Road Tips

Elizabeth on 37th - Savannah, GA

We were in a quandary as to where to have our last meal in Savannah.  There were a couple three places that we wanted to try, but we were torn as to what we wanted.  We decided to go try a place called Vic's on the River along River Street in the Historic District of Savannah.  Vic's is a southern contemporary seafood restaurant, very elegant, very nice.  Given that it was a Saturday night and we had no reservations, we knew it could be quite the wait to get in.  We were right - it was a two hour wait when we got there about 7 p.m.

Cindy and I waited in the bar area, having a drink trying to figure out if we wanted to eat in the bar, or wait two hours for a table.  Cindy finally decided that she wasn't going to eat in the bar "at a nice place like this".  We decided to go somewhere else along River Street for dinner.  I went up to the bar to pay our tab and I reached into my back pocket and - no wallet.  Uh oh.  Panic began to take over.  Where the hell was my wallet?  Cindy had me mentally retrace my steps backwards as to where the wallet may be.  I concluded it had to be back in our hotel room, but I wasn't overly certain.  That sick, hollow feeling in my gut began to grow as I paid the bar tab with cash and headed out to go back to the hotel.

It was a 20 minute walk back to the hotel, so we just decided to head over to The Hyatt, just down from Vic's, to get a cab to take us back to the Hilton Desoto.  Within minutes, we were back in the room and laying on top of the nightstand was my wallet.  Relieved that the wallet was safe and sound and not in the clutches of some pickpocket, we decided to go to Plan B for dinner - Elizabeth on 37th.

I called the restaurant to see how long it would be to get us in and the young lady who answered the phone said, "Can you come right now?"  I said we could.  She said she had immediate seating for two.

Rather than a short walk from the hotel, this was a five minute car ride that took us into the fringes of a not-so-nice section of Savannah.  (see map)   As I pulled up to Elizabeth on 37th, I noticed a Savannah cop car sitting out in front of the place with a lone patrolman in the driver's seat.  Cindy thought there must be someone famous inside having dinner.  Just a quick look around the neighborhood as we were driving around trying to find a parking spot told me the cop was there to keep the customers at ease.

Elizabeth on 37th is housed in an early 20th century mansion in the heart of the Victorian District in Savannah.  The restaurant was founded in 1981 by Chef Elizabeth Terry and her husband, Michael.   Elizabeth on 37th specializes in contemporary American and Southern cuisines, offering eclectic dishes that are made with local ingredients.  They have won many awards over the years for their food and wine selection.

In 1996, Elizabeth Terry retired from the business and Kelly Yambor took over as the head chef.   Yambor continued Elizabeth Terry's tradition of providing the finest in locally grown produce, meats, and seafood, while using the restaurant's own herb garden for the freshest ingredients possible.

In 1998, two long-time waiters at Elizabeth on 37th - brothers Greg and Gary Butch - bought a portion of the restaurant.  They continue to be the owners-operators of the business.  In fact, Gary Butch was our waiter for the evening!  It's sort of interesting to be waited on in a fancy restaurant by one of the owners - something we had no idea of until after we ate at the place.

After parking the car across the street from Elizabeth on 37th, we walked in and were greeted by the young lady I talked to on the phone.  She showed us into a dining room off to the right of the reception area in the restaurant.  We sat at a small table for two against the wall.  We were slightly under-dressed for the restaurant as a number of men had jackets and ties on.  But there were others like me who were wearing shorts and polo shirts, and like Cindy in a pair of capri pants and a nice top.

Gary Butch, a very friendly and personable guy, came over to greet us.  He gave us our menus, as well as a wine list.  He asked if we wanted anything to drink and Cindy said she wanted to wait for some wine.  I asked if they had real lemonade and Bacardi Limon.  He said they did, so I ordered that.

In addition to a number of great items on the menu, Elizabeth on 37th also offers nightly specials that change every day given the availability of ingredients.  One of the big things the restaurant relies upon is fresh seafood.  Shrimp and scallops that are caught earlier in the day are on the plates of patrons that evening.  One of the specials that evening was a seafood and rice dish that consisted of grilled shrimp, grouper and scallops served on a bed of Savannah red rice.  Cindy was drooling over the description of that dish on the menu.

Before I could even begin to think about what to narrow my choices down to, Gary Butch brought out a small dish for us.  He said, "This is the chef's choice appetizer tonight that we're giving you free of charge."  It was steamed mussels in a spicy, smoked tomato sauce.  It was enough to whet the appetite, fully knowing that we were going to be in for a major taste treat that evening.

One thing that caught my eye on the menu was a peppered beef tenderloin served with a madeira cream sauce.  It had asparagus as a side, but I was also looking at the pork loin special they had that evening that featured au gratin potatoes.  Since I'd been trying to avoid asparagus after suffering from gout after my second hip replacement, I was going to see if I could get the au gratin potatoes instead.

Suddenly, a young waiter comes to the table carrying a dish consisting of the 9 oz. peppered beef tenderloin filet.  It looked good, but it wasn't mine, that's for sure.  I sort of looked at him funny and said, "How did you know that's what I was going to order for dinner?"  The young waiter was somewhat embarrassed, apologizing profusely as he picked up the plate.  I said, "Hey, if that's the worst mistake you make all night, you're doing OK.  Besides, you pretty much convinced me that's what I want."

Our waiter, Gary, made it back over to the table and I thought I'd have a little fun with him.  I said, "How did you guys know that I wanted the peppered tenderloin tonight?"

He said, "I'm sorry?"

I said, "Yeah, one of your colleagues brought one out to our table and tried to serve it to me.  I thought this must be some kind of a restaurant if they can read your mind as to what you want for dinner."

He apologized for the slip-up and I laughed and said, "Aw, like I told the other guy, it's no big deal.  But that's what I want for dinner."

Cindy ordered first and got the seafood and rice special.  Gary said, "That's an excellent choice.  We have it on the menu from time to time and we may put it back on because it has been very popular for our specials."

He turned to me and said, "And how would you like your steak cooked?"  I told him medium-rare, maybe a little more rare than medium.  I then asked him if I could get the au gratin potatoes and he didn't have any problem with the substitution.  He said, "They also come with cooked Vidalia onions and broccoli spears."  Sounded great to me.  We also got mixed green salads with a homemade sweet watermelon house dressing.

For wine, I ordered up a bottle of the Three Saints Cabernet.  I'd read about this wine in Wine Spectator and wanted to give it a try.  We weren't disappointed in the least. 

After our salads were brought out, it dawned on me that I never did get my Bacardi Limon and lemonade.  When Gary brought the bottle of wine out to the table, I said, "You know, you forgot my drink."

Once again, he fell over himself apologizing for the slight.  I said, "Hey, once again, that's OK." 

He said, "I'll open this bottle of wine and then get your drink at once."  I said I'd rather just have the wine now.  It really was no big deal. 

The decor in Elizabeth on 37th was definitely upscale with a hint of Southern antique to the place.  The dining room had big windows and a high ceiling.   The lighting was muted and it was very cozy, comfy and romantic in the room.  We were digging the whole experience. 

Our food came out not long after we finished our salads.  The young waiter who had tried to offer me the steak earlier brought it out to me again.  I said, "I hope this is mine this time." 

He said, "I'm sure it is, sir."

My steak was cooked exactly how I asked - medium-rare, but more rare than medium.  It was tender with a load of cracked peppercorns across the top, then topped with the madeira cream sauce.  It was absolutely wonderful.  Cindy also said her seafood and rice dish was "out of this world."  I was offered one of her grilled shrimp and it was very, very good. 

We enjoyed a leisurely dinner, savoring the tastes and the surroundings for our last meal in Savannah.  Half way through Cindy's meal, she leaned over and said, "Honey, I'm glad you forgot your wallet back in the hotel.  We wouldn't have come here if you hadn't forgotten it."  She's right.  Sometimes it's amazing how things work out. 

After dinner, we were offered a number of different types of desserts.  But we declined this time, going only for a cup of coffee for Cindy and an espresso for myself.  Rarely do I drink espresso  or cappuccino, but I wanted one after this great meal. 

With a nice tip for Gary Butch, our bill came to slightly over $160 dollars.  Not cheap, but the experience and the taste sensation was well worth it.  The service was a little choppy, but it wasn't anything that I couldn't overlook.  I could even overlook the cop sitting outside the restaurant all evening.  While Elizabeth on 37th rivaled The Olde Pink House for both food and ambiance, we were hard pressed to be able to pick which restaurant was better between the two.  I guess that's why both restaurants annually tie in the critics voting for the best restaurant in Savannah. 

The Olde Pink House - Savannah, GA

As I've said in many previous posts regarding our trip to Savannah and Hilton Head, we ate in a number of great places.  One place that kept coming up as a "must go" from people who gave us recommendations was The Olde Pink House located in the Savannah Historic District, about a 15 minute walk from our hotel (see map).  We made reservations and took a short walk over to the restaurant for dinner one evening. 

The Olde Pink House gets its name from the color of its white plaster walls that allows the original deep red brick color to bleed through.  Construction on the house began in 1771 by James Habersham, Jr. and was used as a pre-Revolutionary War meeting house for a group called the Sons of Liberty, also known as The Liberty Boys, young men who were in favor of a free colonial America away from British rule.  The house was occupied by British forces for a short time before Revolutionary troops forced the British out of Savannah.  The house was finally finished in 1789. Habersham's younger brother, Joseph, became the first Postmaster General of the United States. 

After Habersham moved out of the residence in the early 1800's, the building became the first registered bank in Georgia.  A north wing was added, as were two vaults and the one story Greek-style entrance.  During the War of 1812, the sons of James Habersham captured British gold and stored it in the vaults.

The Olde Pink House was also instrumental during the Civil War.  When Savannah was captured by Union troops, it was used as a headquarters for Brigadier General Lewis York who oversaw the troops who held the city for the North. 

The building was used for various businesses over the years, falling into a state of disrepair in the 60's.  The building was bought by Herschell McCallan and Jeff Keith in 1970 and was transformed into The Old Pink House restaurant.  They tried their best to restore the building to its original state including the plaster walls and hardwood floors.  One of the second story rooms is based on the original parlor where some of the Liberty Boy meetings were held. 

We had 8:30 p.m. reservations, but walked over to The Olde Pink House early.  We were told by a local Savannahan that we needed to have a drink in The Olde Pink House's bar in the basement - Planters Tavern.   I walked up to the hostess stand just inside the entry to The Olde Pink House and told the two ladies that we were actually there early, but we wanted to go have a drink downstairs.  One of the ladies said, "Oh, well, of course!  Everyone should go have a before dinner drink downstairs."  She said that our table would be ready at any time, so for us to just come back to the stand when we wanted dinner.

The low-ceiling bar is one of the locals favorite places to go, get a drink, and listen to Gail Thurmond, a local jazz pianist.  She plays every evening except for Monday nights.  Tourists love the place because of the supposed ghost sightings in the place.  I loved the place because of the coziness and old world style to the place.  There were huge fireplaces on each end of the room and heavy tables and chairs throughout.   But they didn't have lemonade in Planters Tavern.  So I ended up getting a Sweetwater 420 pale ale. 

We finished our drinks and went upstairs to get seated for dinner.  They took us up an enclosed spiral staircase and took us to a large room toward the front of the house.  We sat at a small table against the wall.  There were two larger tables in the room, both full of people.  The large table near us was celebrating a young lady's graduation the next day from the Savannah College of Art and Design. 

Our waiter greeted us and made sure we had our menus.  He gave us a couple of specials for the evening and asked if we wanted anything to drink.  I said we wanted to look through the wine list for the time being. 

Cindy saw something on the menu for an appetizer that she wanted to try - The "BLT".  It consisted of lightly breaded fried green tomatoes topped with sweet bacon and finishe d with a black pepper thyme buttermilk dressing.  It did sound good, so when our waiter came back I ordered a plate of those. 

In the meantime, I got to looking at some items on the menu.  While Southern style cooking is prominent at The Olde Pink House, they also had a number of seafood dishes, as well.  I wasn't quite burned out on seafood as of yet, but the Kentucky bourbon glazed pork loin certainly caught my eye.  It came with collard greens and a sweet potato.  I was leaning toward that. 

 The fried green tomatoes showed up at the table and since it was getting close to 9 p.m., we were both pretty hungry.  And that was even after our big lunch at Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room earlier in the day.  The fried green tomatoes were just excellent.  The homemade black pepper thyme buttermilk dressing was just outstanding.  Cindy commented that she could eat another plate of those just for her dinner!

Our waiter came back to take our dinner orders.  Cindy ordered one of the specials that evening that consisted of shrimp and scallops sauteed in butter and garlic, then served on a bed of fettuccine noodles and topped with a Parmesan cream sauce.  That sounded yummy, but a little too heavy for me. 

I went with the aforementioned Kentucky bourbon glazed pork loin.  Our waiter then asked, "And how would you like that prepared, sir?"

I looked at him with puzzlement?  I said, "What do you mean?"  I sort of chuckled and said, "I want it cooked, that's how I want it prepared." 

He said, "No, do you want it medium, medium-rare, well?" 

Now, I was completely befuddled.  I'd never been asked how I want my pork cooked EVER before.  There's this little thing called trichinosis that's been hammered into my head since I was a little kid.  The waiter said, "The pork we use is organic and doesn't carry the trichinosis virus.  We can cook it medium-rare with no worries."

Well, that was certainly a new one for me - although I've been told that some finer restaurants have been offering pork cooked that way for quite some time.  I actually like my pork undercooked a little bit to make it more juicy and tender.   I told the waiter that I'd like to have mine cooked medium.  I thought that would be a safe choice.  I also got a wedge salad to go along with Cindy's dinner salad she was getting.

I also ordered up a bottle of the Grgich Hills Chardonnay, a nice, light, yet crisp, white wine.  I knew it would go good with Cindy's seafood pasta dish, as well as with my pork.  

While Cindy said her salad was good, I have to say that my wedge salad was just so-so.  The blue cheese dressing didn't have much pizazz to it.  It was pretty uninspired for a wedge salad.  

We waited patiently for our dinner.  And waited.  And waited.  While all this was going on, our waiter was having a tough night.  At the large table across the room from us, one lady was not happy with her meal.  I don't exactly know what she was having, but she described the dish as "eating wall-paper paste."   And she wasn't very discrete about it, either.  The waiter offered to get her another meal, but she refused.  "My dining experience for this evening has been ruined," she bellowed.  Great, just what we need - drama with our meal. 

The manager came over to the table to inquire to the trouble and the lady, very loud and boisterous, once again described her meal as eating wall-paper paste.  I mean, she was letting the whole second floor know that she didn't like her meal.  Cindy was trying to figure out if the lady had the seafood pasta dish she had ordered.  Cindy sort of chuckled and said, "God, I hope that isn't what she was having." 

I believe the manager ended up "comping" her meal.  But everyone else at the table seemed to like what they were having.  I don't know if she was just trying to get out of the bill or what.  But it seemed a little odd with the dramatic display she was putting on just because she didn't like her meal. 

Our waiter came over while the manager was at the other table and poured some wine in our glasses.  I said, "Having a good night?"

He said, "I was up until that moment." 

He apologized for the delay in our meals.  He said there were a couple big parties in the restaurant that evening.   "It's SCAD's graduation tomorrow, and we've got a couple big groups here for dinner."

Cindy said, "Hey, don't worry.  We're fine.  This is very relaxing."

