Carolinas, Georgia & South Trips (Lonely Planet, 1st Edition) - Alex Leviton [110]
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Long before literary tourism descended upon Savannah, it was gorgeous: a historic and meticulously preserved town brimming with quaint squares, antebellum mansions, tall tales, and a local population as colorful as a Rajasthani spice market. Those folks liked to eat.
Like New Orleans, the contribution of Savannah’s culinary scene to the overall appeal of the town comes second to architecture and history, but also like the Big Easy, most visitors walk away with gluttonous tales of gastronomic indulgence rather than memories of the exquisite ironwork here, or the extraordinary use of primary colors in the rare 16th-century painting on display there. Refinement in Savannah is hardly unique – a bad meal, though, is much more difficult to stumble across.
For a palate-dancing introduction to Southern soul food, start your day at Mom and Nikki’s, a working-class soul food cafeteria that is as basic as it gets. Mornings here offer grits, cheese eggs, a choice of meat (shrimp, pork, salmon, all lovingly prepared in indecipherable ways), and a fluffy buttermilk biscuit. The spicy smothered shrimp over cheese grits is the way you want to go. The staff will even call you honey.
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TIME
3 days
BEST TIME TO GO
Mar – May
START
Savannah, GA
END
Savannah, GA
ALSO GOOD FOR
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Savannah tends to be hot and muggy most of the year, so the best time to stroll the historic district’s quaint streets and picturesque squares is just after breakfast, before the paralyzing midday sun turns your clothes into a sweat-soaked mess. The two-tiered cast-iron fountain at Forsyth Park provides a quintessential Kodak moment, but Savannah’s charm lurks in the more residential squares arranged through the historic district like perfectly positioned chess pieces of colonial glory. The only reason to stop wandering from one gorgeous square to the next is hunger.
No foodie pilgrimage to Savannah would be complete without popping in to Paula Deen’s Southern food mecca, Lady & Sons, if for no other reason than to pay homage to the empress herself. Deen’s restaurant is now Savannah’s most-visited attraction, a two-story affair that churns out Southern fare like shrimp and grits with Tasso ham to a clientele that’s no stranger to antihypertensives and Oprah-like worship.
Around dinnertime, things start to get really interesting. Do yourself a favor and walk the mile or so from the center of the historic district to the stately Elizabeth on 37th, a turn-of-the-century mansion that has been a Georgian culinary icon since 1981. Southern food dressed up like a debutante is the draw. Cheese drop biscuits with house-made orange marmalade start things off here, a sort of Southern gourmet chips and salsa. Seasonal gems like lacquered South Carolina quail with curried crawfish and Michelin 3-star fresh greens and herbs from the on-property garden should follow. Walk the food coma off on your way to Mansion on Forsyth Park, where Savannah hoity-toityness collides with contemporary abstract art at the city’s swankiest hotel.
The next morning, you need not go far for your next gourmand treat. 700 Drayton, the Mansion on Forsyth Park’s signature restaurant, is also home to 700 Drayton Kitchen Cooking School, where chef Darin Sehnert runs two- to three-hour cooking classes most mornings. Join a Lowcountry class, the South Carolinian, Caribbean-and-African-influenced, Cajun-paralleled cuisine that characterizes the local food from coastal Georgia to Charleston. You’ll be serving up shrimp with redeye gravy or pecan praline angel food cake back in Jersey in no time.
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“The crab cakes at the River House are exceptional – they’re made from crab, not a bunch of bread crumbs and junk. I tell people from Maryland that! Don’t overlook the Olde Pink House. Go downstairs and listen to Johnny Mercer–type jazz that won