Savannah Continued

Before we left for Savannah, I had made reservations at Elizabeth on 37 after reading at several sources that it was one of the best places to dine in the city. Housed in an early 20th century mansion away from the main touristy section of the city, Elizabeth has been recognized as one of the top restaurants in America and is a James Beard Award winner. Although a little more upscale (and in turn, more expensive) than we usually go for, we splurged since it was our only dinner in Savannah (and basically our Valentine's dinner).

We did decide to save some money and calories by sharing an appetizer and entree. We ordered the Vidalia onion soup (a special of the night) and the pork chop served with brussel sprout hash and five-cheese macaroni. The soup was pureed with Vidalia onions and fennel with two pieces of shrimp and pieces of fried onions. It was smooth and tasty especially when bites were mixed with the crunchiness of the fried onions. I was not a huge fan of the shrimp mixed with the soup, but my boyfriend enjoyed it. After soup, we were served small mixed green salads with fresh goat cheese.

The pork chop was juicy and flavorful especially with the au jous. The brussel sprouts were mixed with bits of bacon, which helped the somewhat bland flavor of the sprouts. I have to say that I think this was the first time I've ever eaten brussel sprouts. They weren't bad, but it's probably not something I would order on a regular basis. Macaroni and cheese is probably my favorite comfort food, and the five-cheese macaroni did not disappoint. I could not tell you what the five cheeses were, but it was creamy and flavorful. There were also pieces of squash mixed in.

Although Elizabeth may be a little stuffy(part of which I will attribute as eating at an early time when the restaurant is not full of tables of conversations) and the restaurant was a little chilly (granted it was about 30 degrees colder outside than Savannah normally ever is), it was a great meal and experience. Our service was consistent and one of my major compliments to the restaurant is that they completely divided our meal into two bowls and plates, so that to other diners it didn't look like we were sharing a meal. Our portions were large and very satisfying considering we ordered only one entree and appetizer.

This was obviously my first time at Elizabeth on 37th but I noticed that many of its awards and honors were from years ago when its original chef was still there. I think it's probably lost a little bit of its "umpf" since Chef Elizabeth Terry retired in 1996, but still a great place to eat.

Southbound to Savannah

Several weeks ago, my boyfriend and I decided to plan a Valentine's weekend trip. With all the snow in D.C. this winter we wanted to go south. His choice was Charleston, S.C., and although I love Charleston, I've been there several times in the past few years and wanted to go somewhere new. Savannah, G.A., was only an hour further away (yes, we took a 10 hour road trip), and a place neither of us had every been. I took Friday off of work (I mean, what's one more day when you've already missed the rest of the week due to snow?) and after spending Thursday night with my boyfriend's friend in N.C., we arrived in Savannah around 10:30 a.m. Friday morning. With cold rain and snow due in the city by the afternoon, we spent the morning walking around the city and exploring Savannah's 22 squares, which are like small parks, before heading to City Market for lunch. We settled on the first menu we looked at (partly because it looked good and partly because the rain had started to come down). Belford's Savannah was our choice.

Belford's is the perfect example of the prominence of history to the city of Savannah. The building was completed in 1902 for Savannah's Hebrew Congregation and was later sold in 1913 to W.T. Belford whose family converted the structure to a food wholesale company. The walls of the restaurant are adorned with photographs from the wholesale company's and City Market's heyday. As a restaurant Belford's has won many awards and welcomed celebrities including Clint Eastwood, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. You can read more about Belford's history on their web site.

We started our meal with fried green tomatoes served with roasted corn salsa and a remoulade sauce. Although the menu calls the remoulade sauce "spicy," I did not find it as such. The batter of the tomatoes was maybe a little underdone for my taste, but overall it was a good start to the meal. For our main entrees I ordered the shrimp po' boy with fresh fruit, and my boyfriend ordered the blackened Cajun chicken sandwich with Savannah red rice. The po' boy was satisfying with flaky, breaded shrimp cooked well, if not a little dry (which could be attributed to the fact that I don't like tarter sauce and didn't use mayo). My fruit tasted fresh considering the season, and it was refreshing to not have to pay extra for a side of fruit as I've come to expect. The chicken sandwich was "tasty" in my boyfriend's words, even though the piece of chicken was a little thin.

Our service at Belford's was great but expected as there were only a couple of other occupied tables when we were there. Our waiter Michael was friendly and helpful with our tourist questions and brought extra remoulade sauce without our request. The kitchen was open to the seating area of the restaurant, and the cook even spoke with a family when they entered the restaurant, giving it a very casual and inviting feeling. Overall, it was a great meal to start our trip.

More photos and details of Savannah to come...

Snowverdose

When I wrote the previous blog post, I imagined the next Monday morning at work, I would write Snowmaggedon Part II: ______(insert appropriate baking-related subtitle here). Well, 10 days and about four feet of snow later, a blog post about everything I cooked and baked while crippled by the snow storm would be long and boring considering the food my dwindling provisions forced me to cook. The weekend did start with several delicious meals and snacks including baked potato soup, chocolate peanut butter cookies, Chex mix, as well as the muffulettas and BBQ shrimp for a Super Bowl party I braved the sidewalks and metro to get to. As the workless days and snow mounted, my meals got more creative and maybe not so delicious, interspersed with trips to Z-Burger (a local burger joint) for $1 Snowburgers on the days when new snow fell. My homecooked meals after about two days were so unmemorable that I can't even tell you what I ate for the next several days until I was able to escape D.C. for a trip to Savannah. More on my snowy trip to Savannah to come (yes, it did snow in Savannah).