And it was.  Even though The Olde Pink House was pretty fancy, I didn't get the snooty, pretentious vibe that could have easily pervaded the restaurant.  Everyone was friendly and very down-home. 

Our meals finally showed up just before 10 p.m.  And the wait was absolutely worth it.  Cindy declared her seafood fettuccine as being "out of this world."  She offered me a bite with a scallop and it was excellent.  The Parmesan sauce had plenty of garlic, but it didn't overpower the taste sensation.

My "medium" Kentucky bourbon glazed pork loin was also excellent.  It was cooked the exact way I cook my pork loins at home - a little pink in the middle, but not overcooked.  It was tender and juicy with every bite.  The collard greens were OK, but the mashed sweet potato was...  It was...  Hmmm.... I can't describe it any better than saying that I was in heaven.  It may have been the best mashed sweet potato I'd ever had in my life.  As good as the pork loin was, the highlight of my meal was the sweet potato. 

After we'd finished, our waiter came by and asked if we wanted any dessert or coffee.  Cindy asked what they had.  He immediately said, "I grew up in Miami and my grandmother had a restaurant on the Keys.  She had the best Key Lime Pie in the world.  I have to say the Key Lime pie here is the closest I've ever had to my grandmother's."  He was even so sure about it that he said he'd buy us a piece of Key Lime pie if we didn't think it was excellent.  So, we ordered up a piece with two forks.  Cindy got a cup of coffee, and I got an espresso.

The Olde Pink House's Key Lime pie was everything the waiter said it would be.  After having some excellent Key Lime pie earlier in our trip, this one topped 'em all.  The citrus taste was just outstanding, but not overwhelming.  It was light and creamy.  The crust was buttery and crisp.  It was the best piece of Key Lime pie we may have ever had. 

The waiter came back and said, "So, am I buying you the pie?"

I said, "I've had a lot of Key Lime pies in my day, but that may have been the absolute best.  So, no, you don't have to buy us a piece of pie."

He said, "Well, I'm gonna do it, anyway.  You guys waited and were so patient.  It's the least I could do." 

I told him, "Well, you did a great job in the face of adversity.  I'm thoroughly satisfied with my meal and with the service." 

Before we left, we took a quick look around the other rooms on the second floor.  The one large party toward the back was breaking up and we were able to get into the large room to look at some of the ornate woodwork and artwork in the room.  The Olde Pink House was a pretty cool place.

 Our meal wasn't cheap - it came to just under $200 bucks with a hefty tip for the waiter.  But it was definitely worth it.   As I said, the food was excellent.  The service was top-notch.  The setting was wonderful.  It may have been the best meal we had while we were in Savannah.  The Olde Pink House gets four thumbs up (two thumbs each) from Cindy and me.

Moon River Brewing Company - Savannah, GA

I always want to try a local brewpub when I'm on vacation.  Not only for my interest in their beers, but also because they usually have some interesting food to go along with their micro-brewed beer.  One place that we drove by many times was the Moon River Brewing Company on Bay St. in downtown Savannah. (see map)  We decided to go in for lunch one day. 

The building that houses the Moon River Brewing Company has a historical past in that it dates back to 1821 when it was built as the City Hotel, the first hotel in Savannah.   In addition to the hotel, the building also was home to the first United States Post Office in Savannah, as well as the first United States bank branch.  The City Hotel stayed in business until 1864 when the last customer checked out just before Gen. William Sherman's march into Savannah during the Civil War.

By the turn of the century, the building was used as a storehouse for both lumber and coal.  When the coal industry went away prior to World War II, the building was then used as a general storage warehouse.  In the 60's, the building was then turned into a office supply store.  When Hurricane David hit Savannah in 1979, the roof was torn off the building.  It sat empty until 1995.

As part of the revitalization of the Savannah Historic District, the main floor and basement of the bottom was turned into a brewpub - the Oglethorpe Brewing Company, named after James Oglethorpe, the founder of Savannah.

The Oglethorpe Brewing Company had a tough go and closed their doors after less than three years in business.  It was reopened in 1999 as the Moon River Brewing Company, named after the nickname of the local Wilmington River which was made famous in the song "Moon River" which was penned by Savannah native Johnny Mercer.  In 2004, local investor Gene Beeco, along with brewmaster John Pinkerton (who had come down to Savannah from the Frederick Brewing Company in Maryland), bought Moon River and its 15 barrel brewery.  Here's a picture of Beeco (on the left) and Pinkerton (on the right) during one of their famous Christmas Eve parties at Moon River.  

As you enter the Moon River Brewing Company, you walk right into the bar area - an old antique looking square bar with high back chairs.  A hostess greeted us and took us into the dining room and sat us at a booth.  She handed us our menus and said the waitress would be right with us. 

They had a beer menu on the table and I took a look through that.  They featured 8 beers they brewed on their own at Moon River, including something they called "Tater Ale", a sweet potato beer.  It sounded interesting, but the "Swamp Fox" India Pale Ale caught my eye.  The Swamp Fox featured a very hoppy and forward taste, the kind I like in a good strong pale ale.  Cindy doesn't really like that kind of a pale ale, but Moon River had a "Slo-vannah" pale ale that is more of an American style pale ale, less hoppy and forward.  For people who don't like to try microbrews, Moon River also offered other tap beers such as Guinness, Smithwick's and Sierra Nevada pale ale.  

Our waitress, a young, 20-something, very fun girl, came over to get our beer order.  We ordered up a couple - the Swamp Fox for me, and the Slo-vannah for Cindy.  She said, "Oh, I'm sorry.  We're out of the Swamp Fox."   So, I ordered up two Slo-vannah pale ales.  

She also talked about some of the specials they were having for lunch.  But Cindy had her eye on one of the appetizers - fried green tomatoes topped with real blue crab meat, then drizzled with a cucumber wasabi sauce.  Yeah, that sounded pretty interesting.  We ordered a plate of those while we looked through our menus and sipped our beer. 

I was in the mood for a good burger and Moon River has three burgers featured on their menu.  They also had other sandwiches, wraps, soups, salads and entrees - including seafood, steaks and an interesting sounding chicken/sausage Creole dish.  It sounded good, but I wanted a burger.  

And so did Cindy, so when the waitress came back, she ordered a Moon River burger - just an 8 oz. plain burger with lettuce, tomato, pickles and onion.  She also ordered a side of the scalloped potatoes.  I thought about getting their Black and Blue burger - an 8 oz. blackened burger topped with bleu cheese and served with dijon mustard.  But sometimes, the bleu cheese overpowers the taste of the burger.  I do like bleu cheese, but I opted for the Moon River burger topped with Monterrey Jack cheese and grilled mushrooms.  I got a side of their beer battered onion rings. 

Our fried green tomatoes appetizer showed up at the table and, man, was it a lot of tomatoes.  Big fried tomato slices covered the plate and then were topped with a generous portion of blue crab meat.  There was going to be no way we were going to be able to finish everything on the plate, especially with more food coming our way.  But we made a small dent into the tomatoes while we waited for our burgers.  I have to say they were really wonderful and really Southern. 

Our burgers showed up and they were thick and juicy.  There were a lot of grilled mushrooms on top with the Monterrey Jack cheese.  The burgers were very good.  The onion rings were OK, not exactly what I was thinking they would be.  They were a little too "bready" for me, but still good.  Cindy's scalloped potatoes, however, were just outstanding.  She offered me a bite and they were very cheesy and delicious.  They were excellent. 

The Slo-vannah pale ale was a great compliment to the meal.  It had a nice forward taste, but didn't overpower the taste of the food.  Whatever John Pinkerton did to make the Slo-vannah pale ale a smooth taste, he got it down.

Our lunch at Moon River wasn't all that cheap - about $35 bucks before giving our very fun and efficient waitress a good tip.  But the food was very good, the decor was pretty cool, the service was great and the beer was superb.  A trip to Moon River Brewing Company should be on your agenda if you're going to Savannah and want to experience a great brew pub.

Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room - Savannah, GA

We had a number of great suggestions from people as to where to eat while we were in Savannah.  One place that came up numerous times was Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room.  Since they only serve lunch from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. through the weekdays, our only chance to go was on a hot and muggy Friday midday.  We walked down there from our hotel which was about a three minute walk, tops.  (See map)

There actually was a Mrs. Wilkes at one time.  In 1942, the L.H. Wilkes family were displaced from their farm near Vidalia, GA so the U.S. Army could build an air corps base.  Seeking work in Savannah's shipyards, L.H. Wilkes stayed in a boardinghouse owned by Mrs. Dennis Dixon.  His wife, Sema, would come to visit him on the weekends with their kids.  In 1942, Sema Wilkes began to help Mrs. Dixon in the kitchen at the boardinghouse when Mrs. Dixon fell ill.  Mrs. Dixon never fully recovered and in the winter of 1943, L.H. Wilkes began to work for the railroad and Sema Wilkes bought the boardinghouse. 

Railroads workers, which made up the majority of boarders at the now Mrs. Wilkes Boardinghouse, flocked to the dining room on the word that she made some of the best meals in Savannah.  Suddenly, instead of serving breakfast or lunch for 12 people, she was serving up to 60 meals at a time. 

 When the railroads began to slow down, and hotels and motels became more prevalent in the 60's, Mrs. Wilkes shut down the boarding house and converted the upstairs rooms into apartments.  However, Mrs. Wilkes continued to serve her lavish, Southern-style, down-home breakfasts and lunches (also known as "dinner" in the south).  Her meals were served family-style on large communal tables that served up to 12 people.  Soon, long lines began to form outside Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room restaurant as word got out to locals and tourists, alike, that her food was exceptional.  

Wilkes daughter, Margie, was the bookkeeper and part-time hostess, while her son was the cashier.  As Mrs. Wilkes reputation grew, she published her first cookbook - Mrs. Wilkes Boardinghouse Cookbook - which, it turns out, was actually written by her daughter, Margie.  She spent most of her time signing books and giving the blessing at the start of each breakfast or lunch.  

In 2002, Mrs. Wilkes passed away suddenly at the age of 95.  The family had a dilemma - what to do with the restaurant.  Margie Thompson and her husband, Bill, had retired from the restaurant years prior; and a case of acute arthritis was making it tough for their son, Ronny, to continue to run the business.  After Mrs. Wilkes died, the family had a meeting as to the future of the restaurant.  Ronny Thompson's son, Ryon, only 25 at the time, stepped forward and said that he'd run the restaurant. 

Mrs. Wilkes shut down for a period, went through an extensive remodel of the dining rooms and an updating of the kitchen, and then re-opened under Ryon Thompson's management in February 2004.  He cut out the breakfast service and reduced the lunches to five days a week, cutting out Saturday service.  (Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room will serve lunch for private functions from time to time on Saturday's.)  The recipes used are the same ones used by his great-grandmother when she ran the place over 60 years ago.  Many of the cooks are second and third generation cooks who learned the recipes directly from Mrs. Wilkes.  Ryon Thompson greets and seats the patrons with help from his mom, his grandmother, Margie Thompson, is usually at the place signing cook books, and 89-year old grandpa Bill Thompson runs the cash register.   

We got to Mrs. Wilkes a little past 1 p.m. and the line was already half a block long running up to the door.  As I said, it was a hot, muggy day and standing in line was not my idea of a good time.  There was a small antique shop near Mrs. Wilkes that was air conditioned, so Cindy ended up hanging out in there for awhile as I kept our place in line.  

The people who left the restaurant would invariably tell those of us in line that the food was "outstanding" and some were having trouble walking because they were so stuffed from over-eating.  Someone ahead of me asked a gentleman who had walked out if the food was worth the wait.  "Oh, it's worth it," he said.  "And then some."

We finally got to the door around 1:50 p.m., just ten minutes before they closed.  There were still people walking up to get in line.  I suppose, once you're in line at 2 p.m., you get in.  Ryon Thompson greeted us and let us in the side door on the ground level.  Another lady directed us to a large table just behind the cashiers station, manned by Bill Thompson.  We did not see Margie Thompson or her daughter (Ryon's mom) in the restaurant.  When the last patrons would get up from a table, it was cleared and another 12 people would be seated.  This would go on for three hours, five days a week.     

Now, I'm not big on communal dining where they put you at a table with a bunch of strangers and expect to share bowls and plates of food with each other.  But we were so intrigued with the concept that we bought into it.  We were seated with a Chinese family whose son was graduating from Savannah College of Art and Design that weekend. At the opposite end of our table was a 50-ish, sort-of-stylish couple from Arkansas who appeared to be newly dating from their conversations they were having while waiting in line (that is, when he wasn't on his cellphone talking way too loudly), and then a young couple from Chicago.  

On our table were huge bowls and plates of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, beef stew, rice, black-eyed peas, snap beans, squash, butter beans, candied yams, peas and noodles, pickled beets, cole slaw, baked beans, biscuits, mac and cheese, okra, collard greens, potato salad - Jesus Christ!  The list went on and on!  The menu changes daily, but fried chicken and beef stew are daily staples.  Sweet tea and water were also served with the meal.   

One of the waitresses, a matronly lady quite possibly in her 60's, shouted out the rules - in tradition of the former boarders at Mrs. Wilkes, everyone is responsible for taking their plates, glasses and silverware to the kitchen when they're finished.  She said, "We'll keep bringin' food to your table as long as you eat it.  Don't like to waste anything here!"

Looking at all the food, I was incredulous.  "How are we going to eat all this," I asked. 

Finally, the guy from Arkansas at the other end of the table said, "Well, I guess we all dig in."  So we did.  The bowls and plates were passed around.  There wasn't enough room on our plates for all the food.  And I wanted to sample nearly everything.

Actually, what I was after was the fried chicken.  I'd heard that it was even better than the fried chicken at The Lady and Sons.  And it was very good.  Probably better than The Lady and Sons, but it was tough to say because it had been days between the time we'd eaten there and when we ate at Mrs. Wilkes.  It was still very good, though.  As a table, we all asked for more chicken, that was for sure. 

We made some small talk with the young couple from Chicago.  Even though the Quad Cities are only 175 miles from downtown Chicago, the couple - probably in their mid-20's - weren't familiar with the area.  "Is that Rockford or Rock Island that is part of the Quad Cities," the young man asked.  We decided the food was much more interesting than they were. 

The Chinese family - a man, his wife and their son - pretty much kept to themselves except to ask for someone on our end to pass a plate or dish back.  The Arkansas couple at the other end kept their conversations to themselves, as well. 

The Arkansas lady appeared finished and excused herself to get up and go to the restroom.  The Arkansas man also stood up and began to look around the dining room.  They left their plates, glasses and silverware on the table.  When the lady came out of the bathroom, the man had already paid for the meal and they were out the door.  The waitress who had shouted out the "rules" at the start of the meal came over, saw the empty plates with the people gone.  He said, "Now, didn't I say that you need to take your plates back to the kitchen when you've finished?"

Cindy said, "You sure did!"

She said, "I thought so!  Some people!"  She gathered up the plates and took 'em to the kitchen.  Cindy and I made damn sure that we took our plates, glasses and silverware back to the kitchen. 

I went up and paid for lunch - $16 bucks per person - and Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room doesn't take credit cards.  Man, I was stuffed!  The food was superb, the ambiance was interesting, but it would have been better to dine with a large group of people that we knew.  I just don't feel comfortable sitting next to people I don't know, especially when I'm eating.  The food definitely made up for the uncomfortable feeling that I had eating with strangers who really had little to nothing in common - other than the food.  If you like that kind of thing, you'll absolutely love Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room.  But for me, the excellent food would be the only reason I'd go back.

