I’m excited to have a guest post to share with you today. Mireille Roc is a New York based freelance chef, recipe developer and food photographer. Her blog The Schizo Chef explores cultures around the world through their food. I am lucky to come from a very diverse family which has allowed me to share recipes from all over the world. Make sure you give her a follow on Facebook and Instagram to keep up with her latest travel and food adventures and recipes.
If you are a foodie, Savannah is a place that must be on your Bucket List. Whether you enjoy cooking or eating or both, you can’t walk through the Historic District for more than a few steps without something to sample.
The Historic District is where most visitors spend the majority of their time in Savannah. Savannah is a very walkable city. Being from NYC where we walk a lot, I was able to walk the entire district. However, there are also free shuttle buses (DOT) available throughout the Historic District if you get tired.
They also have a hop on hop off trolley. I did not utilize the trolley, as I felt it easier to walk the tour myself. Being a very historic city, there are signs everywhere giving you the historical background of every square and landmark. By walking, it gives you the chance to discover little spots that are a foodie’s delight.
However, make sure you are armed with bottles of cold water. Savannah is swampland. Therefore, it is VERY HOT and VERY HUMID. You want to keep yourself hydrated as you sweat walking Savannah. Let’s start at the Riverfront.
Savannah Riverfront
The Savannah Riverfront is a must stop for first time visitors to Savannah. One popular activity is to take a Riverboat Cruise, which you catch here at the Riverfront. The Riverfront is also a long strip of stores, with lots of eating and snacking places.
Ice Cream, Salt Water Taffy, Popcorn and formal dining options are a plenty on the Riverfront. There are also some great restaurants for weekend brunch, with a great view of the river.
City Market
City Market is an open air market that includes snack shops and restaurants with outdoor seating. There is also live music in the evenings, so it is a great place to enjoy a meal in the warm southern night air while having a delicious meal. Besides the Riverfront and City Market, there are so many dining options in Savannah for a small city, so what are the essential stops in Savannah – well let’s start with those who like to cook as much as eat.
Sourcing foodie supplies in Savannah
The Spice & Tea Exchange
14 W Broughton Street
The Spice & Tea Exchange is where you can get all the essential ingredients to recreate low country cooking at home. Sure they have dried spices just like any other spice store, but it’s the spice blends you will want to pick up so that you can make your own low country boil or barbecue at home.
This is not your average spice store. Every possible spice or flavoring in powdered form is available like Burgundy Wine powder. Who would have thought?
Lots of globally inspired spice blends and curry powders. Also, flavoured sugars, salts and different varieties of chocolate and cheese powders can also be had here. They also have a large variety of whole tea blends.
The Sweet Onion Sugar was the best thing I got here. It’s great on grilled chicken or to include in my dry rub for spare ribs. The Habanero Mango Sugar was also fabulous. I used it in ice cream and it had just that little hint of spice in the background to add another dimension to the ice cream.
The owner is very nice and friendly and will let you sample taste. If you are a foodie, you could get lost in here for hours.
Savannah Bee Company
104 W Broughton Street
Do you like honey? Then Savannah Bee is a required stop.
Savannah Bee honey’s are available in many gourmet markets throughout the United States now, but it is still a treat to visit one of their stores which have locations from Connecticut all the way down the eastern United States to Florida and even out west now in Colorado.
First, is their honey bar where you can go down the line and try all the varieties of flavoured honey’s they produce. My favourites were the Rosemary Honey and the Black Sage, but try them all to discover which ones you like best.
In addition to edible honey, they also make beauty products with their honey as well as candles. There are many gift sets and a large variety of honey based products to choose from. This might be a great gift to bring back home for one of your food loving friends.
The Salt Table
51 Barnard Street
The Salt Table has many of the same flavoured salts and sugars that you can get at The Spice & Tea Exchange but some more. If you like spicy food, you can get one of these spicy salts to put on your French Fries or homemade Plantain Chips.
There are little cups around so you can sample any sugar or salt you like before purchasing. The lower level has a variety of jams, condiments, hot sauce, flavoured olive oils and balsamic vinegars. Again, you are able to taste the different flavors of olive oil and balsamic vinegars.
They will ship anything to you if you are afraid of the overweight in your luggage. It was so nice when I got back home to have the Peach Butter and Fig Balsamic Vinegar I purchased waiting for me.
Eating in Savannah
Savannah Seafood Shack
116 E. Broughton Street
You can’t visit Savannah without experiencing some local low country cooking. So what is low country cooking? It’s the cuisine of South Carolina and coastal Georgia. A lot of this cuisine comes from the river and swamps so seafood, alligator and other swamp animals feature in this cuisine.
