Savannah - a culinary review

(You know, I really was planning to post on food anyway. I'm not caving to A in A's pressure. Just for the record.)

So, Savannah is known for serving excellent seafood and excellent southern cooking. What a terrific destination, then, for a vegetarian.

Because I had visions of biscuits made of lard, greens cooked with ham, and great heaps of steamed shrimp, I did a lot of research before I left to find good food I would eat. None of it was authentic Savannah, but it was all pretty good.

Our first stop was at the Sentient Bean, one of those we're-too-hip to put a ceiling over our ductwork places. I felt completely out of place, as the rest of the clientele seemed to be SCAD students, so my practical shoes and my lack of piercings really stood out. But the onion-spinach-cheese scone that I ate was so flavorful (belying it's appearance as a clod of dirt) and the coffee was acceptable. Not quite chewy, but pretty good for a restaurant.

Our favorite lunch was the first, when we at at Saigon, a Vietnamese place on Broughton. I had pho for the first time, because they'll make it there with veggie broth, and the spring roll that preceded it was very fresh. Andrew loved his pork, which was served with a sauce that evidently had an entire head of garlic in it. We also had our first taste of Savannah Fest, a German-style beer from the local brewery Moon River. (For the record, Moon River really is in Savannah. We crossed it every night on our way to the island campsite, and started singing every time.) Unfortunately, that was the only Moon River beer restaurants ever seemed to have on tap, but as a result we had it several times to confirm our opinion.

The next day we ate at a pizzeria called Mellow Mushroom. My seitan sub was flavorful, and the pizza had interesting toppings, but it was really busy even in the middle of the afternoon so the service was mediocre and it was really noisy.

The last day I wanted to well-known establishment called Vinnie-Van-Go-Go's. It's known for it's cheap, giant slices of pizza. As far as pizza goes, it was nothing spectacular, so I guess it's the atmosphere that people go there for. It's in a long, low, half-basement location frequented by bikers and (of course) more of those darn SCAD students.

We also made a special trip to Back in the Day Bakery, which serves well-regarded cupcakes. I don't know who praises these cupcakes so much - $3 each and I could have baked similar ones. Sure, they were moist and tasted of quality ingredients, but I expected more, maybe cream or fruit or something.

At the bakery, Andrew went up to buy our cupcakes and tea. Remembering that I had told him the day before that sometime while we were in Savannah he needed to try sweet tea, he ordered that instead of hot tea. Even the lady at the counter knew this a foolish idea. Presumably noting his accent and assuming he didn't know what he was doing, she asked, "You do understand sweet tea is very sweet, don't you?" Well, he got it anyway, and then spluttered as he drank it, "It's like a cup of sugar with a spoonful of tea." Pretty far removed from what we drank in England, I'll say that. And it really was awful with a iced cupcake.