Eatin' Our Way Thru Savannah

The Colonel and I discovered that Savannah is full of delicious food.

After we checked into our 1872 guest house we walked through some of the many pretty squares that dot Savannah's historical district to the Riverfront. There we ate at the Cotton Exchange restaurant.

I had a very southern dish of shrimp and grits. They were awesome! I have got to learn how to make them like the Cotton Exchange does. I think this Yankee girl can make that happen eventually, because I recently made another very traditional southern dish of Banana Pudding (which we saw on every menu in Savannah) and two of my friends who were born and raised here in the South thought my pudding was extremely delicious (and have asked me, a Yankee, to make it again soon).

While in Savannah, The Colonel and I also ate at Paula Deen's restaurant, Lady and Sons. The food was dee-licious Y'all.

When you decide to eat at Paula Deen's restaurant you have your name and the number in your party put on a list, then you go across the street to wait until your name is called. Before names are called a waiter from the restaurant comes out to ring a triangle dinner bell (really whips the crowd up). When your name is called you are given a card with what floor of the restaurant you will eat on. They really have this down to a science to get people in and out in a quick, orderly fashion. The Colonel and I were on the second floor. We opted to eat from the buffet. I only had one piece of fried chicken, there were so many sides I wanted to try and did not want to fill up on chicken.

We ate where Paula Deen got her start; Mrs. Wilkes' Dining Room. Lunch is served there between 11AM and 2PM only. The line outside the door starts early.

When you reach the door you are asked how many are in your party that way they can best seat you at a table. Each table can seat 8 to 10 people and you are seated with total strangers (we had two German men at our table). The lunch is served family-style. There was fried chicken, BBQ pork, beef stew and all kinds of side dishes available (The Colonel counted 32 side dishes on the table).

The waitresses kept on refilling the food dishes. Once everyone at the table had their fill a dessert tray was handed around. You had a choice of peach cobbler or, of course, banana pudding. Mrs. Wilkes' Dining Room has one rule and that is when you are done you must take you plate and glass to the kitchen door where a worker will take it from you so that it can be washed. Oh yes, one more rule I almost forgot...Mrs. Wilkes' only takes cash.

There are so many places available to eat at while in Savannah. The Pirates' House is another place we chose.

It was built in 1754 and associated with Robert Louis Stevenson's, Treasure Island.

The history of the Pirates' House is rife with tales of drunken sailors being carried through a tunnel, out a door near the river, whisked away aboard ships and pressed into service with hopes of making it back to Savannah one day.


The food was delicious and our waitress was knowledgeable about the history of the restaurant and was willing to take my camera down to the haunted cellar and take some pictures for me (only because it was daylight she said).

When she came back she said that my camera was acting strange down there. The flash was on, but it would not always work as she was snapping pictures. These are some of the shots she took.

We didn't see anything paranormal in the pictures she took.

We found a nice convenience store called Parker's Market. It much more than a convenience store...It had gourmet cheeses and wines available for purchase as well as many pretty gifts and cards to choose from. We walked there every morning and got our breakfast and coffee. The people working there were extremely friendly.

We had very delicious pizza twice at Vinnie Van G0-Go's located in the City Market area of Savannah. We also had a lovely dinner at the hotel 17Hundred90 (our guest house was associated with that hotel).

Thank goodness Savannah is a very walkable city...with all of that delicious food to eat, The Colonel and I needed the exercise to limit the pounds we could have packed on while there (Oh, I almost forgot, we also made two stops at Leopold's Ice Cream-some of the best ice cream we've ever eaten).