Wednesday, 9/25
We arrived in Savannah after an overnight train trip, where we had a lovely dinner in the dining car and a not very comfortable sleep in our roomette, due to the poor condition of the tracks which caused the train to shake. Overall not such a bad trip and we arrived on time at 7 AM.
We took an uber to the Marshall House, which is a beautifully restored 19th century hotel in the center of town on Broughton Street. The room was very comfortable and the included breakfast quite good.
We set out to see 3 historic houses but only managed to make it to 2 of them that day.
Owens-Thomas house:
https://www.telfair.org/visit/owens-thomas/
Davenport house:
https://davenporthousemuseum.org/
This was a very interesting tour, and a fairly long one. We then had a late lunch at the Pirate’s House (forgot to take photos). I had a crab melt and Stanley had shrimp and grits. It was classic southern cooking and done well. With iced teas, tax and tip, the total was $54.
We were tired and decided to skip seeing a third house in favor of a nap back at the hotel. At 6:30 they serve wine and cheese in the beautiful library, and that night there was a harpist performing.
That evening we had dinner at Chive Sea Bar, which was just a block over. It’s very comfortable and the food was outstanding.
I started with she-crab soup, which was absolutely fabulous, and Stanley had a very nice shrimp cocktail. Then I had striped bass with a red curry sauce, and he had a giant crab cake on top of fried green tomatoes. With cocktails and a bottle of rose, the bill came to $231.
Thursday, 9/26
After a good night’s sleep we had breakfast and waited for the rain to slow down. This was the only seriously rainy day. Luckily by late morning the rain slowed somewhat, and we headed over to the Juliette Gordon Low birthplace. She was the founder of the Girl Scouts, and they now own the house.
The history is quite interesting.
https://www.juliettegordonlowbirthplace.org/
Some restaurants had closed for lunch in anticipation of severe storms (which never materialized) but we found a good one that was open.
Toast All Day:
We both had fried oysters, which were very good. With iced teas, tax and tip, the total was about $54.
https://toastallday.com/locations/
After lunch we visited the Telfair Art Museum, which was originally a grand private house owned by the Telfair family.
Back to the hotel for wine and cheese. There was also a trivia quiz.
Dinner was at the Olde Pink House.
This one lived up to its reputation. The service was excellent, as was the food.
To start, we shared an order of she-crab soup, as the server suggested it could easily feed two. It was very good, though not quite as rousing as the one I had at Chive the previous night. Stanley had a very good pork tenderloin and I had a fried pork chop.
With a bottle of a 2021 garnacha, tax and tip, the total was $179.
https://www.theoldepinkhouserestaurant.com/
Friday, 9/27
We had intended to visit 3 houses, but were only able to see 2. There was a severe windstorm during the night, causing power outages and downed trees, so some houses were closed or late to open. the same was true for restaurants, though the one we planned to eat at was open. The Andrew Low house was not open, but here is a photo:
It’s said to be very grand on the inside, but the exterior looks rather austere, and a bit rundown.
Thinking the other 2 houses were also closed, we had lunch, but on the way, we passed the Sorrel-Weed house, and it had opened, so we planned on stopping back after lunch.
The Public Kitchen:
I had a smoked salmon BLT, which was delicious. Stanley has a gyro, which was unexciting. With an iced tea, a grapefruit soda, tax and tip, the total was $57.
https://www.thepublickitchen.com/
Then we went back to the Sorrel-Weed house, for a very interesting tour.
After that, we crossed the street to get a photo of the Green-Meldrim house, and were pleasantly surprised to find it too had opened, and we were able to catch a tour.
https://greenmeldrimhouse.org/
In a nod to my Jewish ancestry, we stopped to see Savannah’s oldest synagogue, Congregation Mickve Israel.
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped off at Leopold’s Ice Cream, a famous ice cream parlor.
I had an ice cream soda, strawberry with banana ice cream, Stanley had a scoop of pistachio. This is a must for anyone visiting Savannah.
For dinner we went to Vic’s on the River.
Even though it faces the river, there are only a few tables that look at windows on the river. However, it matters little, because the view is quite uninteresting. The food was pretty good, though I can’t say exceptional.
Stanley had a salad with riesling poached pears, blue cheese, pecans and arugula, and for the main course, fried flounder. He liked it all. I had she-crab soup to start. It was very good, similar to the one I had at the Pink House, but neither of these compared to the one at Chive. For my main course, I had 2 appetizers, a crab cake and fried green tomatoes. The crab cake was quite good, and the tomatoes were also but the portion was so big I couldn’t finish them. We had cocktails and a bottle of a very full-bodied rose from the Rhone valley. The bill with tax and tip was $224.
That completes our visit to Savannah. We departed for Charleston on Saturday for a 4-day stay. I will be posting another report on that.
Robert Rems' Open House 