Johnny Harris - Savannah, GA

I have to give thanks to Daniel Kim, who is a friend of a friend, and who used to live in Savannah, for giving me some good tips as to some of the better places to eat in Savannah while we were there.  I always have a hankering for barbecue and Daniel highly recommended Johnny Harris for their ribs.  Considering he was spot on with many of his other suggestions (and his suggestions coincided with other's suggestions), we took an evening to go to dinner at Johnny Harris.  

The original Johnny Harris barbecue restaurant dates back to 1924 when a local Savannah man, Johnny Harris, opened what amounted to be a roadside shack on what was the outskirts of town at that time.  Three years later, Harris was joined in business by Kermit "Red" Richardson.  While Harris concentrated on the barbecue and making the sauce, Richardson was the cashier, dishwasher, janitor and part-time cook. 

Business at Johnny Harris quickly grew and the old shack was soon to be too small.  In the mid-30's, Harris and Richardson moved into their present day location on E. Victory Dr. (see map).  Over the years, the restaurant has expanded with larger seating areas, a larger kitchen, plus a sauce production facility with a warehouse that ships over 800 cases of Johnny Harris barbecue sauce a month.

Johnny Harris died in 1942 and Richardson continued the business as a part-owner and manager.  Red Richardson ended up buying out Johnny Harris' part of the business from his family in the mid-50's.  Richardson died in 1969, but his wife continued to run the place with the help of their son, Phil, and their son-in-law, Norman Hecht.  Hecht developed Johnny Harris' catering business which has the capability to serve up to 10,000 people at a function.  

Today, Phil Richardson's daughter, Julie, and her husband, B.J., run the day-to-day operation at Johnny Harris.  The restaurant is the oldest continuous restaurant in Savannah.  That's saying a lot considering the age of the city (around 275 years).

It was after 8 p.m. when we made our way down to Johnny Harris.  Being the middle of the week, there wasn't a lot of cars in the parking lot.  We were seated in a booth in the large, somewhat circular dining room that featured a very high ceiling that went up to a point in the center.  Hanging from the apex was a huge ceiling light.  We were given menus by our waitress, Kim, a very personable and pleasant young lady who had a great sense of humor.

This booth was sort of isolated in that it was truly a booth.  It was like sitting in a little room where the only opening was the way in and out of the booth.  There was a window that looked outside.  One the wall under the window was a little button with a weathered sign that said "Service" beside it.   It looked like it had been pushed by a multitude of barbecue stained fingers over the years.  Cindy said, "Oh, it's an old service button.  I used to see these at old places back home years ago."  I was sort of incredulous, so when Kim came back with our drinks I asked her what the button was for.  She said, "Oh, well, that's to let me know that you all want somethin'!"  I asked if it still worked (it looked like it may have been put in back in the 30's), and she said, "Well, sho' 'nuff!  You all need anythin' at all, jus' push the button!"   We immediately liked her.  

Cindy said, "See?  You thought I was kidding you!" 

I just can't grasp the concept of having a button to call for service.  Kim said that the more important customers were seated in booths years ago.  She said, "So, you folks are all impo'tant tonight!" 

Ribs are the most popular item at Johnny Harris, followed by their chicken - which you can get either fried or barbecued.  They also feature fish and seafood on the menu - of which you can either broiled or battered and fried.  There were a number of different types of steaks and chops featured on the menu, as well.  And the appetizers included fried green tomatoes, fried mushrooms and fried asparagus.  Jeez, it's a large wonder why people in the south aren't all 400 pounds!

I wanted barbecue, as did Cindy.  They had a special that night - 1/2 slab of baby back ribs for $8.50.  She also got some cornbread and macaroni and cheese as her sides.  I wanted to try a couple different things so I got the combination 1/2 slab of baby back ribs/chopped pork butt.  I also got mac and cheese and got some Savannah red rice, which is basically rice with some veggies chopped up and added. 

The only barbecue sauce on the table was the Original Johnny Harris sauce.  I poured a little out of the bottle onto my side plate and took a little nip.  It was a true southern, mustard-vinegary blend, not sweet at all.   I'm not overly keen on this type of barbecue sauce, but it's very big in the south - especially the Carolinas.   It had the same deep red color that you find with other types of barbecue sauce.  But it was more runny than thick.  Here's Cindy in her capacity of a spokeswoman model for Johnny Harris' barbecue sauce.

Our food came out and I was given a generous portion of chopped pork butt and a smaller-sized half-rack of baby backs topped with a healthy ladle full of Johnny Harris barbecue sauce.  The mac and cheese along with the Savannah red rice came in small bowls sitting on a plate.  And in true Southern barbecue style, we each got slices of toasted white bread.

Now, the barbecue was good.  Not outstanding, in my book, but still very good.  I guess I'm used to the hickory smoked variety of barbecue with a more smokey, sweet tasting sauce.  While it was a different taste to me, I can see why some people who were raised on this stuff keep coming back for it.

For dessert, we tried a piece of their Key Lime Pie.  While it was nowhere near as good as what we had at Paula Deen's two restaurants the previous evenings, it was still good.

Before we left, we took a look around some of the corridors of the restaurant to see the pictures and autographs on menus of famous people who have eaten at Johnny Harris over the years.  I was especially intrigued to see a number of autographs and pictures of old time Southeastern Conference football coaches who have dined in the restaurant.  Oh, there were a number of celebrities who had autographed pictures or menus.  But there just seemed to be an inordinate amount of former SEC football coaches featured on the wall at Johnny Harris.  

When we were leaving, I looked at a case and found that they also had a hickory smoked barbecue sauce at Johnny Harris.  I wondered if I could have had my choice with the hickory smoked sauce.  I contemplated buying a bottle to try, but then decided against it.

After we got back from Savannah, I e-mailed Daniel Kim and thanked him for his suggestions of restaurants to visit in Savannah.  I told him that while we ate at a number of great restaurants while on vacation, I would have to say the worst meal we had was at Johnny Harris.  And I have to clarify that because the barbecue was very good at Johnny Harris, it's just that I'm not overly found of that heavy mustard-vinegar type of sauce.  It's just that we ate at some outstanding restaurants during our stay in and around Savannah.

But Johnny Harris is truly an institution in Savannah and if you are going to spend some time in the area, you really should give it a try.  The service was great, the food was good and we thought the prices were pretty reasonable.  You should go if nothing more for the historical aspect of the restaurant and to experience old-style Southern barbecue.

Fort Pulaski National Monument

Being somewhat of a history buff and always trying to expand my knowledge when we're on vacation, we stopped off at Fort Pulaski on our way back to Savannah from Tybee Island one day (see map).  Fort Pulaski, now a National Monument, dates back to the pre-Civil War days when a series of forts were built up and down the east coast to repel any foreign attackers.  During its construction, the fort was once under the command of 2nd Lt. Robert E. Lee not long after he had graduated from West Point.  

Fort Pulaski is named in honor of Kazimierz Pułaski, a Polish infantry man who served in the American Revolutionary Army under George Washington.  Pulaski is often considered to be the man who taught the basics of calvary attack to the American forces.  He also played a large role in the Revolutionary War battles at Savannah and Charleston, SC.  A handful of cities with large Polish populations, such as Chicago and Milwaukee, feature large celebrations on Pulaski Day. 

Fort Pulaski was finished in 1847, 18 years after construction began.  Just before the Civil War began, there were no troops and only two "caretakers" at the fort.  The governor of the State of Georgia decreed that the Georgia Militia take over the fort just after South Carolina succeeded from the Union in 1860.  The "caretakers" were in turn rousted by a band of 100 Georgia Militia.  When the Civil War started, the fort was designated as a Confederate fortification and occupied by Confederate troops.

About a mile across the channel from Fort Pulaski, Tybee Island was a remote and seemingly non-strategic island.   The fort was built to withstand cannons that project cannon balls up to 1/2 mile.  Confederate forces decided to abandon Tybee Island in early 1862.  This allowed Union forces to move onto Tybee Island and build garrisons on the northwestern shore of the island across from Fort Pulaski.  What the Confederate forces didn't know was that the Union possessed a new type of cannon - a rifled cannon - that was capable of firing projectiles 8 to 10 times further than conventional cannons. 

The Battle of Fort Pulaski began in April of 1862 after a plea to surrender by Union forces was rebuffed by the Confederates.  While the Confederates were certain they could hold back any infantry advancement due to the fort's thick wall and intricate moat system surrounding the walls, they were not ready for the new rifled cannon that Union forces used for the first time.   The bombardment began on the morning of April 10 and lasted for over 30 hours.  36 of the Union Army's new James Rifled Cannons fired numerous shells into the fort before finally breaching the southeast wall of the fortification.   Here is a picture of the wall on the east side of the fort with the remnants of damage from the Union forces shells.   

The Confederates were worried that the shells were getting too close to munition storage facilities so they reluctantly surrendered the fort.  Ironically, the new rifled cannons were decommissioned by Union forces not long after the siege of Fort Pulaski, mainly due to their lack of mobility.   But the siege of Fort Pulaski also demonstrated to armies around the world that a typical masonry fort was no longer impervious to cannon fire. 

After Union forces took over Fort Pulaski, all shipping in and out of Savannah stopped.  This severely crippled the Confederate war effort.  The Union forces repaired the fort and it became obvious as the war went on that the Confederates would have no way of being able to take back the fort.  As a result, only 250 Union troops occupied Fort Pulaski during the rest of the war, and the Union turned the fort into a prison for captured Confederate soldiers.  Over 600 Confederate soldiers were imprisoned at Fort Pulaski during the war.  Here is a picture of what was the prison part of the fort.

The fort was also a final stopping point of the Underground Railroad where slaves wanting to go to the North would gather before being escorted to freedom by Union soldiers.  After taking over Fort Pulaski from the Confederate forces, the fort's commandant had initially decreed that all slaves in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina be freed.  President Lincoln quickly rescinded that order, but came out with his first Emancipation Proclamation in September of that year which decreed that all slaves in Confederate States that did not rejoin the Union by January 1, 1863 would be free men.   

After paying a nominal $3.00 fee per person at the front gate that takes you over the bridge out to Cockspur Island, we parked in the very large parking lot near the Visitor's Center and looked at some of the exhibits they had on hand.  They also had a small theater that showed a 20 minute film on the history of Fort Pulaski.  We weren't too interested in that, so we wandered out the back of the center and down the sidewalk toward the fort.   This picture is of the moat surrounding what was an underground tunnel system where munitions were kept in bunkers.  The bunkers are actually outside the walls of the fort.

As we made our way around to the front entrance of the fort, this is what you see when you come to the drawbridge over the moat.  It was explained to us that they would keep a loaded cannon pointed at the front entrance ready to fire if the drawbridge was breached.  The drawbridge, the iron gate that was lowered into place and the moat around the fort gave it sort of a medieval feeling to the place.  

The fort has been a National Monument since the 1920's.  It had fallen into great disrepair since it really wasn't being used as a fort much after the 1880's.  But since then, the government has taken steps to restore the fort to the way it was just after the Civil War.  There were original furniture, bunks and furnishings in bunkhouses, the mess hall and officer's quarters.   Here's what one bunkhouse built inside the wall of the fort looked like with the old bunks, a table and a couple benches.  Most of the bunkhouses would sleep 10 to 12 soldiers.

One of the cool things about the fort was that they allowed you go up on the top of fort wall and look around out into the big courtyard and out over the wall.  This picture is of the view of the north side of Cockspur Island looking toward the Savannah River.  Across the bay is South Carolina.  

 

 

This picture is of the main courtyard of the fort.  This is looking southeast toward where the prison in the fort was.  Actually, I was pretty impressed by how big the actual area of the fort was.  It certainly wasn't dinky by any stretch of the imagination.

 

 

This picture shows the indent-ions made by the Union Army shells from the rifled cannons during the Battle of Fort Pulaski during the Civil War.  This is on the INSIDE west wall of the fort, so those shells had to be falling all around the fort and causing some major damage.  Those indentions, by the way, are about three feet in diameter.  I'm sure those Confederate soldiers wondered what was hitting them.  

 

I had Cindy stand next to one of the cannons they had on top of the fort wall.  These cannons weren't that small and I wondered how they were able to get them up on top of the wall during pre-Civil War time.  The cannons were on a pivot and could be pointed in about a 160 degree position.  While they had many of these pivot rails atop the fort wall, they only had a couple three cannons still on display along the wall. 

Fort Pulaski also has an interpretive center where volunteers will talk to groups about the history of the fort and offer demonstrations.  This is actually a young lady dressed up in a Union Army uniform talking to a group of people about the intricacies of firing a musket with gun powder.  She loaded the gun with powder and a ball, then fired the flintlock musket.  And MAN, was it loud!  She did it about five or six times.  The first time she fired it off, I wasn't ready for the loud noise and I almost pissed my pants.  They'll also do re-enactments of battles defending the fort, as well as shooting off a cannon.  Now, THAT'S what I really wanted to see (and hear). 

Before we left, we went out to the munitions bunkers under this mound just outside the fort's west wall.   It was during the Battle of Fort Pulaski that the Confederate commandant felt that the Union shells were getting precariously close to going through the bunkers that were primarily reinforced with Tabby.  That's when he decided to surrender.  There really wasn't much to see in the bunkers, just a bunch of brick and Tabby mortared rooms with some tunnels. 

 

While a visit to Fort Pulaski may not be for everyone, I sort of liked it.  We didn't have anything else to do and it was rather interesting.  I certainly didn't know the significance and history behind the fort, the role it played during the Civil War or how it was one of the last mason forts built in the world.  But it took about 90 minutes out of our vacation, so it wasn't all that bad. 

The Crab Shack - Tybee Island, GA

After our first visit to the beach on Tybee Island, we decided to have lunch at a place that many people told us was a great place to visit - The Crab Shack.  We were told it was a fun place with great seafood.  I wanted to do nothing more than eat a ton of seafood while we were on vacation and The Crab Shack promised the potential of having a seafood overload.

The Crab Shack sits on the bank of Chimney Creek on the west end of Tybee Island, just south of Highway 80 (see map).  The origins of The Crab Shack dates back to the 1930's when it was nothing more than a "fishing camp" where boaters could use the ramps and docks, buy bait and even camp overnight.  In the early 80's, the owners of the fishing camp put it up for sale.  Local native Jack Flanigan and his wife, Belinda, bought the fishing camp and moved back to the area.  At the fishing camp, the Flanigans found the bounty from the sea was plentiful and soon made friends with many other fishermen in the area.  Finding that a lot of their new friends wanted a spot to cook and eat their catch of the day, the Flanigans began to put tables and chairs around their bait shop.

The original Crab Shack was nothing more than a small shack that had six tables.  As the business grew, so did The Crab Shack.  You can kind of see how the hodge-podge architecture has evolved over the years as there really doesn't seem to be much of a structured lay-out to the place.  But that's one of the things that makes The Crab Shack interesting.

As you come up to the property, it looks rather shabby on the outside.  But we've found that many places that look like hell on the outside usually have great food.  We parked our car and walked past a small fenced in pond that housed a number of small alligators.  It was a warm afternoon and many of the gators were sunning themselves or immersed in the warm water.  The largest one was - maybe - 3 feet in length. 