One of the most traditional dishes of low country cooking is a Seafood Boil. Basically, some seafood and sausage is placed in a bag with potatoes, corn and spices and boiled. Doesn’t sound like much right?
But OMG, the flavors achieved in this bag of goodies is so good.
Although they have some other options like Po’ Boys and Tacos, the thing to get here is definitely the Low Country Boil!
Narobia’s Grits & Gravy
2019 Habersham Street
Narobia’s is outside of the historic district, but a ride on the city bus will get you there. The best day to go is Saturday because you can also then visit the farmer’s market on the way.
Forsyth Farmer’s Market opens every Saturday at 9am in Forsyth Park. After going through the local market where you can taste regional produce like scuppernones, a type of grape, it is then about a 15 minute walk to Narobia’s through a quiet residential neighbourhood.
When you get to Narobia’s, the line will most likely be out the door. This is always a good sign in Savannah. With so many dining options, long lines means the food is fabulous. This is a no frills kind of place. Don’t expect much in terms of décor or ambiance, but they make up for it with the delicious food. I have always had a love-hate relationship with grits. I wanted to like them because so many people rave about it, but the few times I tasted it did not impress me at all. Narobia’s changed my mind. Now I understand what everyone was raving about. When grits are done well, you will definitely be licking your plate.
They have other traditional Southern food, but really the reason to go out of your way to get to Narobia’s is for the Shrimp n Grits! You can read my review of Narobia’s in detail over here.
Leopold’s Ice Cream
212 E. Broughton Street
Leopold’s ice cream is the most popular and famous ice cream store in Savannah. They will be celebrating their 100 year anniversary in 2019 so I am sure there will be lots of festivities. For the past few years as they have been approaching their centennial anniversary, there has been lots of celebrations during their anniversary week.
Whether you visit during their anniversary week or not, there is always a line out the door of this traditional ice cream parlor. A long line is always the sign of a food place. I promise you the wait in line is well worth it.
You will feel like you have walked back in time when you enter this old style ice cream parlor, complete with staff in all white uniforms of yesteryear. Made the old fashioned way, their ice cream is rich and creamy. You’ll think you’re in heaven! They are open late (10pm on weekdays and 11pm on weekends) so it is the perfect way to end an evening after dinner!
Alligator Soul
114 Barnard Street
Alligator Soul is a great place to experience gourmet country cooking with things like Alligator egg rolls with alligator, pork belly and green tomato chow chow. It is a high end restaurant housed in a former grain warehouse. This basement restaurant still has the original brick atmosphere from the warehouse, however has a music motif with jazz instruments on the walls. They do have live music some nights.
It’s a delicious option for a romantic evening out for two. Don’t miss the Oysters a la Soul with crawfish, bacon and spiced roux sauce.
Snacking
Savannah is a snack lover’s dream. While I will mention a few here, there are so many shops of popcorn, crackers, cookies, salt water taffy, ice cream and more, especially on the Riverfront. Every few steps you will come across another snack store, but here are two of my favourite’s
Byrd’s Famous Cookies
213 West St. Julian Street at City Market
Offering several varieties of both savoury and sweet cookies, the diversity of flavuors are amazing. Definitely take a bag or two to snack on back in your hotel room.
Savannah Candy Kitchen
318 West. St. Julian Street at City Market
There is also a location on the riverfront.
What doesn’t this snack food haven have – freshly made salt water taffy, candied apples, chocolate confectionary, popcorn and a wall of candy. If you have a sweet tooth, this place will satiate any craving you have.
There is an entire wall of candy plus buckets everywhere. This place is definitely an indulgence. However, if vacation is not the time to indulge, then when?
Believe it or not with all these options, I have just barely scratched the surface of Savannah’s food culture. I didn’t even talk about celebrity chef Paula Dean’s restaurant or the many bars and café’s where you can stop for a piece of southern peach pie and coffee.
I hope this guide helps you decide how to ration your eating in Savannah. Never full up too much in one place because more delicious food is just around the corner!
For more reasons to visit Savannah, you can read more about my Savannah trip here!
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Thank you to Mireille for this fantastic post on Savannah, Georgia in the USA! I really want to visit now! If you enjoyed this, why not take a look at the other guest posts on my blog?
Thanks for hosting my post Alex. Savannah really is such a great city for foodies and you really should visit one day soon!
Savannah is well-known for its restaurants’ distinctive food and is an ideal holiday destination. More fun Savannah activities can be found at https://www.visitsavannah.com/food-drink. I’m confident you’ll enjoy it.