the Omni Hilton Head, which was perfectly fine.  The restaurants served up solid but mostly unremarkable food.  Poolside gin and tonics went down easy before moving onto the Whiskey Smashes around cocktail hour.  That section of Hilton Head has a nice beach, especially at low tide - very wide and flat with lots of people enjoying walks and bike rides.  The ocean temperature was a blissful 80 degrees.

We visited Harbour Town, which has a collection of tourist-oriented shops, a handful of restaurants, and of course the famous Harbour Town light house.  Sitting out on the back deck of the Quarterdeck was a very pleasant way to spend a late lunch. Today's Catch Fish Sandwich was very well put together, with a nice fillet of breaded and fried flounder.  They obeyed the keep it simple rule of good sandwich making.  The vegan black bean burger was served on a brioche bun (hello eggs and butter), so the vegan SIL settled for a veggie pizza minus the cheese and pesto.  The lowcountry pizza with shrimp, adouille, bacon, and roasted corn was a salt bomb, but hit the spot cold the next morning (see whiskey smash comments above).

For dinner we went to The Studio, a restaurant/art gallery.  The owners are both vegan, so "they got it" and the vegan SIL was happy.  We had perhaps the star dish of the weekend: buffalo cauliflower.  Now I hate cauliflower, but this dish provided that if you fry something and douse it in Buffalo wing sauce it will taste good.  But seriously, this was a very well executed dish.  The cauliflower was perfectly fried, a little charred but still crispy.  It seemed to be coated with a light corn starch batter for crunch and they nailed the buffalo sauce.  We gobbled up two orders.  The seared ahi tuna wasn't breaking any new ground, but the tuna was nicely cooked. The local grouper with blue crab and beurre blanc was also very good with perfectly cooked grouper.  The rest was a bit of a mixed bag:  the plantain gnocchi with a Carribean jerk coconut sauce was, you guessed it, a bit gloppy.  The eggplant jambalaya with vegan sausage and risotto was one of those attempts to vegan-ify a dish that didn't quite work.  The exotic mushroom crepes and vegan pad thai were just hot messes.  The vegan chocolate torte was very well done and to top things off we went with dessert martinis.  Sometimes you just need a dessert martini.

If anyone cares for golf, the Robert Trent Jones Course at Palmetto Dunes is a very nice course with generous fairways and plenty of wetlands and wildlife.  I rented golf clubs and they set me up with an almost brand new set of Taylor Made M2 clubs.              

     

 

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I few into Savannah and out of Charleston for a break around New Years.  To get from Savannah to Charleston, I rented a car and that saved me from getting stuck in Charleston.  The day I was to fly out of Charleston was the day of a snow storm.  My flight was canceled, and the airport ultimately ended up being closed for 3 or 4 days.  Luckily I was able to drive home and never saw any snow.

As for Savannah, I ate at Alligator Soul, Vic's on the River, and Prohibition.  The restaurant with the best view also served the worst food - that would be Vic's.  I enjoyed their fried oyster but the fried chicken was pretty dry.  Alligator Soul and Prohibition were both decent.  I stayed at the Andaz, which is a nice place, conveniently located.   I asked for a quiet room and was not disturbed.

For fun, I visited the Wormsloe plantation and took their tour.  I found the tour informative and the plantation pretty - long oak covered drive.  Another fun thing is to see all the squares in Savannah.  I followed this guide, which also provides some background info and links to other sites.  I had a bicycle so it didn't take me all day.  I brought my own bike but I believe the have bike shares in Savannah.  I found myself on River Street a few times but it's all crap.  Same with City Market, more crap.

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After 3 nights in Orlando, we drove to Savannah.  On the way, we hit Timwah for dim sum in Jacksonville.  The dim sum was decent and thankfully not really out of the way.

In Savannah, we checked out the JW Marriott Plant Riverside, a new swanky hotel with a museum of natural history-like lobby.  We stayed at the Embassy Suite and ate at Husk.  The peel and eat shrimps were served deveined, but not shelled and served on ice.  The white BBQ sauce and old bay seasoning were served on the side just in case the kids couldn't handle the spiciness (probably not necessary).  The kids loved them and the chicken liver pate.  I tried the kohlrabi caesar and decided that it's just okay.  A balanced diet may be over-rated.  For entrees, we had some seared scallops with Carolina gold rice and NY strip steak with chimichurri.  Every dish is well executed.  I just wish they have a more interesting menu.

 

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