We walked into the outdoor dining area and took a seat at a table with a hole in the middle of it.  On top of the hole on small stilts was a table that held condiments, plastic utensils and a ton of paper towels.  The hole in the table was there so one could easily throw shells, old drinks and other things into keeping the table as clean as possible.  If you're a seafood eater, you know it can get a little messy, especially if you're eating shrimp or crab.

The Crab Shack was one of the few places we found that had real lemonade (most of the places we encountered on our trip either didn't have lemonade, or they had pink lemonade).  And they had Bicardi Limon.  I ordered a Bicardi Limon and lemonade and quickly downed it soon after our waitress brought it to me.  In the meantime, Cindy had ordered The Crab Shack's version of a Mai Tai.  While her first one didn't go down as quickly as my first drink did, she did have a couple which is a lot for Cindy. 

The menu (click here for page 1; click here for page 2) was hand-written, sort of comical and fun to look through.  Seafood was the main fare with The Crab Shack's famous "Low Country Boil" being the most prominent item on the front of the menu.  A "Low Country Boil" is similar to a Wisconsin Fish Boil only they use shrimp instead of white fish, and add potatoes, corn and mix in some sausage on a plate.   While a lot of restaurants featured a "Low Country Boil", we never did try one.  

The waters around Tybee Island hold a lot of crab and The Crab Shack was featuring Dungeness Crab with a cob of sweet corn and some cole slaw.  Cindy was looking hard at that, but was also thinking about the Alaskan King Crab legs.  I talked her into getting something caught locally and she finally went with the Dungeness Crab.  The plate of crab came with some shell-crackers and Cindy was having some trouble getting her crab legs to crack.  I helped her out and I have to say having the hole in the middle of the table to throw away the crab leg shells was an ingenious idea. 

I ordered the 1 pound plate of peel and eat boiled shrimp.  The shrimp were large and sprinkled with a Cajun seasoning.  They were absolutely awesome.  We also ordered up a dozen of their oysters on the half-shell.  They were equally great when a little fresh-ground horseradish and Tabasco were added in.  I came about *this* close to ordering up another pound of peel and eat shrimp after I finished, it was that good.  But I wanted to save room for some dessert - most notably their Key Lime Pie. 

We were bound and determined to try as many varieties of Key Lime Pie while we were on vacation.  While The Crab Shack's Key Lime Pie was good, it was nowhere as good as the Key Lime Pie we'd had at Uncle Bubba's and The Lady and Son's.  It wasn't as creamy or flavorful as the pie we'd had at those restaurants.  But, as I said, it was still good.

 

After finishing lunch, we wandered around the grounds and went out to the alligator pond to take a look at the gators.  For a price, you could feed the gators pieces of chicken tied to a string on the end of a stick.  We looked around for someone that was in charge so Cindy could have a little fun with the gators, but it didn't appear they had any food available for the gators.  Still, it was sort of fun to watch them swim around the little pond.

 

 

 

Here's a couple of the bigger alligators they had in the pond.  They were definitely smaller than the alligator we encountered when we drove back into Savannah from Uncle Bubba's a couple evenings prior.   I sort of wondered what The Crab Shack did with the alligators when they got too big.  I don't remember seeing "alligator-anything" on the menu. 

 

 

Our visit to The Crab Shack was fun.  The food was outstanding, our waitress was a great server, the setting was comfortable and it was a fun place.  So far, all the places everyone told us to go to while we were in Savannah had turned out to be spot on.  If you like great seafood in a very casual setting, The Crab Shack is highly recommended.   

Leopold's Ice Cream - Savannah, GA

It seems like every place we visit, we come across an ice cream shop that is *the* local place to get ice cream.  It's generally a step above Baskin-Robbins or Dairy Queen in quality and taste.  And on our trip to Savannah, we found one such place in Leopold's Ice Cream.

The history of Leopold's begins in 1919 when Greek immigrant brothers - Peter, George and Basil Leopold - founded their first ice cream parlor in Savannah.  Peter had been taught the art of making high quality ice cream in Europe and brought with him a recipe for Tutti-Fruitti, an Italian specialty that was made with different fruits and cream.  The original Tutti-Fruitti recipe that the Leopold's started with 90 years ago is the same way it's made today. 

Peter's son, Stratton, took over the business after his father and uncles passed away.  Before he took over the business, Stratton was already gone from the Savannah area as he had gone out to Hollywood to work in the film industry.  Stratton Leopold has risen from a production manager to a producer to now being the Executive Vice-President of Production at Paramount Pictures.  He's truly a Hollywood heavyweight.  Stratton Leopold's producing credits include The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Mission Impossible III and The Sum of All Fears.  Stratton Leopold was also the producer of the critically acclaimed movie, The General's Daughter.  Here's a picture of Stratton Leopold behind the counter at his ice cream parlor. 

Because of Stratton Leopold's connection to the film industry, Leopold's Ice Cream parlor is decorated with film making equipment, along with a number of pictures of famous people and movie posters.  In the back of the place is a Panavision camera, some editing equipment and film reels.  The tables and chairs were authentic old style ice cream parlor furniture.  The place had a very "retro" feel to it and was a rather cool place to look around.

Leopold's Ice Cream offers nearly 50 different varieties of ice cream- about 30 available all the time and an additional 20 "seasonal" ice creams.  But their claim to fame is their Tutti-Fruitti ice cream which people literally crawl back to Leopold's to taste.  Leopold's ships their Tutti-Fruitti all over the nation to people who have visited the place, become hooked on the ice cream and then want it sent to them.  In addition to ice cream, Leopold's also has a short menu of sandwiches, soups and salads.

There was a good sized after-lunch crowd in Leopold's when we stopped in.   Leopold's featured a large counter with an old fashioned soda fountain.  The teenaged girls working behind the counter called out who they could help next while customers looked through the glass window down into the tubs of ice cream.  Leopold's even offered free small spoon samples to customers.  Cindy asked for a sample of the Tutti-Fruitti, as did a lot of other people while we were there.  From her first bite, Cindy was hooked.  She got a cup of the Tutti-Fruitti.

I'm a big Lemon Custard kind of guy and Leopold's had Lemon Custard, but with a small twist - they add bits of lemon candy in with the ice cream custard.  I had to have a cup of that.  And, oh my God, was it good.  I'm a big Whitey's Ice Cream fan back in the Quad Cities and I think Whitey's Lemon Custard is hard to beat.  But Leopold's may have surpassed it.  The chunks of lemon candy gave it more of a forward lemon taste.  It was absolutely fabulous.

 We tried to get back to Leopold's at least one more time while we were in Savannah.  But we got there just after 9 p.m. and they were closing up for the night.  Really, it took all the will-power NOT to muster another trip to Leopold's while we were there.  I'm still trying to watch my weight, but we also had a number of great desserts for dinner while in Savannah, so going to Leopold's usually never popped up after dinner.  But if we ever get back to Savannah - and we will - Leopold's will be a "must stop" on our itinerary.

Tybee Island, GA

Located 18 miles from downtown Savannah (see map), Tybee Island, GA is referred to as "Savannah Beach" by the locals in and around Savannah.  While the name "tybee" is an old Indian word for salt - which was in abundance in the marshes and low-lands surrounding the island - the locals casually call the place "Tybee", as in, "Y'all fixin' to spend your day out at Tybee?"  Well, we spent the good parts of two mornings out on the beach at Tybee. 

Now, I love the ocean.  I could just sit and watch the waves and tides roll in day after day.  And walking along the sandy shore getting your legs wet in the surf, well, there's not many better feelings on a warm, sunny day.  Because of my recent surgeries, I'm restricted as to being able to get immersed in water until later this summer.  But just walking along the beach with my flip-flops and shorts on was good enough for me.

Before we hit the beach on our first trip out to Tybee Island, we stopped off at the Tybee Island Light Station, a light house that dates back to the 1700's.  It was one of the first light houses in the nation and it showed the way to the mouth of the Savannah River for many of the sea-going merchant ships that came to Savannah years ago.  We thought it would be cool to go and see what it had to offer, but then we found that it was closed.  Yep, closed on Tuesday's.  Oh, geez.  Oh well. 

The current lighthouse was built in the late 1800's and still stands today.  It is only one of a handful of lighthouses built in the 19th Century that are still in operation today. 

We drove down the main drag of Tybee Island - Campbell St. - which consisted of some hotels, small businesses and a few houses or condos.  We had looked into staying out at Tybee Island before we ended up deciding to stay up on Hilton Head.  One of the reasons was that there didn't appear to be resort-type hotels on Tybee.  At the very least, there were no chains - not even a Days Inn, which, ironically, got its start on Tybee Island in 1970.   

We found a place to park in a spacious public parking lot near the Tybee Island Pier.  A guy who was packing up some metal detection gear near us said, "Say, I have some time left on my parking stub.  About an hour and a half.  It's yours if you want it."  He gave us this ticket and it showed that it expired at 1:10.  We thanked him, put it on our dash, and started to walk out on the beach. 

Then we discovered that we didn't have any sunscreen with us.  We found a beach side store and picked some up.  Considering it was late May and we were milky white Northerners, we definitely needed some sunscreen. 

Since it was a week day, there weren't a lot of people on the beach.  We took off in one direction just walking in the surf.  Cindy loves to look for seashells and she spent her time combing the beach for shells.  Here's a pic of her with one of her finds with the Tybee Island pier in the background.  Thankfully, I was wearing shorts that had extra pockets on them so she had some place to store the shells.  As you can see, it was a beautiful morning at the beach.  

We ended up walking about a mile and a half up the beach.  My doctor told me that I needed to take it easy when my body was telling me to take it easy.  My legs were still not 100%, less than two months after my second hip replacement.   But walking in the cool water of the ocean helped soothe the pain and stiffness that I was having.  And it just felt great having the warm sun shine on our bodies.  We'd had such a cool, wet Spring that we hadn't felt 80 degree temps until we went to Savannah. 

We got back to the pier and walked out to the end.  There were a few people fishing off the pier, catching some small fish while we were there.  We walked back to the pier's pavilion and I told Cindy that it was about time for us to head back to the car before our time expired.  It was $1.50 an hour to park in the lot, so that was pretty nice of that guy to allow us to use the rest of his time.  While it was great to be there, we knew we had other places to go see.

On the following Saturday, we went back out to Tybee Island around 10 a.m.  We're glad we went that early.  There were already a lot of people at the beach and more were coming in.  We found a parking spot in the same lot, but this time we paid for three hours of parking.  We did a lot more walking along the beach.  The tide was coming up and the beach was getting more narrow.  By the time high tide hit around 1 p.m., the beach was just packed with people enjoying a beautiful day at the beach.

The Tybee Island Pavilion and Pier has a rich history.  The original pavilion was built back in the 1890's and was a very popular day-trip-by-train destination for people from Savannah - sort of like it is now, only they just drive out.  The Pavilion hosted a number of big bands that would tour in the area during the 30's and 40's.  The Pavilion was destroyed by fire in the mid-60's and was rebuilt by the city of Tybee Island in 1996.  There's a stage where bands will play in the evening and a place to get drinks and food. 

Speaking of drinks, after an especially long two hour walk on the beach on that Saturday morning, I was getting pretty stiff and sore.  Cindy suggested ducking inside the pavilion to rest and so I could get a cold beer.  They had 16 oz. aluminum bottles of Bud Light at this little bar inside the pavilion and they were ICE COLD!!  Oh, my God, I don't know if a Bud Light EVER tasted as good as it did at that point.  It had to be 32.1 degrees in temperature.  I had to have a couple to help with my soreness and stiffness.  Actually, Cindy said I took this picture because of all the young girls in their bikinis.  While that's partially true, I wanted to remember this place for having the coldest beer - just a nano-degree above freezing - that I've probably ever had.

Before we left the pavilion and pier, there was this pole that showed the depth of storm surges for hurricanes.  I had Cindy stand next to it for a reference point for the picture.  A Category 1 hurricane would create a storm surge of about 4.5 feet, or up to Cindy's neck.  A Category 2 storm surge would put the depth up about 7 feet.  Tybee Island has been very lucky.  The last major hurricane to hit the island was back in the 1880's - a Category 4 hurricane - that swamped the island with a 20 foot storm surge and literally wiped out the entire island.  That's over 130 years of little to no hurricane damage.  I'm afraid to say they may be due at some point. 

I'm really glad we came out to Tybee Island when we did on that Saturday.  As I said, the tide was coming in and the beach was getting more narrow.  It was officially packed after 12:00 noon and there were still people coming in!  As we were driving back on Highway 80 toward Savannah, there was a constant stream of cars heading out to Tybee Island.  I read where they want to make Highway 80 a four lane road out to Tybee Island.  While that would cut down on the time it took to get out to the island, I don't know if the island could sustain many more visitors.  The one thing I liked about Tybee Island was a noticeable lack of what I would call "tourist traps" - the theme bars, hokey restaurants, and over-the-top attractions.  It was relaxing and had a small town charm to the place.  It was definitely what I wanted in a small beach town.  And it was truly tough to leave. 

B&D Burgers - Savannah, GA

During our walking tour around Savannah on the first day we were there, we took time out for lunch at B&D Burgers along Broughton Street in the heart of downtown Savannah (see map).  B&D Burgers caught my eye from one of the ads we saw in Savannah Magazine that had awarded the restaurant "Best Burgers" in Savannah every year since 2002.   Being the burger connoisseur that I am, I had to give them a try.

Dave Tonroe is the owner of B&D Burgers.  Tonroe, a former professional golfer in Asia and Europe, ended up in Savannah working for his father's environmental water waste disposal company.  Thinking that Savannah needed a good burger joint that catered to locals and the college crowd, along came B&D Burgers.  He opened a second location on the far south side of Savannah a couple years ago (see map).

A pretty good sized lunch crowd was in B&D Burgers when we walked in.  We were seated at a booth in the back and handed menus.  B&D Burgers boasts that they have 170 different types of burgers on their menu.  It turns out that they really only have five different burgers (1/3 lb., 1/2 lb., with cheese, veggie, and turkey) with 34 different combinations.  OK, I'll give them credit for that.  You can also mix and match toppings for your own style of burger.  In addition to burgers, B&D Burgers also has sandwiches, appetizers, salads and soups to offer.

B&D Burgers also boasts something called the "Bring it On!"  It's basically a triple-decked burger with three 1/3-pound burgers and a basket of fries for $25 bucks.  If you can eat it all in 40 minutes, you'll eat for free and your name will go on a "leader board" signifying your accomplishment.  The leader board was full of names, most likely young guys from the local colleges in the area.

I've long said the hallmark of a great burger is the bun.  B&D Burgers has an in-house bakery where they make their own buns each day.  They're light and flaky, perfect for a good burger.  Too many times the bun on some burgers gets to be heavy and chewy, taking a lot of the taste away from the burger.  The better the bun, in my book, the better the burger.

They also cook their burgers on a very hot grill - a minimum of 650 degrees - to help sear in the juices.  They are cooked to order from rare to well done.  I can almost imagine how quick it takes to make a rare burger on the grill at B&D Burgers.  I've been doing my burgers on my grill at home over high direct heat for quite some time.  It helps if you have a high fat content so the burgers won't dry out.  Or, for very lean burgers, you can add some water to the meat.  That helps keep it moist. 

