The best type of adventure is one where I have no idea where I’m going to end up. My boyfriend, Bryan picked a place on the map near the east coast and we drove away. The drive from Florida was about 4 hours up to Savannah, Georgia. He chose this place because there is a lot of history here such as slave trading and being one of the most haunted cities in the United States. As much as our desire to learn about history, we were really there for the food. If you want to learn more about the history of Savannah, click here to read an article.
We found a restaurant called Chive in the downtown area. The downtown gave a pretty homey vibe. The old school stone streets and brick buildings made me feel like I was in the 1800s. You could even consume alcohol in the streets, which I’ve never heard of until coming to Savannah. We called to make a reservation in order to get into the restaurant. Normally, on a Friday evening, there’s at least a 45 minute wait time during the dinner rush. We were lucky and managed to get in right away. Even with COVID around, the restaurant was still at capacity. It’s a small restaurant, so there was plenty of social distancing. When we walked in, it was calm and inviting from the dim lighting and the blue interior design. We got to sit in a cozy booth in the corner, which allowed us to sit next to each other. There were flowers on the table, which I’m not used to seeing at a restaurant. We couldn’t be more ready to eat.
The waitress gave us our menus and recommended we order the Dungeness and blue crab soup. It was to die for. In the Midwest, it’s difficult to find soup with real crab in it for that price. Usually, it’s the faux, processed crab. To be able to eat that soup was a blessing. It reminded me of roasted red pepper soup that I would get from the local café, but elevated to a Master Chef level. I would love to try recreating it with crab from Florida to make from scratch because I’m itching to eat this again. The crab was lump, perfectly cooked, and there was an abundance of it. We ordered a side of crusty bread with a delicious pesto sauce, which went well with the soup. It was definitely enough for 2 or 1 if you wanted this for your meal. Our taste buds were in heaven and we still had the main course.
We were already full from the appetizer, but wanted to try our own main course dishes. The food was more than good enough to splurge. I ordered Flounder and Crab while Bryan ordered the lobster risotto. Honestly, it was one of the most delicious meals I’ve ever had at a restaurant. All of the fish was fresh and the red curry sauce on top brought everything in together. The fish had wilted spinach underneath, so that counts as my vegetables, right? When it comes to the lobster, Bryan and I both agreed that it was the biggest lobster we’ve ever seen. It was like two lobsters in one. The risotto was perfectly cooked and the lobster lightened up the dish to what is normally heavy. That meal was one of the best seafood meals I’ve ever had. I would definitely go back to this restaurant if I ever went back to the area.
What’s a meal without dessert? Bryan found an ice cream parlor down the street that is one of the best around. It’s called Leopold’s Ice Cream. There was a bit of a wait, even right before close to ensure social distancing and capacity restrictions. Luckily, the line moved quickly. The menu had a variety of ice cream, shakes, malts, and specialties like your classic banana split. They had ice cream sodas to top off the epic amount of ice cream creations you can create. Bryan ended up ordering a brownie sundae with rum ice cream and I got a scoop of mocha chocolate chip. It was extremely decadent, but we could barely eat. The ice cream was super fresh and creamy without being too thick. It reminded me of a frozen whipped cream cloud that I wanted to fall asleep in. I’ve never had ice cream with that texture without it melting quickly. This ice cream kept its form while we walked a few blocks before we hit the carb wall. Our eyes were much bigger than our stomachs because we were so full from dinner.
We walked along the pier down River Street where there was a display of 15 different signs that educated us on how important it was during the Civil War. It played a big part in shipping important crops such as cotton and rice. There were many slaves that lived in Savannah where they were shipped via the port. It was eye opening to walk on such a historic part of the country. Seeing it in person brings a whole level of empathy you can’t get from reading a book. The architecture down the street was different than the rest of the town because it used stone. I felt like I was back in the 1800s. It’s more of a tourist trap now with lots of shops and hotels with a view of the river, but it was peaceful with not many people out on the town. We didn’t go all the way down because the signs extended for at least a mile. Instead, we walked back the other way and found some old cannons with quotes from former President FDR.
Savannah, Georgia is known to be one of the most haunted cities in the USA. It’s been featured in shows such as “The Haunting”. There are trolley tours that can take you around town if you don’t want to walk the entire river walk. I provided this podcast for you to learn more about this part of town since we didn’t have time to take the tour.
There’s much more of the town to be experienced, we barely cracked a dent in all there is to learn about Savannah. If you want to take in everything there is to learn, you’ll have to spend at least an entire day. It means we’ll have to come back to finish the rest another time.
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