The work has been ongoing for a bit at 606 Abercorn in downtown Savannah. There’s a complete makeover underway in a space most of people know as number of different things. For a few years it was home to Leoci’s Trattoria, then another Italian concept Cuoco Pazzo. Most recently, it was home to Cantina Tulum before that restaurant closed its doors last year during the shut down.
The Haunt is a plant-based concept going in to the space this Summer, it is being put together by Clay Ehmke, former General Manager at the very popular (and also plant based) Fox and Fig a few blocks away on Troup Square.
A portion of my conversation with Clay as their build out continues:
JB: Your restaurant is called “The Haunt.” Is it plant-based, vegetarian, vegan, you tell us. What is it?
Clay Ehmke: So we are not running with the term vegan whatsoever. But we are plant based. We will have honey. But otherwise, it will be more or less vegan. There is discussion of an oyster program. Bi-valve veganism is definitely a sect and I have no issue with it myself. There’s nothing wrong a couple of oysters on a Saturday night. But otherwise, there’s no meat. There’s no dairy. At all. We don’t like the word ‘vegan’ because we don’t want to be disqualified because we have honey in a cocktail.
JB: If plant-based diets are your thing, then everyone knows about FOX and FIG. It is very popular. One time you told me “I don’t understand why someone else hasn’t done this. And now it’s you.”
CE: This is the next stage of growth for what I want to bring to Savannah for sure. This is a next step in my growth, for me also. I’m definitely stepping away from what I did at Fox and Fig. We are avoiding the breakfast and brunch thing. Though we will do a Sunday brunch here (Eventually) that I am excited about. We are focusing on a lunch program and a dinner program which are seaparate. We are going to bring the wood-fired oven back to life. for lunch. Lunch will be light.
JB: How much tinkering have you been doing with a menu?
CE: I did a lot of tinkering in the last year and a half. A lot of this is stuff I tinkered with a long time ago. We’ve been busy with build out. My good friend Wade, who’s going to be a big part of our operation here made chantrelle succotash and a salsa fresca on top of linguini.
JB: You’ve been in Savannah a while now. You know for your time down the street. This approach to food isn’t about SCAD students. More and more people are getting on board with plant-based diets. How many seats are you going to have there?
CE: We will have about 32 seats up front. 16 bar stools and another 25 seats in the back. We will be around 70 seats. We definitely want to be like the Black Rabbit of the East side (of downtown Savannah) where you can get food late on the weekend.
JB: How late to you anticipate staying open?
CE: Looking at Midnight on Friday and Saturday.
JB: You are building a huge bar back there. Does the plant based thing affect what you can do with the cocktail program?
CE: The honey is really the only thing that we may use. The cocktail program is definitely trying to put a focus on herbalism and plant medicine. We want to work with a lot of the bounty we have around us. A lot of our ingredients are going to be foraged from the Low Country.
We are looking at a late June opening. Our liquor license it looks like we are on the docket for the July 22nd hearing so we will have a bit of delay for the liquor license.
The Haunt (coming Summer 2021) 606 Abercorn Street Savannah, GA 31401