The 34 burgers on the menu were named for local landmarks or streets.  The City Market boasted five different types of cheese, The Pulaski was topped with chili and cheddar cheese, The Troup Square had marinara, mozzarella, pepperoni and mushrooms on top, and the Reynolds had sundried tomatoes, bacon and mozzarella on it.   All the burgers are served with a fresh lettuce leaf, a fresh slice of tomato, a slice of red onion and thick sliced kosher dill pickle chips. 

I went with the 1/2-pound Chippewa - topped with jalapenos and pepperjack cheese.  Cindy went with a 1/3-pound burger called The Mighty Eighth - named after the famous World War II Eighth Air Squadron which has a museum just outside of Savannah - which consisted of sauteed onions and provolone cheese.  For a side I got an order of baked beans and Cindy ordered up a batch of deep fried dill pickle slices appetizers as a side.  I was sort of surprised she order that as I don't think I've ever seen her eat deep fried pickles.  

Our burgers came to the table about 15 minutes later.  This is what my Chippewa burger looked like when it was brought to the table open-faced, only with a side of baked beans.  Just like this picture, my burger had an ample amount of jalapenos on top of the pepperjack cheese. 

I have to say the burger was good, not great, but well above average.  The bun was very good and did help to make the taste of the burger very good.  The jalapenos were spicy, but not overwhelming.  But there was something sort of bland about the meat that I couldn't put my finger on.  It seemed to be a little too charred on the outside, but was a perfect light pink in the middle.  I can't imagine anyone who would want a well-done burger at B&D Burger (mine was medium).  The life would be completely cooked out of the burger.

I also have to say that my baked beans were so-so, but I had a couple of the deep fried dill pickle slices that Cindy ordered and I thought they were out of sight.  An unbelievable taste combination with the beer-batter and the tanginess of the dill slices.  Cindy hit a home-run in ordering those as a side.

B&D Burger was a little high priced and our waitress wasn't too enthusiastic (it was Memorial Day and she would have probably rather been out at the beach).  But the burgers were pretty damn good - Cindy really liked her Mighty Eighth burger.  Other than the service not being up to par and the fact that my one bottle of beer was far from being ice cold, the burgers at B&D Burger made up for any problems we had at the restaurant.  While it wasn't the best burger I've had - and probably wouldn't make my Top Ten List - B&D Burger was still good.   I'm glad we gave it a try.

Hilton DeSoto - Savannah, GA

As I've mentioned in many of my previous posts from our trip to Savannah, we stayed at the Hilton DeSoto located in the heart of the Historic District (see map).  We had a lot of options for hotels, including many right downtown along Bay St., but we decided to stay in a more central location in the Historic District.  I'm glad we did for a number of reasons.  And as I've also pointed out, the Hilton DeSoto gave us nothing more than a 20 minute walk in any direction to the far reaches of the Historic District.  Towering above the neighborhood, this 14-story hotel didn't seem to be too obtrusive to the surrounding historic homes. 

The Hilton DeSoto has a rich history in Savannah.  First of all, it was named for the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto who was the first European to set foot in South Carolina, just across the river from Savannah.  De Soto may have also been the first European to discover the Mississippi River.  The original DeSoto was built in 1890 and was called one of the grandest hotels in the South.  It hosted a number of dignataries, both political and celebrities, as well as fancy balls, cotillions and formal parties for a number of years.  The hotel, in need of repair and in what was then a dying part of of old Savannah, closed in the 1960's.  The Hilton corporation bought the property and rebuilt the entire hotel in the late 60's.  The Hilton DeSoto had just undergone an extensive renovation within the last 18 months. 

The main lobby area was ornate and stately.  When we went to check in, the ladies at the front desk were overly friendly and recognized me as a Hilton Honors Diamond member.  The young lady who checked us in said that our room wasn't ready (it was around 2 p.m.).  She said, "You requested a city view room and that's what we'll get you."  She also told me that because I was a Honors Diamond member we'd get a free full breakfast each morning we were there (which was very good, by the way), coupons for free drinks in the bar; and that we had access to their valet parking for free.  That was kinda sweet.  All it cost me was a couple bucks in the form of a tip for the kid who would bring our car around. 

When we finally got into our room, we were greeted with a wonderful view of the heart of the Savannah Historic District.  The room was elegant and comfortable.  We had a cantilever deck that came out from the room.  It was a little uncomfortable to stand on the deck not seeing any type of brackets or supports under the deck.  I'm sure it was safe, but I'm not big on heights and when I would feel my testicles going back up inside me, that was the sign to go back in. 

We really didn't spend a lot of time in our room because of all the sight seeing that we did around Savannah.  What time we spent in the room relaxing, reading or napping was worth it.  The bed was overly comfortable, the chairs and furnishings were luxurious, and we had all the amenities we needed.   Here's a picture of Cindy enjoying some time reading a book with the sliding glass door out to the deck open.  She had a bigger problem with the deck than I did.  

This is the hotel's breakfast very spacious and ornate restaurant area where they made great made-to-order omelets for me each morning.  Cindy opted for the buffet which consisted of French toast, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, fruit and, of course, grits.  I'd had grits a number of years ago, but was sort of ambivalent toward them.  But for some reason on this trip, grits mixed with a little butter tasted pretty damn good.  Cindy said it must have been the enchantment of the South and Savannah that made the grits taste good.    

But the one thing that made the Hilton DeSoto stand out was the outstanding customer service.  Any request, any favor, any help that we asked for, they were more than willing to help us out.  The bar and restaurant staff were overly accommodating.  The valet guys were quick and friendly.  Even the concierge was never put off when we'd ask for some help.  We not only loved Savannah so much, we loved the Hilton DeSoto, as well.  When we decided to fore-go our planned trip to Charleston, SC to come back to Savannah to finish our vacation, we wanted to come back to the DeSoto.  The only problem was that it was the graduation weekend for the Savannah College of Art and Design, plus the hotel was hosting two large wedding parties.  We were getting our room for $113 a night, but it was going up to $209 if we wanted to come back.

Before we left to go up to Hilton Head, I went down to the front desk and asked if they could give us a deal on a room for the weekend.  The lady at the desk said, "Well, we have four rooms left for the weekend.  What were you thinking?"

I said, "Well, we really didn't want to pay more than $139 a night." 

She sort of cringed and said, "Well, I'll tell you what.  Let me talk to our in-house reservation agent and I'll have her get back to you."

While we were packing up getting ready to check out, I got a phone call from the Hilton DeSoto's in-house reservation agent.  She said, "Mr. Veber?  I got your request here from the front desk and we're just thrilled that you want to come back and stay with us.   Since you're an upstanding member of the Hilton Honors Diamond VIP program, we can extend you the price of $139 a night for this coming Friday and Saturday night."  She was just overly appreciative for our business.  They were really bending over backwards for us.

When we got back in town after staying in Hilton Head, they had our room ready - a wonderful corner suite with another great view of the Historic District.  This room also had a deck, but it was much larger and on the corner where it wasn't so disconcerting.  We had a couple chairs out there with a little table.  We sat out there and read our books in the late afternoons and the local paper in the mornings.  We also got all the same perks - drink coupons, free breakfast and free valet parking - that we got when we stayed there earlier in the week.

One of the main reasons why it was so tough to leave Savannah was the service and hospitality we received from the people at the Hilton DeSoto.  I've stayed in a number of Hilton properties over the years and I have to say that, hands down, in terms of service, elegance and the perks they threw our way during our visit, the Hilton DeSoto was the finest Hilton Hotel I've ever stayed at.  And that's saying a lot as I've stayed in some nice Hilton properties over the year.  When we go back to Savannah someday - and we will - we'll be back to the Hilton DeSoto. 

The Lady and Sons - Savannah, GA

One of the biggest reasons why Cindy has always wanted to go to Savannah is to eat at Paula Deen's restaurant, The Lady and Sons.  Cindy is a big Paula Deen fan, even having met her at a book signing in Chicago a few years ago.  I also like Paula Deen for her down-home, Southern style recipes.  As Paula Deen has said many times - and it's a doctrine I follow - "I'm a cook, not a chef." 

With a couple popular shows on The Food Network, a number of cook books and regular appearances on The Today Show, Paula Deen's star has rocketed since she opened her restaurant in downtown Savannah in the mid-90's.  Her restaurant is packed for lunch and dinner nearly every day.  And because of that, she doesn't take conventional reservations like other restaurants do.  More about that later on.

The downtown area of Savannah was beginning to make a comeback 15 years ago when Paula Deen, helped by her sons Bobby and Jamie, opened her own restaurant after years of running a catering business out of her home.  The old building that the Deen's originally moved into proved to be too small after Paula was "discovered" by Gordon Elliott, who was hosting his own show on The Food Network.   In 1999, they moved to their present location in Savannah's Historic District at the corner of West Congress and Whitaker Streets (see map).  People from all over the world have visited the three-story restaurant that has dining areas on the first and third floors. 

With a little bit of trepidation, I also wanted to eat at Paula Deen's restaurant.  Like I wondered with her other restaurant that we'd eaten at the night before, Uncle Bubba's Oyster House, I feared the hype surrounding The Lady and Sons was going to raise my expectations to a level that I knew I'd be disappointed from my first bite.  But I was pleasantly surprised by Uncle Bubba's and I hoped I'd be as equally surprised with The Lady and Sons. 

Because of the overwhelming popularity of Paula Deen, The Lady and Sons does not take conventional reservations the way other restaurants will - either over the phone or via e-mail.  (We found out later they do take phone reservations for some holidays - Memorial Day was not one of them.)  In order to eat at the restaurant, a person has to show up at 9:30 a.m. each day and reserve a table in person for either lunch or dinner.  You have a choice of times - usually in 15 minute increments - so they can turn the tables a couple three times for lunch and as many as four or five times at dinner.  Most restaurants consider it a successful day if they get 1.5 to 2 table turns for either lunch or dinner.  The Lady and Sons is a rockin' restaurant.

The line outside the restaurant was very long, nearly stretching around the building to the west when we showed up just after 9:30.  We were wondering if we had a chance to get in for dinner because of the crowd of people.  But then we found a number of people around us in line were there for lunch and were then heading home because it was Memorial Day.  I think we stood in line for about 15 minutes before a lady with a clipboard made her way back asking, "Lunch or dinner?"  The people who said, "Lunch," and there were a lot of them, had to remain in the line to talk with the girls at the outdoor reservation desk.  Those of us who wanted dinner, the lady signed us up on the spot.  We got a reservation for 6:30 (dinner begins at 5 p.m. - we had our pick from between 5:00 to 9:30).  Then we peeled off and took our trolley tour around Savannah's Historic District. 

At 6:20, we showed up and checked in with the hostess.  She handed us over to another young girl who took us to the elevator that would take us up to the third floor.  We were sort of disappointed that we weren't going to eat in the open and airy first floor dining area that had large windows that afforded nice views out onto Whitaker Street.  But we thought the third floor would be nice.

It was nice, but it was dark, yet sort of cozy up there.  We were seated at what appeared to be an antique table with matching chairs.  While The Lady and Sons buffet is what made them famous, you can also order off a rather extensive menu.  While her other restaurant didn't have lemonade, The Lady and Sons did so I got a Bacardi Limon and lemonade for a drink.  Cindy ordered up an unsweetened Luzianne iced tea.   

Our waiter was a nice young guy who said he was a student at Savannah State.  He'd worked at The Lady and Sons for a couple of years.  He said it was a lot of hard work, but he said it was a good job.  He talked to us a little about the offerings on the buffet and then told us about a couple specials they had off the menu that evening.  One was a 9 oz. beef tenderloin filet topped with a m ushroom ragout sauce and caramelized onions and then served with five large scallops.  Garlic mashed potatoes, sauteed zucchini slices and cherry tomatoes rounded out the plate.  Man, that sounded great.  I almost ordered that on the spot. 

The waiter invited us to go over and take a look at the buffet (which cost $16.95 per person, all you could eat) before we made up our mind whether we wanted to order off the menu or do some of Paula Deen's famous fried chicken.  The buffet had a large pan of fried chicken, beef stew, her famous "Mac and Cheese", garlic mashed potatoes, collard greens, corn casserole, yams, black-eyed peas, and other Southern-style foods.  The chicken looked great, but I didn't want to do the rest of the buffet.  

When our waiter came back with our drinks, I said, "Hey, is there any way that I can get a couple pieces of chicken off the buffet and pay you, say, a couple bucks a piece for them?  I want to try the chicken here, but I don't think I'm going to do the buffet."  

He said, "Well, my manager isn't here tonight and if you want to go up and get a couple pieces to try, I don't have a problem with that.  I won't charge you for 'em."  (Geez, I hope I don't get the kid in trouble for writing that.)  

I ordered up the beef filet special they had that evening.  Cindy ordered the crab cakes topped with a lemon dill tartar sauce.  The crab cakes came on a bed of black beans with rice with a pico salsa and a side of collard greens.  The waiter asked if we wanted a house salad or appetizers.  We passed knowing that I was about to steal a couple three pieces of chicken from the buffet.  He said, "OK, you can go get your chicken now.  I won't look."  

I went up and got a couple chicken legs and what I think was a thigh.  I'm over 50 years old and I still don't know what pieces of chicken are called other than legs and wings.  I don't know what is dark meat or white meat.  I just eat the chicken.  

Well, I made a monumental mistake.  I got the chicken from the bottom of the pan and it had been sitting there under the hot buffet light for quite sometime.  It was sort of warm, yet dried out.  It wasn't more than two minutes after I bit into my first chicken leg that Cindy said, "Oh, Will.  They're bringing more chicken out."

I looked over at the buffet and a cook was dumping steaming hot and juicy chicken into the buffet pan.  Well, I didn't feel right about jumping up and grabbing a couple other pieces.  We nibbled on the three pieces I grabbed.  While they were still good, I was disappointed not to get the fresh chicken directly out of the fryer.  

Speaking of the chicken, while Paula Deen's original recipe for fried chicken calls for peanut oil, the chicken had a distinct taste to it - sort of like my Uncle Jack's fried chicken that he cooked in lard and beef suet.  I would have guessed that her chicken was cooked in lard, which was fine with me.  Even though the chicken was sort of luke warm and a little dry, I wasn't going to complain because we got them for free.

Before our main course came out, Cindy got up and went to the restroom.  She came back and said, "There's a whole big bar area with more seating over on the other side of the floor.  It looks kind of neat in there!"  I went to the bathroom and took a look around the area.  It was pretty neat in there with a sort of large bar, a number of booths and kind of a cozy feel to the place.  Actually, I would have rather eaten in there than in the dining room.  And there wasn't really anything wrong about the dining room.

Our entrees made it to the table and mine looked great.  The beef filet looked to be a little larger than 9 oz, but it was cooked to the rare side of medium-rare - which I didn't mind a bit.  The scallops were huge and there was an ample side of garlic-mashed potatoes, which I knew I would sample, but potatoes are still not on my diet these days.  

From the first bite of my steak, the taste sensation of a perfectly cooked steak with the mushroom ragout sauce dropped any qualms I had about The Lady and Sons being an overrated tourist trap.  It was one of the finest steaks I'd ever had, rivaling some I've had at many of the Midwestern steak houses I've eaten at over the years.  It was just fabulous.

Cindy was equally thrilled with her crab cakes.  She said the lemon dill tartar sauce was a wonderful complement to the fresh mixed crab meat in the cakes.  We traded bites of our steak and crab cakes.  Cindy loved the taste of my steak and I thought her crab cakes were very good, as well. 

