“Elevated White Trash” was thrown around a bit the other day. I mean really, is there such a thing? I had to laugh when that was the phrase I was offered when I asked the guys behind Savannah’s newest Bar/Restaurant what they could describe their menu as. I ask that question all of the time. Some restaurant owners have a solid grasp on their concept and what they are trying to accomplish. Others have no clue. You’d be surprised, trust me. But that’s a story for another day. Back to to the Treylor Trash guys on Bay Street. Before we go any further getting cute and punny, Treylor Park’s owner goes by the name of Trey Wilder. See what he did there?
The 100 block of East Bay Street (between Abercorn and Drayton) has carried it’s fair share of rumors over the last few years. I’ve been told any number of things that were discussed to go along that street. I’ve heard of several different concepts for restaurants that I thought could work. I was even told about an “ice cream shop” for adults. Serving cocktails and “spiked” milkshakes (defined as shakes with alcohol in them). For the record, I loved that last idea. I have visited many, many places in other cities that do it, and do it tastefully, beautifully, and with a bit of panache. But it never happened here. Oh well, maybe next time.
I first stuck my head into Treylor Park back in early August. As you might imagine, there was construction everywhere. Dust, tools, mayhem. I had a nice chat with a dust covered Trey Wilder and got a pretty good idea for what he was looking at. So I thought. Fast forward a couple of months and the vision I had for Treylor Park and what it is today, frankly, are very different. And that’s not at all a bad thing.
Treylor Park is a bar. Let’s get that out of the way. Cocktails in the front, outdoor beer garden in the back that opens out to the lane. The space is adequate. A nice size actually. Capacity for about forty people in their dining room. Not overcrowded, not too small. Not at all. It’s a beautiful space. The front bar is made out of a reclaimed bowling lane Trey bought from Victory Lanes at Victory and Skidaway. “We wanted to have a Savannah element to this place”, he said. Smart move.
Trey moved to Savannah from New York, where he opened and managed a good number of bars. He’s worked in the W Hotel chain and helped run some of New York’s coolest rooftop bars. But don’t hold that against him. We’ve all met those New Yorkers that show up in “Slowvannah” and immediately try to tell us why everything is better and better run in New York. Trey Wilder is 100% not one of those guys. He’s working overtime to understand this city he chose to call home and Treylor Park is an adequate reflection of that. He’s got a unique space that he built-out himself (with some help of course) and he is stepping outside the box with his menu. How so? I thought you’d never ask.
In the kitchen is Hunter Sattlewhite. A nice guy from Southern Virginia who has been around the block, and the world for that matter, a couple of times. He was a yacht chef for a number of years and saw the world, but most notably, he served as a chef at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles, Yeah, that Playboy Mansion. It’s pretty clear to me that Hunter has done his time and developed his chops for food. Fine food and fun food. The latter is where these two paths intersect.
Trey and Hunter met at “The Mansion” as he likes to call it back in 2003. They had passing conversations about working together sometime, but you know how that goes. Well, a decade later, Trey was serious about making it happen. Once the concept came into play in Savannah, Trey asked Hunter to come on board. The menu? Quite comically (but with a straight face) Hunter says, “We want to do an elevated version of anything you would find on a shelf in a trailer”. Oooookkkkkk? Can you expand on that? “Well for example, our popcorn shrimp”, he says. “You can find popcorn in almost any trailer in America. We have a basket of popcorn topped with lightly fried butterflied shrimp then drizzled with our sauce.”
Alrighty then. Can’t say I have ever seen that one before, but ok.
The menu goes on to include Bacon, Egg and Cheese Flatbread with a béchamel sauce, Fried Bologna and Cheese Sandwich, and the one dish I just had to try “Peanut Butter and Jelly” Chicken Wings. Huh? Yeah. You read correctly. I can say they taste just like, yep, peanut butter and jelly. The Chicken Biscut topped with Country Sausage Gravy sounds like a winner (yes, available all the time). The Fried Oreos for dessert were to die for. Now you don’t have to wait until the Ogeechee Seafood Festival rolls around again for some of that.
The dishes I had were good. Very good, but you need to keep an open mind with this menu. It truly is elevated bar food. There is really nothing wrong with that. Some people want to munch on some lighter type of fare before heading out on the town. Others may come in later looking for something different after an evening of cocktails and ballyhoo. The space is equipped with a major league video and sound system. He is equipped for movie screenings, private parties, and wedding receptions. A permanent DJ stand that doubles as a four-top during the day and the music selection is diverse and at night, loud. Trey tells me he wants a diverse crowd. During the day brunch and dinner with great, enjoyable music and then at night he’s looking for a bar crowd. I believe that will ultimately dictate how it will go for them on Bay Street.
I have every reason, based on what I tried, to believe the food at Treylor Park will be good. The Sous Chef in the house is Marvin Sterling, former Executive Chef at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, who left Ruth’s to be able to be more creative and less corporate. So there is experience in the kitchen. But the test will come with the balance between restaurant early and bar later. I’ve seen too many places say they are going to be about food and start blurring that line into loud music and dancing earlier and earlier just to push their bar receipts. My vote is on Trey sticking to his guns and keeping a restaurant feel as long as he can before they blow the roof off.
James Carville once said “You drag a hundred dollar bill through a trailer park, you never know what you’ll find”. I’m guessing at this particular Treylor Park, it will be a good time.
See you on TV.
Jesse
