A few weeks ago, I got a text from my friend David. He and Cat plus Mark and Wendy were coming to visit me for New Year’s. Yay! I looked for a place for them to stay but AirBnB options were scarce. VRBO had more options, but most were out at Tybee Island. They ended staying at a hotel in the Southside area of Savannah, and taking Uber to get them to and fro downtown. I am telling you this so you have an idea of lodging options. By the way, Mashable just announced that Savannah is one of the places people should visit in 2016.
On the first night of the visit, Mark, Wendy and I stopped by Green Truck Pub for a beer. The smell of the burgers was so distracting that we drank quickly and then walked over to The Florence where we had a reservation for dinner. Luckily David and Cat were already there. Also, Hugh Acheson was there. Hugh is the owner of The Florence, noted cookbook author and judge on Top Chef.
We got a photo with Hugh. Gina, our wonderful server, took the photo. By the way, The Florence makes a red velvet cake with actual beets which Wendy make try to incorporate in her own red velvet cake recipe. Her frosting includes mascarpone and it is delicious.
Photo by David Kaplan
Thursday, we walked around Broughton Street and River Streets. We stopped by Kobo Gallery, Ancient Olive and later we had cocktails and oysters at The Grey.
On New Year’s Day, we went back to The Grey for oysters, collard greens and hoppin john.
After The Grey, we went to Service Brewing for their New Year’s Day event. Bunny Ware of the Savannah Morning News chatted with us. We also stopped into Coffee Fox and enjoyed kolaches. By the way, get Lisa Fain’s cookbook, Homesick Texan, to learn how to make kolaches. Two of my friends did a mead tasting at Savannah Bee Company.
Later we went to 17hundred90 for dinner and a drink at famous dive bar Pinkie Masters. On Saturday afternoon, we went to Foxy Loxy, Gypsy World and had lunch at Starland Cafe. It was great showing friends a bit of my Savannah.