The crab cakes were very rich and filling for Cindy.  She was having trouble finishing the second crab cake.  She said, "But it's so good that I don't want to stop!"  She finally did finish off the second cake, but not before stopping a couple times to let the food settle. 

As waiters are supposed to do, ours tempted us with dessert.  They had four selections including ice cream, a decadent Chocolate Mousse pie, Paula Deen's famous Pecan pie and Key Lime pie - probably the same recipe from Uncle Bubba's.  I'm not much on Pecans and my taste for chocolate has waned over the years, so we went with a piece of the Key Lime pie.  Cindy also wanted to try a cup of Captain Michael's coffee, The Lady and Sons house coffee that's named after Paula Deen's husband, Michael.  

The Key Lime pie was nearly the same as what we had the night before - full of richness and flavor.  It was just excellent.  I wouldn't have cared if I found out the secret ingredient was dog urine, I would have still eaten the pie, it was that good.  Cindy declared Captain Michael's coffee as "good", but nothing that would have wanted her to buy a bag of it at Paula Deen's gift shop attached to the restaurant on the first floor.

Actually, we had gone through Paula Deen's gift shop earlier in the day when we were out and about looking around Savannah's Historic District.  The shop features all the type of touristy stuff that you'd expect from a place like that - shirts, coffee mugs, cook books (each of them signed by Paula Deen - but then you looked a little more closely and it turns out they were actually stamped with her signature), and cooking utensils.  We bought a couple of small knick-knacks, but nothing significant from the gift shop.

 OK - The Lady and Sons was NOT over-hyped and is NOT a tourist trap.  It is a legitimate place to dine in Savannah.  It was one of the best meals I've had in a restaurant.  We overtipped our waiter, mainly for allowing us to get some chicken from the buffet, and the fact that he was a good, hard-working college kid.  We're happy we didn't do the buffet as we'd heard from other people who have dined at The Lady and Sons that the buffet was, indeed, over-hyped and over-rated.  My advice to those of you going to Savannah - stand in line at 9:30 a.m., get in there for dinner and order off the menu.  The Lady and Sons is worth the experience.

Uncle Bubba's Oyster House - Savannah, GA

First of all, I have to point out this is my 1000th Road Tips post.  For a hobby, this has sort of taken on a life of its own.

One of the big reasons Cindy wanted to go to Savannah was to eat at Paula Deen's restaurant, "The Lady and Sons".  Well, it turns out that Paula Deen has quite the cottage industry in Savannah, including a second restaurant on the way out to Tybee Island called Uncle Bubba's Oyster House (see map).  It's named for her younger brother, Earl "Bubba" Hiers whom she cared for after their parents died when he was a teenager and Paula was in her early 20's.  While Paula Deen owns the restaurant, Bubba manages the place for her. 

I'm always sort of leery of high profile restaurants and whether or not they'd be up to snuff.  We asked one of the ladies bartending at the Hilton DeSoto whether she thought Uncle Bubba's was a good place to eat.  She said, "Well, I've never eaten out there, but I hear it's OK." 

We locked in the address to Uncle Bubba's Oyster House on the Hertz NeverLost and took off east of Savannah on the highway to Tybee Island.  I'm guessing that Uncle Bubba's had to be relatively new as the NeverLost system tried to get us to turn left on Bryan Woods Road rather than go right.  I'm glad I saw the restaurant off to the right and over-rode the NeverLost, which, had I let it continue, would have gotten us lost.  Well, not lost, but it wasn't taking us to where we needed to go.  (I've found over the years that Hertz doesn't update their NeverLost systems all that frequently.)

We pulled up to Uncle Bubba's and encountered a nearly full parking lot with a ton of people milling about in front of the building.  Cindy went in and found that there was about an hour wait for dinner.  Since we'd eaten earlier rather late in the afternoon, that was fine with me.  We found a couple seats at the bar and I ordered up a couple beers for us - Sweetwater 420's. 

The place was absolutely packed.  We had to remind ourselves that it was Memorial Day weekend and Savannah was a popular destination for many people in the Southeast.  But the wait for a table also gave us time to look around the place. 

The interior of Uncle Bubba's is open and airy with a lot of wood paneling throughout.  The tables and chairs are vintage 1950's diner-style furnishings.  With a wood floor, lots of glass windows that look out into a Georgia low country bayou and a high ceiling that looks sort of industrial, it can get rather loud in the place.  

One of Paula Deen's television programs, Paula's Party, is filmed at Uncle Bubba's.  There's a beautiful outdoor seating area that features a number of cats lazily milling about the covered dining area.  All in all, it was a pretty cool place.

 

 

 

The bar area was actually kind of nice with a square bar and high-backed retro chairs.  I was looking for something a little more strong than a beer to drink.  Something a little more "Southern and Summery".  I ordered up a lemonade and a Bacardi Limon.  The bartender said, "I don't have lemonade."  I looked at him like he was from Mars.  EVERYONE has lemonade!  He suggested I try a sweet tea and Bacardi Limon.  He said, "Let me know what you think."

Well, I didn't think much of it.  I don't drink tea, for one thing.  Secondly, "sweet" was the operative term as there seemed to be so much sugar in the drink I almost went into a diabetic coma.  I had a couple drinks and asked the bartender for another beer.  He said, "Didn't like that?" 

I said, "No, not really.  I'm not much of a tea drinker and it was way too sweet for me."  So he gave me a Sweetwater 420 on the house.  He said, "I'm not going to charge you for the drink, either."  And he didn't. 

While we could have eaten at the bar as a couple a few years older than us did while we were sitting there, Cindy has some sort of an aversion about eating at the bar.  Me, I'm an old hand at it.  But Cindy said, "This is the kind of place where I want to sit in the dining room.  If we have to wait, we have to wait."  It wasn't much longer after that when they called our name for us to get a seat. 

They took us to a corner table in the far back of the dining area which afforded us great views of the bayou out back of Uncle Bubba's.  We were both given a menu and we took a quick look at everything they had to offer.  And it was a lot. 

The first thing that pops out at you are the appetizers which features Uncle Bubba's signature char-grilled oysters.  They take oysters and grill them half-shell side down until they're cooked through, then topped with cheese, butter and garlic.  We'd never had anything like that before, we've always just ordered raw oysters on the half-shell.  But Cindy wanted to try the char-grilled oysters, so we ordered up a half-dozen.   For good measure, I also ordered a half-dozen of the raw oysters on the half-shell. 

The waiter, a young kid who was pretty personable (almost too personable as he seemed to be carrying on long conversations at his tables when his other customers needed refills or something taken care of), also told us of a special that evening - their "Catch of the Day."  It was a fresh Shawhee fish, grilled and served with cole slaw and Savannah red rice.  (Now, I don't know if Shawhee is the name of the fish or not - I asked him what it was called again and he said, "Shawhee.")  He said it was a light fish not unlike a North Atlantic cod, but was caught in the local waters.  Cindy thought that sounded good and ordered that.  

I went with a pound of the peel and eat boiled shrimp.  And for good measure, I thought I'd try a cup of Uncle Bubba's gumbo.  

Not long after we ordered our food, the char-grilled and raw oysters came to the table.  From the first bite of the char-grilled oysters, we were in heaven.  I finished two and when our waiter brought my cup of gumbo to the table, I said, "We need another half-dozen of these.  Can we just get charged the dozen price versus the half-dozen price?"  ($12.99 versus $7.99.)  

He said, "Absolutely, sir!"  I liked the waiter.  He was a good kid.  

While the char-grilled oysters were out of this world, the raw oysters were some of the best I'd ever had.  When the waiter came back with the second half-dozen char-grilled oysters, I asked him if these were local oysters.  He said, "No, sir.  These are from Louisiana.  We get 'em flown in fresh, sometimes on the same day they're brought into port."

Well, I don't know if he was bullshitting me or what.  But all I knew is that they were big, meaty and flavorful.  

And I also have to say that Uncle Bubba's gumbo was top-notch.  It had large chunks of shrimp, chicken and andouille sausage in a very spicy tomato-based broth.  I should have gotten a bowl of the gumbo, but I was ready to dive into the shrimp.

The boiled shrimp and Cindy's fish showed up at the table soon after that.  Cindy's grilled fish was light and flaky, and it didn't have a fishy taste to it.  She was happy about that.  She said, "This is truly fresh."  She declared the cole slaw at Uncle Bubba's as "OK" and she liked the Savannah red rice, which is really nothing more than a southern style red rice recipe consisting of a tomato base, with bacon bits, onions, green peppers and some seasoning mixed in. 

How was my shrimp?  I was in heaven.  The shrimp was lightly seasoned with some cajun spices and they were big and meaty.  I hungrily devoured a pound of the shrimp and seriously thought about getting another half-pound to satiate my appetite for a seafood overload.  But I didn't.  And I'm glad I didn't.  I wouldn't have had room for Uncle Bubba's famous Key Lime Pie.  

It was well past the 9 p.m. closing time when the waiter asked if we wanted to try the Key Lime Pie.  I said, "Well, if you're trying to get out of here..."

He said, "Oh, no.  I'll be here for awhile.  Do y'all want one piece or two?"

Cindy said, "Bring us one piece and a couple forks."  She laughed and said, "If it's as good as you say it is, we may just have to get a second piece."  

About three minutes later, he brought out the piece of Key Lime Pie.  It was - in a word - outstanding.  Some of the Best Key Lime pie I'd ever eaten.  And it was SOOOOO rich!  Oh, my God, was it rich!  But it was just unbelievable.  We found the recipe for it on line.  You can click here to get it.  It's very similar to the Key Lime Pie I make, except they make the pie shell from scratch and use a LOT of butter in doing so.  But we've found that Paula Deen uses a ton of butter in everything.    

After dinner we walked around the outside area looking at the bayou and the covered outdoor seating area.  We took a look at a number of the old Hiers/Deen family pictures along the wall and then decided to head back to the hotel.  Cindy suddenly realized that she had forgotten her jacket at the table.  She went back and it was gone.  She went to the hostess stand at the front of the restaurant and asked if anyone had turned in a jacket.  The girl went to look and she came back and said, "No, ma'am.  I'm sorry." 

Cindy was disgusted.  "Why in the hell would anyone steal a jacket in a place like this," she asked to no one in particular. 

And almost as soon as she said that, our waiter came in from the outside, carrying her jacket.  He said, "Oh, THERE y'all are!  I thought you guys left already.  You left this at the table and I was out in the parking lot looking for y'all."  

And he handed a somewhat embarrassed Cindy her jacket.

I was worried that Uncle Bubba's was kind of an over-rated, touristy restaurant.  But I have to say the food was great, the service was very good (even though the guy did dawdle at tables a little too long), and the people were helpful and friendly.  It was a little expensive (over $100 bucks with a tip), but, hey!  We're on vacation!  It was a great first meal on our first night in Savannah.  And we even saw a 4 foot long alligator on our way back into Savannah!  We were truly in the South.

 

Six Pence Pub - Savannah, GA

We got into Savannah on a sultry Sunday afternoon around 1:30 p.m.  After getting our bags and our rental car, we got to our hotel - the Hilton DeSoto - about 2:15.  We went to check in and our room wasn't ready at that time.  The girl at the desk said it wouldn't be long and they could store our luggage if we wanted to come back in about an hour.

Cindy was getting kind of hungry and we asked if there was any place around to get something to eat.  The girl at the front desk said, "We have a restaurant here." 

 

I said, "Yeah, but we're probably going to be eating there while we're here.  Any place close where we can get a sandwich and a beer?"

She immediately said, "Oh, yes.  Just right over there (pointing over her shoulder to the northwest) is a great little English pub."   We went back out the front door and almost caddy-cornered from the hotel was a little pub called the Six Pence Pub (see map).   The place offered outdoor seating, but the tables were full.  We went inside and waited for the hostess to come and seat us. 

We were seated at a small table just off the bar area.  The place was about half full and they had the Indianapolis 500 on the television at the bar.  A few people were watching the race, but mostly they were in conversation with one another over a cold beer. 

The Six Pence Pub in Savannah is one of a family of three Six Pence Pubs in the Southeast.  There is one in the Charlotte area at Fort Mill, SC, and one in Blowing Rock, NC.  The menu is typical of what you'd find in an authentic English pub.  They had the usual "Bangers and Mash", Fish and Chips, and Shepherd's Pie.  They also had a series of burgers, sandwiches, soups and salads to choose from.  

And just as nearby Chippewa Square was featured prominently in the movie Forrest Gump, It turns out the Six Pence Pub was featured in a major scene from the 1995 Julia Roberts, Dennis Quaid  movie Something to Talk About.  The front window of the Six Pence Pub was where Julia Roberts' character saw her husband, played by Quaid, with another woman and a confrontation took place on the street across from the Six Pence Pub.  I don't know if I've ever seen that movie, or if I did, I don't remember it. 

I wasn't overly hungry after having a big breakfast at the Milwaukee airport, but Cindy has to have three square meals a day or she can't function.  When our waitress showed up to ask us what we wanted, I just ordered a Smithwick's.  Cindy asked, "What kind of pale ale's do you have?"

I said to the waitress, "You probably have Bass, don't you?"

She said, "We do, yes."

Cindy said, "Bass is a little too heavy for me."

The waitress said, "We have a local beer out of Atlanta called Sweetwater 420.  That's a good pale ale." 

Cindy said she'd take that.

The decor in the Six Pence Pub features a lot of dark wood paneling along with an antique tin ceiling.  There are faux antique ceiling fans and lights hanging from the tin.  The main dining room was long and narrow, making for a cozy environment. 

As I said, I wasn't overly hungry so I went with the Tuna Salad salad - generous portions of tuna salad over a bed of lettuce.  You got your choice of dressing and I went with a basic vinegar and oil dressing combo.  Cindy also had tuna salad, only this was a sandwich.  She also got a cup of Six Pence Pub's Manhattan clam chowder. 

Cindy told me, "Take a drink of this beer."  I took a drink and deemed it to be "not too bad."  Actually, it was pretty good. 

I said, "What was the name of that beer?"

Cindy said, "I don't remember, but we need to find out."

When I finished my Smithwick's before our lunch came, I asked the waitress, "What is the beer my wife is having?"

She said, "Sweetwater 420.  It's a microbrew out of Atlanta." 

I said, "I want one of those."  It was very good.  It reminded me more of a good west coast pale ale, like a Sierra Nevada, and it was very good for a warm summer-like afternoon.

Our food came out and I have to say the portion of tuna salad and lettuce leaves were perfect.  It wasn't a lot of food, but enough to put something in my stomach.  We didn't have much of an idea where or even when we would eat that evening, so getting something in the gut before dinner was probably pretty smart. 

Cindy's tuna sandwich and Manhattan clam chowder was pronounced as "good".  She said, "This was all I needed."  Once Cindy gets to fading and needs food, she can be impossible to be around.  This kept her happy and good-to-go for the time being. 

The Six Pence Pub was a cool place.  I thought of my neighbor, George, because he's big on old English and Irish pubs.  I kept thinking that he would have loved this place.  I knew we probably wouldn't be spending much time in bars during our trip to Savannah - there was going to be too much to do and see.  But given the close proximity to our hotel, I knew we'd be back for a cold beer.  The funny thing was, we never did.  We found there were a number of good English and Irish pubs in and around the Savannah area for us to visit.  But for our first meal in Savannah, we certainly weren't disappointed with the Six Pence Pub.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

The John Berendt novel, "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil", based upon the true story of a sensational murder trial involving a Savannah socialite, was a New York Times best seller for over four years.  It was made into a movie in 1997 and has probably been the catalyst for the surge in tourism to Savannah over the past 10 years.  While some Savannahans dismiss the book as "trash", others have embraced the book and its content and have profited rather nicely off of it.

