Those of us that drive into downtown Savannah with any regularity lost count a long long time ago. I’m referring to the number of times you sat at the intersection of Liberty and Drayton Streets. It’s a busy intersection. A ton of cars roll through there every day, but there is also a decent amount of foot traffic. For the last two years, the intersection has had a big black splotch sitting on its Southeast corner. Nothing really happening on that corner. I can’t tell you how many times I was asked what was going on there. Well, in the last three or four years a lot was going on in there. Not all of it good. That, however, has changed. A new restaurant is about to open in that space, the latest addition to the Liberty Street corridor. It’s called Hitch and it’s brought to you by the same guys behind the extremely successful Treylor Park up the road on Bay Street.
“We wanted to do something for the locals” says Trey Wilder, one of the owners in this venture. Trey is the “Trey” in Treylor Park. So yeah, he’s been kind of important to the process. “Treylor Park has been such a huge hit with tourists that the locals have kinda been pushed out, so we wanted to do something different.” he adds. “Something similar, but kicked up just one notch.”
“But only one.”
Trey and his business partner Rick Kunzi are the men behind the evolution of the Treylor Park concept. An idea that born in offering something different. What they ended up with was something I could describe as “Casual meets Carnival” To that end, you got dishes like PB&J Chicken Wings rather than traditional hot wings. You got Shrimp and Grits Tacos rather than another bowl of gumbo with grits. You got Chicken Pancake Tacos with a strawberry based ‘salsa’ rather than just another street taco. Treylor Park’s food is certainly different, but more importantly, it has been very good. Different and good gets you featured in the New York Times. Different and good gets you very powerful word of mouth. Different and good gets you 90 minute or so waits on the weekends. “Locals stay away.” Wilder admits. “They already have a hard time going north of Broughton.” “So we wanted to do Hitch for them.” The name Hitch is just an extension of something you’d find in a trailer park. It all fits.
Hitch will definitely be different than Treylor Park. Similar, but different. Some dishes are going to make the trip from Bay Street to Liberty street, including those wings and their signature nachos. Beyond that, the menu will be enhanced. Same number of items, 35 total, but different than Treylor Park and certainly different still than the kind of food you can go out to nibble on here or there.
For starters, there’s a fried quail dish, quartered and served on a donut with a peach habanero salsa. Their answer to chicken and waffles. Lamb chops served on glazed carrots with deviled quail eggs. The egg roll selection jumped out at me as well. Cheesesteak egg rolls I’ve had elsewhere and are exceptional when done well. There will also be Shrimp Po’ Boy egg rolls. Again, if done well should be fantastic. No burgers on the menu. A few different choices for sliders. There will be pizzas, a hummus dish and even a few different salads. Dessert? How about a Frenet Creme Brulee. Not sure how I feel about that, but OK. I think. Executive Chef Marvin Sterling came on board very early on at Treylor Park and has taken to the concept very well. I don’t see any problems carrying over to a new location down the street. On the beverage side, there will be a number of infused spirits right up front. Bourbons, gin and a grape Kool-Aid vodka.
For the second time in less than 4 years, the space got a much needed facelift. It wasn’t all that long ago that a men’s clothing store occupied that corner. The previous tenant spent almost two years converting a retail spot into a restaurant space dealing with all of the requirements from the city to do so. Once it opened, “Granite” suffered from a massive identity crisis. Initially the food was good enough, but the space had been built to bring in a younger drinking crowd. That’s a tall order at the intersection of Drayton and Liberty Streets. Especially 2-3 years ago.
The space now is most certainly warmer than it was before and will undoubtedly invite the walking crowd to stop in for a bite or a cocktail. There will be biscuits and breakfast all day. They are also planning weekend brunch beginning at 10am.
Not bad for a spot that kind of happened by accident. I’d known for a while that there was a search to open a second Treylor Park somewhere in Savannah. They came close to committing to a space on Tybee Island, but that didn’t pan out. “When we saw this space, we thought it would be a great way to offer what we do at Treylor Park to more of a local crowd.” Wilder says. “That’s really why we opened here for the locals.” “We still want to open another Treylor Park. Hopefully on Tybee Island with a big seafood influence on the menu.” he says.
All that is clearly down the road. For now, the Liberty Street corridor continues to blossom and evolve. Some restaurants have come and gone in that area, but timing is everything and it’s not hard to see that the time might just be right try something different downtown.
See you on TV,
Jesse
