Greetings from Tybee Island, GA (Part 2)
After walking to two bookstores in the historic district from the visitors’
center parking lot, our very first meal in Savannah was at Clary’s, also featured
in the film, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. It was a glorious afternoon
and we ate at a sidewalk table with our dog, Dottie, soaking in that southern
hospitality in the form of conversation with SCAD (Savannah College of Art
and Design) students at the next table. Our sandwiches were served on croissants
and we capped the meal off with a slice of Hummingbird Cake, a recipe for which
is now on the website. It is a carrot cake of sorts, with the addition of some
banana, and topped with cream cheese frosting and garnished with dried banana
chips.
Another of Savannah’s famous eateries is Mrs. Wilkes Boarding House, on Jones Street in the historic district, where people have been lining up daily for the family-style seatings for generations. Mrs. Wilkes passed a couple of years ago and the remaining family members voted to continue with the lunches only. Tables groan with innumerable platters of fried chicken, greens, salads, beef stew, etc. and biscuits can be topped with molasses. It will be the best $13 you’ll spend on your trip.
The locals claim the best restaurant on the developed riverfront is Olympia Café at #5 East River Street. It has great Greek food including Skordalia as one of the appetizers. (Eric's recipe from Mystic Market is attached). Try the very cute neighborhood restaurant called the Firefly Café several steps below sidewalk level at 321 Habersham Street. It is just a couple blocks down from B. Matthews Bakery-Eatery on the corner of East Bay Street and Habersham. One of their signatures is the Black-eyed Pea Cake sandwich (like a crab cake, but made with mashed black eyed peas, onions, peppers, cilantro and cumin)—very different, healthy, and seared quickly in 500 degree vegetable oil, so it is not greasy at all. It is then topped with pepper jack cheese, purple onions, lettuce, and tomato and served on their homemade Wheatberry bread. Their sticky buns with apples in them are wonderful as well as the carrot cake, the kitchen sink cookies, etc…
Paula Deen is a national figure now due to her Food Network television show and her three cookbooks. We saw heavy traffic at her downtown establishment, Lady & Sons, and decided to try her new undertaking, Uncle Bubba’s, a seafood restaurant about halfway to Tybee Island on Route 80 East. What we ate was very good. The place had only been open three weeks, which might explain the long wait between courses and the inferior service. For example, we waited at least ten minutes for our check while we could see our waitress eating in a side room and chatting with her cohorts. When she finally came back with the bill, it was wrong and she forgot our doggie bag container.
A great find near the end of our trip was a place in southern Savannah near all the box stores and malls. Sweet Potatoes is the name and a sweet potato of the day is part of the game. Menu prices don’t change whether you eat at 11 a.m. or 8 p.m. You pick your entrée with biscuit and then two sides from a list of nine everyday sides and four or five daily specials for $6.50 to $9. Sides include Lemon Collard Greens, Corn Pudding, Sweet Potato Salad to name just a few. You could eat a little lighter with a sandwich (e.g. Catfish BLT) or a salad (e.g. Hand-pulled Roast Turkey with seedless grapes and pecans over lettuce). We absolutely had no room for their homemade desserts, but did buy a vegetable plate of four sides to go for our evening meal!