A lot of what was written about in the book took place in the heart of Savannah's Historic District.  Now, I had seen the movie, but didn't read the book.  That was until I picked up a copy at a small bookstore near our hotel and I read it while we were in Savannah and on Hilton Head Island.  I have to say it was a compelling read.  And being that we knew the lay of the land around Savannah, the book brought a vivid picture to my mind.  By the time we made it back to Savannah, I had finished the book and we sought out many of the landmarks that Berendt wrote about.

(By the way, I normally don't think this way, but I believe the book was much better than the movie.)

The book focused on the events leading up to and surrounding a murder committed by renown Savannah antique dealer Jim Williams.  While Berendt wove himself into the story, it turned out that he didn't really have a large part in the overall scheme of things.  But he wrote about many of the eccentric people in and around Savannah, the beauty of the town, the "Slow-vannah" way of life of drinking and more drinking, and how the people celebrated their dead they way we celebrate birthdays. 

The epicenter of the book happened here at the Mercer-Williams House.  The house begun construction in 1860, was interrupted by the American Civil War, and was finally finished in 1868.  Originally built for General Hugh Mercer, it turned out that Mercer never lived in the house.  After the war, Mercer was incarcerated at nearby Fort Pulaski and ended up moving to Baltimore, never to return to Savannah again.  Well, until he was buried at Bonaventure Cemetery, the most famous cemetery in Savannah.  But more about Bonaventure Cemetery later on. 

In 1969, Jim Williams bought the house and began the restoration of the home.  Williams bought and restored up to 50 old homes in the Savannah Historic District and was instrumental in the renaissance of the old Savannah.  

We took a tour of the Mercer-Williams House one afternoon.  It was just beautiful and completely furnished as it was when Jim Williams (left) died in the house in 1990.  However, photographs of the interior were not permitted.  Still we were able to see the office area where Williams allegedly shot Danny Hansford, the tall spiral staircase that led to the second floor where Williams had a ballroom (insurance would not let people wander through the house - we saw the main floor and garden only), and sitting room, library and dining room in the house.  Williams was known for his elaborate Christmas parties where he invited a veritable "who's who" of Savannah's elite.  Anticipation of who would and who wouldn't get an invitation to Williams party was usually a hot topic among Savannah's socialites and political heavyweights.

Just down the street from the Mercer-Williams House is the Armstrong House.  This, at one time, was also a residence of Jim Williams that he had restored.  But he sold it to move into the Mercer-Williams House in the late 60's.  Today, it houses the law firm of Bouhan, Williams and Levy, whose senior partner, Frank "Sonny" Seiler, was featured prominently in both the book and movie.  Seiler took over the defense of Jim Williams and eventually got an acquittal during Williams third appeal trial.  As grandiose as the Mercer-Williams house was, the Armstrong house was rather impressive.  I'm guessing that Jim Williams thought the house may have been too big for just one person. 

By the way, for you sports minded people, Sonny Seiler is the owner and caretaker of Uga, the official bulldog mascot for the University of Georgia.  Seiler has raised bulldogs since he was a student at the U of "Joe-Ja" in the 50's.  The current Uga is the seventh bulldog Seiler has raised and used as a mascot.  And all are direct descendants of Uga I, the first one Seiler had when he was a second year law student at Georgia.   The name Uga comes from the transformation of the U of Georgia (GA). 

One of the more notorious characters in the book was a sociable gentleman by the name of Joe Odom.  Joe Odom was a lawyer, real estate agent, piano player, entrepreneur and bon-vivant, notorious for staying a half-step ahead of his creditors and the law.  He really sounded like the kind of guy I'd like to hang out with, as long as you didn't lend him money.  Sort of a respected rogue, if you will.  This is the house he lived in on E. Jones St., not far from the Hilton DeSoto where we stayed.  It was easy to see into the house in the middle of the day, and I can almost imagine the guy watching CNBC in the living room had seen many people like me taking pictures of this house.  And he tolerated it. 

Speaking of hotels, the bar at the Hilton DeSoto was mentioned in the book, as well.  One of the more eccentric characters written about in the book, Serena Dawes - who was really named Helen Drexel and who had actually died 20 years before the book was published - was portrayed as a composite character for a number of like-minded females that Berendt crossed paths with during his stay in Savannah.  She liked to socialize, she liked to be seen in public and she liked to drink.  From what I gathered being in Savannah for a few days, that pretty much capsulized a number of people - both male and female - that live in the city.

 

And very prominently mentioned in "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" is Bonaventure Cemetery.  As I said before, Bonaventure Cemetery is the most famous of all of Savannah's cemeteries.  The haunting nature of the live oaks draped with Spanish moss, coupled with an idyllic setting along the Wilmington River makes it one of the "must-sees" during a trip to Savannah.  Many people use Bonaventure Cemetery as a park, and many grave sites feature benches where people can sit and toast the dead they're memorializing.  Or they can just sit and drink.

Now, another surprise during our trip to Savannah was the realization that one of the greatest song-smiths of the 20th Century, Johnny Mercer, grew up in Savannah.  I was completely oblivious to Mercer's name, but I certainly knew a number of his songs.  Mercer wrote the lyrics for over 1600 songs including Fools Rush In, I Remember You, One More for My Baby (and One More For the Road), and Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive.  Mercer also wrote the lyrics to In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening, Days of Wine and Roses, On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe, and his biggest hit, Moon River.  All four of those songs won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.  In fact, Moon River was based upon Mercer's childhood memories of the Wilmington River that flowed past Bonaventure Cemetery.  In all, Mercer had 16 songs nominated for the Academy Award.

Here's the bench at Mercer's grave site, like many benches throughout the cemetery where people can come out, have a drink and remember the people buried just feet away.  Given that Savannah has celebrated poets since the 1700's, I especially liked the inscription on the bench - a direct quote from Mercer.  "Buddy, I'm a kind of poet and I've gotta lotta things to say."  Believe me, after figuring out who the hell Johnny Mercer was and why everyone in Savannah was making such a big deal over him, I made it a point to learn more about the guy. 

The statue on the cover of "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" featured a unique statue that has been dubbed "The Bird Girl", as it looks like she's holding two bird feeder bowls.  This statue was a monument that was atop the grave site for the Trosdal family of Savannah.  Once the book came out, the family feared the 4 foot high statue would get damaged by the people who flocked to the cemetery to see it.  The statue was removed and placed in the Telfair Museum of Art in Savannah.  While there were four original statues made, we found a number of copies in different sizes available at a store in Savannah.  The smallest statue was about 18 inches high and had a price of around $115 dollars.   While Cindy loves putting little statues in our flower beds, I quickly passed on buying one for us.

Bonaventure Cemetery is the "garden of good and evil" mentioned in Berendt's book.  It is where the voodoo priestess, Minerva, went to cast her spells and perform her rituals to ward off the evil spirits that are interferring with the living.  Well, the living who believe in that stuff and who will pay her handsomely to do so.  I could never really find out if there really was a Minerva, or if it was a composite or take-off on a real person that Berendt came across during his time in Savannah.  And quite honestly, I don't even come close to believing all that stuff about the supernatural and voodoo, so that part of both the book and movie never tripped my trigger.

Another person who was a notable character in both the book and in the movie was The Lady Chablis.  This notorious cross-dressing performer burst out both in the pages of the book and on the screen in the movie.  He/she performs at a club called Club One in downtown Savannah once or twice a month.  While The Lady Chablis performed the last Saturday night we were in Savannah, we made no effort to go catch the show.  Actually, he/she is the master of ceremonies for a show that features a number of cross-dressing, transvestite or trans-gender singers.  While I feel I have a very open mind, it's still not quite the type of entertainment I'd go pay to see.  We did walk by Club One a couple times, but I neglected to get a picture of the place. 

I highly recommend reading (or re-reading) "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" before you go to Savannah.  And it would also be good to see the movie, as well, so you will recognize some of the famous sights from around the Savannah area during your visit.  While we didn't run into anyone who came close to matching the description of some the seemingly never-ending cast of eccentric characters Berendt found during his time in Savannah, reading the book or seeing the movie will go a long way in helping you understand the "Slow-vannah" way of life before your visit.

  

Savannah - Part 3

We walked a lot in Savannah.  As I said in my entry on Monday, we stayed at the Hilton DeSoto hotel in the heart of the Savannah Historic District.  We could walk for 15 to 20 minutes in either direction from the hotel and traverse a good portion of the Historic District.  While the weather was good for us a large portion of the time, there were a couple mornings where we had a little rain and a lot of fog.  But that really didn't deter us from taking off and walking around the Historic District.  I mean, it's Savannah - it should be muggy!

This one particular morning, we decided to take a walk south of our hotel and look at a number of points of interest.  Literally right across the street and down a half-block from the hotel was the famous Sorrell-Weed House.  Savannah is big on ghosts, voo-doo and the supernatural.  They have tours at night to take people around to some of these places where ghosts have appeared.  It's big business, but you wouldn't catch me on one of those tours.  Still, the Sorrell-Weed house is sort of the epicenter in Savannah of all things ghosts and the para-normal.  The house, which dates back to 1840, has been featured on a number of television programs investigating the super-natural.  But to me, the house represented more of an architecture masterpiece than someplace I'd go to see ghosts.

One of the many surprises we found in Savannah was the Savannah College of Art and Design, also known as SCAD.  We had seen these "SCAD Security" cars driving through the neighborhoods from time to time, saw some buildings that had "SCAD" on them throughout the Historic District and not far from our hotel was the main offices for SCAD.  It turns out that SCAD, which was established in 1978, has a student population of around 8,000 in Savannah.  They also have a campus in Atlanta, a campus in LaCoste, France and are soon to open a campus in Hong Kong.   The joke we heard more than once about the Savannah School of Art and Design was it was originally called the Savannah School of Art and Music, but parents had a hard time making tuition checks out to SCAM.  

SCAD's curriculum is unique and diversified.  Not only do they have a world-class art and design program, they have a wonderful architecture and restoration program.  In fact, many of the older commercial buildings around the city have been bought and restored by the college and many of them are used for classrooms.  

The second weekend we were in Savannah, it was SCAD's graduation and the actress Glenn Close was in town to give the commencement address to the 2009 graduating class of 1500 students.  The Savannah School of Art and Design has students from all 50 states and around 35 countries attending school in Savannah.  We saw a lot of Asian students in town while we were there.  

At the bar in the Hilton DeSoto one evening, we met and talked with a guy by the name of Zig Jackson who was a professor of photography at SCAD.  He was a pretty interesting guy.  It turns out that he's also somewhat famous.  Zig Jackson was born on an Indian reservation in North Dakota and his photography of Native American contemporary scenery is featured in the Library of Congress.  In fact, he is the first Native American to have pictures permanently displayed at the Library of Congress.  Had we not had dinner reservations, we may have just sat and talked to the guy all night long.  He was a wealth of interesting information about Savannah and the school.  Click on his name above and it will take you to his web site which has a number of his photographs displayed.

Moving on a little further down the way, we came across the Green-Meldrim mansion.  The mansion's claim to historical fame was that it was the local headquarters for Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman during his famous "March to the Sea" during the American Civil War.  If you remember your grade school history, Sherman's task was to literally burn and destroy everything in his path on his way to the Atlantic Ocean.  When he got to Savannah, he found the city to have such a natural and architectural beauty that he couldn't bring himself to destroy any of the buildings.  He promptly went north and burned down Charleston, SC instead.  I understand that still sticks in the craw of many people in Charleston who view Savannah as somewhat of a rival.

At the far south end of the Historic District is the famous Forsyth Park.   This 20 acre park was laid out by the city of Savannah in 1851.  Not only does it have the usual tree lined walk ways and memorials like many of the other small park squares in Savannah, it also boasts two large fields that were used as training grounds for soldiers back in the 1800's.  The park is the south border of Savannah's Historic District and is the entry point to the city's Victorian District.  Any large outdoor event that is held in Savannah is staged at Forsyth Park.

The most famous icon in the park - well, quite possibly in the city of Savannah - is the Forsyth Park Fountain.   This white cast iron fountain was designed and built in the late 1850's and was designed after the fountain at the Place de la Concorde in Paris.  The fountain had fallen into disrepair over the years and finally was renovated 20 years ago.  We were sort of lucky to get some great pictures of the fountain because the fog was just getting ready to lift and there were hardly any people around the park.  The tranquil beauty of the park was very cool.  We lingered quite a bit around the fountain just taking in the sight.

At the far south end of the park are the two huge open fields.   Right in the middle of the open fields is the Confederate Monument - a rather imposing memorial that rises nearly 40 feet into the air.  The story behind the monument is that a group of people from the former Confederate states commissioned a Canadian artist to design and build the memorial to slain Confederate soldiers.  The stone was mined in Canada, the full monument was built in Canada, and it was shipped via boat to Savannah because the people putting up the money for the monument didn't want it to touch "Yankee" soil.  It was dedicated in 1879.  The city of Savannah put a fence around the monument a number of years ago to keep people from climbing the monument and to keep its architectural integrity.  In other words, there had been some vandalism to the monument over the years.  Actually, it's a pretty impressive monument.

As I said, the large fields on the south end of the park were used as staging and training areas for both Federal and Confederate soldiers in the 1800's and early 1900's.  There were two mock forts that were built on the north end of the large field just after the turn of the 20th century that were used to train soldiers on attacking and holding their positions.  This is the east side fort undergoing an extensive restoration.  Word is that it is going to be turned into a restaurant, but I couldn't get a confirmation on that. 

The west fort was renovated in the early 60's and now houses a beautiful garden called "The Garden of Fragrance."  Inside the walls of the old fort is a large garden full of roses and other fragrant flowers.  Originally built as a garden for the blind, it, too, had fallen into disrepair and was renovated about six or seven years ago.  The only problem was that it was gated shut and we couldn't walk around inside.  But being the rose and flower people that we are, Cindy and I were both amazed at how wonderful the garden was.  We had made a promise to ourselves to come back later on when the gates were open, but we never did make it back.

Just across the street from Forsyth Park stands another icon in Savannah, the Candler Oak.  This live oak tree is said to be close to 275 years old.  The trunk is 16 feet around, the crown of the tree is about 110 feet across and it stands about 50 feet tall.  Live oak wood was used by shipbuilders in the 1700's and 1800's because of the strength and resilience of the wood.  The Candler Oak was part of a five acre area set aside a number of years ago to keep some of the older live oak trees from being cut down to be used in ships and boats. 

Walking back toward the hotel, we went through Monterey Square to take in the Pulaski Monument, a memorial to Polish General Casimir Pulaski who fought on the side of the American patriots during the Revolutionary War.  One peculiar thing I found about the 21 original squares in Savannah was that while nearly each of them had a monument or a memorial fountain in the middle of the park, sometimes the monument didn't match up with the park's name.  Example, there is a Pulaski Square, but the monument to Pulaski is in Monterey Square.  There is an Oglethorpe Square, named after the founder of Savannah, James Oglethorpe, but the Oglethorpe monument is in Chippewa Square.  I found it to be rather peculiar they did it that way.   We took dozens of pictures of the fountains and monuments in many of the squares.  We could have easily spent just one day going around to all the squares and reading about the monuments and memorials.

