after dinner sneeze

Savannah tap house served standard bar fare.  Nothing particularly great about the atmosphere or service.  They did try to jazz it up with an assortment of flatbreads, like this one with brie, peach, and pork belly.  Ultimately was disappointing as the center was really soggy.  Also: peach + brie = good, pork + peach = good, but pork + peach + brie = not as good.  Sorry guys.

The Little Pink House is a Savanah institution.  g and I were hesitant to go because we were afraid we’d have another Commander’s Palace experience (i.e. lots of hype, but a huge disappointment).  Fortunately, the food was actually done quite well, and the service was quite competent (including dealing g’s grandfather’s “flirtatious advances” – I use air-quotes because it’s not really flirtatious, just funny!).  Here is the fried green tomato over corn grits with a dash of bacon bits – pretty respectably done.

I followed it up with a pecan-crusted chicken, collards, and sweet potato.  Ok – so the collards and sweet potato were both bland – so they get failing marks – the chicken, however, that was actually pretty amazing!  There was no way I’d expect that pecans belong in/on/around chicken, but they really pulled it off, as the pecans added more of a savory character than a sweet one (just so long as you didn’t get too much of the maple glaze on it).  I’ll give it an A- (the chicken could have been a bit juicier).

So, on one hand, I felt like they just phoned in dessert – it was the equivalent of ice cream and fruit … BUT THAT CUP.  It was some kind of tuille of sugar and nut that was, in my opinion the best single item we ate while there.  If I had the recipe for that, I’d be making them all the time for dinner parties.  (The fruit and ice cream were “ok”).

I knew we weren’t in Louisiana, but I just had to try an oyster-and-shrimp-po’-boy while at “The Shrimp Factory” along the river.  Result: precisely executed.  The shrimp and oysters were nicely fried (not over, not under), which is the most important part.  The lettuce and tomato were a bit sad-looking (so essentially I had fried seafood between two pieces of bread).  This sandwich could have easily taken home “best item of the trip” with just a bit more “healthy” stuff (omg – never thought I’d say something like that on this blog ever).

g and I did go to a restaurant at the Savannah Andaz called 22Square.  Now this restaurant felt like we were back in Philly.  Boasting “from farm to fork”, It had that rustic look with the appearance reclaimed woods and wrought iron light fixtures with Edison bulbs.  The servers were professional, and the menu was edgier than anything else we had see on the trip.  Above, you see the bread plate with some dynamite foccacia and some kind of dried-fruit-in-rye-bread.  (I actually think that those might be the best savory items we ate on the trip …)

Our appetizers featured what I’d like to call an “Asian salad” (citrus + sesame seeds + greens) and a pork belly appetizer that was a bit forgettable (i.e. I forget the details).

We then ventured a lamp shepherd’s pie which was excellently done – good veggies, smooth mash, deep lamby flavors – no complaints!  g’s beef was satisfactory (no frills there), and accompanied by a bed of greens that reminded us quite a bit of the initial Asian salad we had as an appetizer …

Now this … this is the reason you should have bothered reading to the end of this post.  I saved the best for last.  This is ice cream from Napoleon’s, which was just a half-block away from our hotel.  It. was. stupendous.  The not-electric-lime-green pistachio ice cream was chocked full of nuts.  When coupled with the hot fudge, it sent me to heaven.  g and I started scheming ways to mail the ice cream back to SF so we could have a proper Napoleon vs. Bi Rite face-off.  If I had to eat one thing in Savannah again, it’d be this ice cream …

While driving back to the Orlando airport, g consulted a previous email that kp had constructed to detail all of his favorite bbq stops off of 95.  How/why kp had made such a list – I don’t know – but we’re darn appreciative.  About one hour above the Flordia-Georgia border is Southern Soul BBQ on St. Simons Island.  This place packs up at lunch like Pat’s/Geno’s at night, with a long line of people waiting to place their orders, and all the seating taken up by a mix of tourists and locals (although it is a tourist destination, so probably more tourists than locals).  We sat across from a family from Kentucky who, in stereotypical Southern manner, were very nice, pleasant, kind folk.  I have no picture of the bbq, because immediately upon receiving my brisket, my hands were an oil-and-sauce-covered mess.  It was some excellent bbq, though, and we highly recommend it, as the meat was succulent, the sauce options were plentiful (although the “hot” sauce wasn’t very spicy).  Really, the only thing missing was us pulling out some gouchuchang (for some reason I felt like a Korean spin on this bbq would have blown my mind).  I will say: pass on the key lime bar,  as much as I wanted it to resemble key lime pie, it wasn’t (I only have myself to blame …).