On Saturday (8/2) we got up early to go stand in line to eat at a place I have longed to visit for many years. I have to thank my sweet husband for going along for the ride as his wife unashamedly acted like a tourist. We headed to
The Lady & Son's so we could get in line to get priority seating for dinner that evening.
9:15 in the morning - this is our place in line. Again not for reservations but for priority seating.
The line in front of us-can you see The Lady and Son's sign in front of me? We have a ways to go!
The line behind us (can you find Jeremy?)...
More than an hour later we finally made it! Our priority seating time - 8:00 PM.
Off to breakfast, we ate at a little place around the corner called
The Express Cafe & Bakery. A great little local place with amazing food - we liked it so much we ate there two mornings. This was my first ice cold sweet tea in Savannah (yes for breakfast). I think I had a glass at every meal for the rest of our trip (with the sticky humidity it was a much needed treat!) My favorite food here was the quiche Lorraine with a cup of fruit and ending with half of a cinnamon roll. I am not usually a cinnamon roll fan but theirs was the best I had ever tasted - very moist and yummy.
Jeremy went back to the hotel to get us checked out. I looked (& bought) at the
Paula Deen Store lots of fun food, kitchen and entertaining stuff. Next we began our historical stroll down Bull Street (great travel book:
Frommer's Savannah - the self guided tour was in chapter 8). I LOVE history so this was a great day for me.
Gretchen, we did not go to Juliette Gordon Low's home, but we did see lots of Girl Scouts enjoying their time in Savannah.
Such a pretty church (
Independent Presbyterian Church founded in 1755), we could not go inside because they were getting ready for a wedding.
The statue in the background is of
General James Oglethorpe. General Oglethorpe landed in Savannah (1733) and was later given a charter by King George II to create a new colony called Georgia (13th Colony). When planning the city of Savannah, he wanted an orderly grid composed of
24 squares. Chippewa is famous for being the square where the
"Life is like a box of chocolates..." scene was filmed for the
Forrest Gump movie. Interestingly the bench in the movie was actually a prop, it is now on display at the
Savannah Visitors Center.
This is
Forsyth Park and this fountain is the most photographed fountain in the south.
This is a life sized Chess set in Forsyth Park. We stopped and watched two men play for awhile.
I was obsessed with the
Spanish Moss growing in the trees and took so many pictures of it. When I think of the south this is one of the images that always comes to mind.
Our last stop on our historical walk was a tour through the
Owens - Thomas House (built in 1819). This was one of the first homes in the United States with indoor bathroom facilities. I enjoyed seeing the interior of this home along with the carriage house and the gardens.
Time for a late lunch before checking into the
Westin. We ate at a local place called
B&D Burgers (voted best burgers seven years in a row). Their menu was HUGE - great burgers!!
After resting a bit at the Westin, it was time for our highly anticipated meal. We caught the
ferry from our hotel to the historical district, then took the short walk to the restaurant and checked in at 7:45 pm (seating at 8:00pm). At 9:30pm we were still waiting to be seated - they finally called our name at 9:45. Our server was very hospitable and made us feel very welcome. I had decided months ago that I was going to eat shrimp 'n grits but at the last minute changed my mind. I should have stayed with my original plan. Jeremy and I both had the southern buffet (below is a picture of a plate from the buffet - not ours).
Our initial review of our meal: S-A-L-T-Y and Y-U-C-K-Y!!! I was very sad because I was so looking forward to eating here. We walked back to the ferry sick from all the salt and a little defeated.
Now that I have had time to reflect on the experience, I no longer categorize the meal as yucky (but I still keep salty in there!). If you still want to go if you ever visit Savannah, I will break our meal down for you and give you links to the recipes.
Famous Paula Deen Fried Chicken - good but tasted like KFC
Black-eyed Peas - delicious!!
Mac and Cheese - lived up to the hype -GOOD!
Hoecakes- light and sweet
Cheese Biscuits - way too buttery
Collared Greens- WAY TOO MUCH SALT
Pot Roast- Inedible due to the amount of salt
It pains me to say I do not recommend the restaurant (I love Paula and her boys - at least what I know of them from TV) from the experience of our visit (from the wasted hours waiting to the price - $17.99 each for the mediocre food). Our next visit to Savannah we will visit
Mrs. Wilkes' for southern food. If you go someday to The Lady and Son's let me know what your experience was like. I am holding out hope that it was just an off night for the food!
I can not believe that 2009 is almost over. Where has this year gone? How has it been nearly 10 months since my last post? I recently started updating my recipe blog , to get all my recipes in one place. In doing so, it has gotten me excited about returning to blogging. It also helps that I have a brand new *shiny* reliable laptop (thanks honey!) that makes getting on the computer fun. Back in January, our family PC began giving us fits. I only got on it when it was absolutely necessary because it stressed me to deal with that dumb machine!