I could go on and on talking about Savannah, about how it has one of the largest per capita Scottish and Irish populations in the nation; how the Savannah St. Patrick's Day Parade is second in size to only the St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York City; and how they live life in a laid-back, easy going pace that may people refer to as the "Slow-vannah Way".  Savannah was truly a mystical, magical and enchanting place.  We were smitten with the city so much that we canceled a proposed trip to Charleston, SC and went back to Savannah to spend the rest of our vacation after a couple three days on Hilton Head Island.  If you ever get the chance to go to Savannah, do it!   

Savannah - Part 2

After having a great burger at B&D Burgers in downtown Savannah (look for that entry in the coming days), Cindy and I took off again on our trek around some of the Savannah Historic District's more interesting sites. 

In Savannah, they celebrate the dead like the people are still living.  Cemeteries are a big part of Savannah's history and culture.  In fact, many people in Savannah treat cemeteries like parks and you'll sometime find a number of places to sit, even at grave sites.  In fact, this cemetery - Colonial Park - became a city park in 1896.  Colonial was the second cemetery in the city of Savannah opening in 1750 and it officially closed in the mid-1850's.  

A number of historical figures in the colonization and early growth of Savannah are buried in the park.  The above picture is the grave site of Button Gwinnett, the only Georgia signer of the Declaration of Independence.  It was said that Gwinnett was torn between supporting the American revolutionaries and being loyal to the British crown since he was born in England.  He signed his name on the Declaration of Independence as the smallest possible in case the British were able to crush the colonists and Gwinnett could go back and show the Brits that he half-heartedly signed the document in hopes they'd treat him well.  It didn't matter because Gwinnett was killed in a dual less than a year after he signed the document.

Gun duels between two men were prominent in the mid-to late 1700's and early 1800's.  There was an official "dueling field" across the street from Colonial Cemetery where a number of duels took place during that period.  The tour guide joked earlier in the day that it was a convenient spot for duels as they could gather up the defeated duelist and carry him across the street to plant him in the ground.  At least, I think the tour guide was joking about that.  This particular grave site houses the body of Lt. James Wilde who was killed in January of 1815 in a duel with Captain Roswell Johnson of the 8th Regimental U.S Infantry that was based outside of Savannah.  Lt. Wilde was the youngest brother of poet and statesman Richard Henry Wilde, who wrote a rather brusque epitaph for his brother's headstone that took a swipe at Capt. Johnson.  Colonial Park was filled with a number of defeated duelists and some headstones will even tell of who they lost to in a duel.  

During the American Civil War, or as some in Savannah still call it "The Northern Aggression" or even "The Unpleasantness", Union troops occupying the city used Colonial Cemetery as a campground.  Some Union troops broke off headstones and littered the area with them.  After the war, people in Savannah tried to match up the headstones with the grave sites.  In cases in which they weren't able to do so, the headstones were mounted on a back wall of the cemetery to let people know that somewhere in the cemetery this particular person was resting.  

Colonial Park is a big open area that is dotted with a number of what appear to be above ground grave sites.  Actually, these are burial vaults where a number of family members are entombed in the cemetery.  A number of these vaults had been demolished and subsequently rebuilt after the Civil War.  And I understand that some of these burial vaults are actually empty, with bodies of the deceased moved to other cemeteries around the Savannah area. 

Religion is a big part of the Savannah culture, as well.  Some of the most stately churches in the South are in the Savannah Historic District.  This may be the most grandeur of all the churches we saw - The Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist.  This church was originally built in the 1870's and destroyed by fire just before the turn of the 20th century.  It was rebuilt almost exactly as it had stood before as builders were working off the original plans.  While I'm not big on religion, I'm big on architecture and this was one impressive building, to say the least.

The Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist dominates the skyline in the Historic District.  It's twin spires rise over 100 feet in the air and it's a great landmark if you can spot them coming out of the dense trees that line the streets of the Historic District. 

I bravely entered the church - hoping that I would not spontaneously combust when stepping inside for being such a heathen - to take a look at the ornate interior.  It was just absolutely fabulous on the inside.  The stained glass windows were all made in Austria and installed in the church at the start of the 20th century.  The wooden pillars are all hand-carved and elegantly painted.  On the walls around the church are hand-carved depictions of the 13 Stages of the Cross, which chronicles the last hours of Christ. (Cindy, who grew up as a Catholic, had to help me on that one.)  I've seen some beautiful churches in Europe, but this may have been the most beautiful church I'd ever seen in the U.S.

One thing that piqued my interest were the huge pipes on the back wall for the church's organ.  These huge brass pipes stood tall and gleaming against the rather stoic surroundings in the church.  I'm a sucker for huge pipe organs and I told Cindy that I'd almost want to come to a service at this church just to hear the organ.  She perked up and said, "Really?"

The look I gave her back pretty much told her, "Not really."

In addition to the Catholic Cathedral, other notable churches in the Historic District include the First African Baptist Church, which is one of the oldest African-American churches in the nation; the Temple Mickve Israel synagogue which is the only Gothic Revival style synagogue in the United States; and this church - the Independent Presbyterian Church.  As with the Catholic Cathedral, the Independent Presbyterian Church was destroyed by fire in the late 1880's and rebuilt within two years as an almost duplicate to the original one built in 1816.   The original granite steps that were dug from a quarry in Massachusetts survived the fire, as did the original marble baptism font that was originally from New Jersey. 

If you're a movie buff, you may recognize the Independent Presbyterian Church from the opening scene of the movie Forrest Gump.  This is where the wayward white feather began it's journey during the opening credits, eventually winding up at the feet of Tom Hanks' character before he picks it up and puts it in his Curious George book. 

Speaking of Forrest Gump, this is the spot where the bench scenes of the movie were filmed, when Tom Hanks' character was talking about his life to the strangers waiting for the bus.  The bench was never there to begin with as it's not really a bus stop at this spot on the north side of Chippewa Park.  In fact, the street in front of this flower bed is a one-way going to the right.  They made it a two-way street for the movie.  The bench used for the movie is housed today in the Savannah History Museum.  Originally, city leaders wanted to keep the bench on the spot and put a bronze statue of Forrest Gump sitting on it.  But the original bench, which, actually, was made from fiberglass, is now roped off in the History Museum.  No, we didn't pay the admission to go see it.  

There are a number of historic houses in the Historic District.  This house is the birthplace of Juliette Low, the founder of the Girl Scouts of America.  The house is owned and maintained by the Girl Scouts and houses a number of historical items and artifacts from the Girl Scouts over the years. (No, we didn't go in, even though Cindy was a Girl Scout years ago.)  People in Savannah made a huge deal out of the fact that the Girl Scouts were founded by a local native.  I had never heard of the name before, or if I did, I didn't remember the significance.  But the site is sort of a "mecca" for Girl Scouts of all ages.  We saw a number of girls in their uniforms in the area while we were in Savannah.  

A number of houses in the Historic District of Savannah have wrought iron fencing in front of them.  We were told that if a house had wrought iron fencing in front, it signified a level of wealth for the inhabitants of the home years ago.  Some wrought iron fences are more ornate than others, signifying an even higher degree of wealth.  This is in front of one house - known as the Presidents and Poets house - where the original owner had portraits of both U.S. Presidents and famous poets of the day (which were big in Savannah, I understand) etched into the intricate ironwork in front of his house. 

Originally, Savannah was sectored off into 24 quadrants on a grid.  They had one firehouse to take care of all 24 quadrants.  This was the original bell that was used to sound an alarm when a fire had erupted in one of the quadrants.  And if a fire had erupted in quadrant 5, the bell rang five times.  As our tour guide pointed out, "If you lived in the 24th quadrant and you had a fire, well, you had to wait until the bell rang 24 times before they'd even make their way toward your house." 

On the far east end of the Savannah Historic District is The Pirates House, a restaurant that dates back to the 1750's.  Legend has it that it was used as a hangout by pirates in the 1700's, but was more famous as an inn and restaurant for a number of sea-going travelers who came to Savannah from all points of the world.  The restaurant is mentioned prominently in Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel Treasure Island.  Although we were tempted to have a meal there, we decided it was too much of a tourist trap.

 

We'd pretty much had enough sight-seeing for the day.  In tomorrow's post, I'll tell you about some things we saw when we went for a walk south of our hotel in the heavy fog and dew of a sultry Savannah morning.

(By the way, these pictures were taken with Cindy's little point-and-shoot Panasonic camera.  That thing takes some pretty good pictures.)

  

Savannah - Part 1

Cindy has always wanted to go to Savannah, GA for a number of reasons.  First and foremost, she's a big fan of Paula Deen, whose Lady and Son's restaurant is located there.  But she's also read about the magical and enchanting nature of the city.  She had some vacation time to use up by the end of May, and I was on the back side of my two hip replacement operations.  My boss was nice enough to allow me to take some time off before I got into the bulk of travel this summer.  We booked our flights and our hotel rooms and off we went to Savannah.  (As always, you can click on the pictures to get a larger view.)

Savannah is one of the oldest cities in North America, first settled in 1733 by James Oglethorpe who laid out the unique quadrant grid design of the original city to include a number of park squares.  21 of the original 24 park squares are still in use in the Savannah Historic District, a 1300 square acre area that includes a number of large and historic homes, buildings and monuments.  We stayed right in the heart of the historic district at the Hilton DeSoto hotel.  The area is easy to walk around, taking about 20 minutes in any direction from the Hilton DeSoto to get to the far reaches of the historic district.

We gathered a lot of information on Savannah before we left - not only from on-line web sites and travel books, but from people who were familiar with the area, as well.  One of the best pieces of advice we got was to take one of the many trolley tours that take people around the historic district.   These trolleys have a number of stops that will allow you to get on or off at a given stop.  They take about 90 minutes - tops - and the driver is also the tour guide.  You go all through the historic district from the old riverfront area down to Forsythe Park and every where in between. 

We hopped on one of the Old Town Trolley Tour trolleys early on our first full day in Savannah.  While we seemed to be the youngest people on the trolley, it was still informative and gave us a great lay of the land as to what we wanted to go and do and see in the historic district of Savannah.  The trolleys are not all that comfortable with wooden bench seats and are kind of stuffy if you get in one where it doesn't have the open sides.  And it wasn't all that cheap - $25 bucks per person plus tax.  But, still, it was a great way to get to know the area.  

One of the first places we visited after we got off the trolley tour was the City Market area of Savannah.  The City Market dates back to the 1750's where fishermen would bring their catch in to sell to the population.  The City Market survived fires, hurricanes and then an eventual closing in the 50's to be resurrected by the Historic Savannah Foundation a few years ago.  Today, there are a number of shops, art boutiques and restaurants in the market area.  I found most of them to be tourist traps, however.

One of the places we visited in the City Market was the Savannah Candy Kitchen.   This place was highly recommended by a couple of people who said it was the most decadent candy store they'd ever been in.  I have to say there was a lot of tempting things in the case from their famous praline cookies and peanut brittle, their taffy which is pulled on a machine right in the middle of the store, their candied apples, fudge and truffles.  Cindy did try a sample of their praline peanut brittle, but I was a good boy and only bought a bottle of water in the place.  But that mint fudge was sure calling my name. 

From the City Market area, we wandered over to the historic waterfront area and River Street.  River Street is a 3/4 mile long stretch that's an uneven one-way brick and cobblestone street that goes along the old warehouses that now house restaurants, bars, shops and antique stores.  There's a parkway between the Savannah River and the street that featured musicians, kids frolicking in the many fountains and people just hanging out.  Unfortunately, most of the restaurants and shops were more tourist oriented and we were highly disappointed in many of the places we visited. 

The buildings along the waterfront were mainly old cotton warehouses that held loads upon loads of cotton bales that were transported out of the Port of Savannah in the 1700's and 1800's.  When cotton began to be transported via trucks in the 1900's, the warehouses fell empty and became decrepit.  The Historic Savannah Foundation took over many of the buildings and restored them.  Many were turned into shops and restaurants while keeping the original buildings and architecture intact.  This is a picture of original Savannah Cotton Exchange, one of the many recognized historical buildings along the waterfront. 

One of the more interesting buildings along River Street was this one that was built directly over a street.  This structure tested the law and was the first case of "air rights" ever brought forth before a court in the United States.  The architect and builder kept the street below, but attached the building to two of the old warehouses.  They made such a big deal out of it during our tour that I had to take a picture.  But the more I heard about it, I found it to be a pretty significant historical entity in Savannah. 

 

The Port of Savannah is the fourth largest port in the United States in terms of tonnage moved.  The Savannah River was filled with huge ocean going freighters filled with containers.  Savannah is about 15 miles up stream from the ocean and the river is wide enough to allow two large freighters to pass side-by-side.  We were told that they are expanding and upgrading the Port of Savannah and within 10 years it could have the capacity to be the largest ocean port in the U.S., just ahead of New York and Long Beach.

With a commanding presence in the downtown area, the Savannah City Hall is a beautiful building that rivals many state capitol buildings I have seen.  Built in 1901, Savannah's city hall replaced a building that was part of the old City Exchange which housed city government offices since the mid-1700's.  The stately city hall is just across from the historic U.S. Customs House that was built in the mid-1800's and was the third Customs building in the Savannah area.  It was an important starting point for the cotton, tobacco and peanuts that were grown in the Southeast and sent to ports around the world. 

Here is a picture of one of the side streets that will take you down from Bay Street - which is the main drag through downtown Savannah - to River Street and the waterfront area.  In addition to the cobblestones, early settlers mixed in a concoction of sea shells, lime, water, sand and ash known as Tabby.  Tabby was used by early settlers along the east coast, primarily in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.  Many of the old streets were paved with cobblestones and tabby, and a lot of the early structures were made with tabby.  What the early settlers found was that as time went on, the tabby hardened even more making it ideal for hurricane prone areas.  There are a number of examples of tabby-built structures still standing in the Savannah area.

Just to the east of the City Hall along Bay Street is Emmet Park, a beautiful park full of Live Oak trees strewn with hanging Spanish moss.  Emmet Park is home to a number of memorials, fountains and historical plaques that are pretty interesting to look at if you're a history buff like me.  But the park, itself, was a wonderful oasis of green in the middle of the city.  The Vietnam Veterans memorial is in the park, as is the old gas-powered Harbor Light lighthouse that was in service up to the mid 1800's. 

Also in Emmet Park are two cannons that were personally given to the Chatham Artillery, a militia unit from the city of Savannah, by George Washington in 1791 after the end of the Revolutionary War.  The cannon on the left is British made, the one on the right was made by the French.  Both were being used by British forces during the war and were captured by the American army at the Battle of Yorktown which ended the conflict.  These cannons were used to greet a number of U.S. Presidents during their visits to Savannah with booming reports.  In 1861, they were buried under floor boards in a building so they wouldn't fall into Union Army hands during the Civil War, (which, by the way, is still being fought by some people in the South, as we found out during our trip).  After the war, the cannons were not unearthed until 1872 fearing that occupying federal forces would take the cannons.  The cannons were moved to their present location in 1982, just over 200 years after they were captured at the final battle in the Revolutionary War.   

It was time for lunch, so that took care of what we saw in the morning of our first full day in Savannah.  Coming up, more on our trip to Savannah, GA!