Taste of Savannah - 3-day Weekend

I headed out to Savannah with a couple of friends early Saturday morning. It took us about 4 hours to get there, just in time for lunch! We stopped at SoHo South Cafe, which doubles as an art house with eclectic, mismatching furniture. I had the Andalusian Rice and Chicken Salad which was absolutely wonderful. Next, we drove to the nearest visitor's center and hopped on the Old Town Trolley Tour (which use the green and orange trolleys) to get a layout of the city as well as some history highlights. There were 17 stops where you can get off or on, depending on the type of tour you paid for; we stayed on the trolley the entire time. We paid roughly $20 each for the 2 and a half hour tour which was an okay deal but Oglethorpe Trolley Tours (in the white and blue trolleys) appeared to cover similar ground for half the cost. Once the tour wound its way back to the visitor's center, we went to City Market and looked through some tourist shops. We had dinner at Vinnie Van Go Go's, a pizza place located in City Market (cash only). It was pretty packed, but the wait wasn't too long. The pizza slices are humongous! Good food, good service. Afterwards, we walked to a nearby square where we joined others for a walking ghost tour. The tour took about an hour and a half, and wasn't all that scary, to be honest with you. Kind of a disappointment.

The next morning, we had a quick continental breakfast at our hotel and went back to the City Market area. We got there around 9 am to stand in line to make same-day reservations to Paula Deen's restaurant, Lady and Sons. We waited at least an hour to make 4 pm reservations (you have to be there in person to make the reservations, they don't accept phone calls; they close at 5 on Sundays). Once that mission was accomplished, I took my friends to see the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist which was a mistake on my part because they were holding mass all day. We stuck around for about an hour trying to figure out what to do. Eventually, we walked to River Street to meet up with a couple of my Savannah friends at Spanky's Pizza Galley. The chicken and spuds (the "Original") are a popular menu item. I ordered the shrimp salad and got a lot more shrimp than I bargained for! Service was all right. Afterwards, we walked down River Street and stopped by a candy store. My Savannah friends left and we continued to a gift shop, Wet Willie's (cool-looking bar), and the River Street Sweets Candy Store. By that time, we were stuffed and still had to go back to Lady and Sons for "dinner." Man! No way were we going to cancel considering what we went through to get the reservations in the first place! So, we went back and gorged on the butter-drenched buffet - fried chicken, baked chicken, lima beans, turnip greens, collard greens, creamed corn, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, etc. plus a salad bar! (Ironic, no?) I managed to scarf 2 and a half plates of food plus a little dessert that's included in the price. Wait staff was very attentive. Hahaha... because the day was cloudy and windy and because we were stuffed, we ended up staying in the car for about an hour to recuperate. We spent the rest of the evening at my Savannah friends' place.

On our last day, Monday, I took my friends to Holland House for breakfast. It only relies on word-of-mouth advertising - no website, no ads. It's a small, down-to-earth restaurant in the middle of a business district. They serve breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday. The owner and former owner both work there and are as genial as can be. I had the House Omelet with grits and raisin toast. Wow... it was REALLY good. We stayed for a little conversation and heard a couple of funny stories about how the former owner (now a waitress there) has a thing for Matt Damon. We asked for directions to the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, thanked them, and then headed out. Finally, we went to the Cathedral and went inside. This church is the most beautiful one I've seen so far - I love the detailing. We stayed for about an hour and then we made our way home. We had a little stopover in Macon and ate at Taylor Made Grill [157 Tom Hill Sr Blvd Macon, GA 31210 (478) 405-6678] which one of my Macon friends describes as a "good" Applebee's. It was certainly a fabulous choice for us. The neon sign belies the restaurant's classy interior. And with that meal, my friends and I ended our appetite-fueled weekend trip. :0) Forget Savannah's history - go for the food!