We are a city of many things. We are a city of squares, history, nostalgia and tours to take it all in. You can find a tour to take you pub hopping, you can find a tour to drive you around in a hearse. Now you have a tour that will take you to some of Savannah’s best restaurants, give you a great bite to eat, pair it with wine and repeat. 3 hours on a Sunday night. Sound like a plan? Eat It and Like It’s Gourmet Foodie tour is the first of its kind in Savannah. “We’ve seen how popular Tour d’Epicure has been here in town and that’s just once a year.” says Senea Crystal Managing Partner and Co-founder of Eat It and Like It. “That’s just locals, too. We think tourists will enjoy coming here and sampling our cities very best in one fun filled evening” The tour rolls out once per month on a Sunday night. It features 5 stops. Some of which will change month to month to make it fresh and appealing not only to our chefs, but to repeat guests. So far we’ve visited AVIA, Noble Fare, Leoci’s Trattoria, FORM and Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse. Future tours (including July) will include a stop at The Old Pink House.
We want to make it fun and have time for Q&A with our chefs so space is limited to 15 per tour. They will fill up quickly. Something different for date night, A bachelorette party of foodies or any other group for that matter. I can tell you this, once word started leaking out that we were putting a tour together we had area restaurants come to us wanting to get involved. I travel along with you as well as our tour guide. It’s foodie talk, it’s Savannah’s history and charm and it’s exceptional food and wine. Eatitandlikeit.com for more information and booking. Hope to see you there.
Quick Bites
## Spent a little bit of time belly up at one of my favorite spaces in town recently. AVIA Kitchen and Lounge. If you haven’t seen it already, it’s been blown up. Change is a coming to AVIA. You may already know the boutique hotel chain was purchased by Hyatt. AVIA will soon become ANDAZ Savannah. (Andaz being a Hindu word for being at your peak or your prime). The look will be dramatically different. Look for a lot of white. A lot of straight lines. A cleaner look with lots of ambient neon lighting. (Can someone say W?) More importantly, I am told the menu at ANDAZ is being ‘blown up’ (candied bacon remains). The rest of it? Gone. I asked a couple of employees about specific dishes and down the line, I was told “nope.” “gone.” “negative, ” on a lot of my favorites. (candied bacon remains). Chef Lauren has been given a ton of leeway by corporate to design something new. She’s does a fantastic job and tells me she is excited about the opportunity. The crown jewel will be an entirely new restaurant in the lobby called “22 Square” (can you guess why?). They will be providing beef, chicken and eggs from Hunter Cattle in Brooklet. Produce will be local as well. They are even using the herb garden on the 2nd floor. All new menu, look, and vibe (including candied bacon) coming right around September 1st.
##Speaking of facelifts, Blue Turtle Bistro out in midtown just got one one and a new neighbor. The entire space has been tweaked to accommodate the Blue Turtle Bar next door and change to the look and feel of the Bistro. I got a lot of complaints about how loud it could be in there and owner Brian Huskey pretty much knew what he was dealing with from day…ohhhh about 3. They are done. You will like what you see as Brian continues to build what he hopes will become Midtown’s “go-to spot” They’ll have their ‘grand opening’ event on August 2nd. $1 Martinis until they are all gone.
##Finally, you may have heard that Wright Square Cafe Sandfly is closed. Yes, for good. Got an email from owner Gary Hall this week. Yes, he’s obviously disappointed by the lackluster 18 month or so run out in Sandfly, but his downtown spot continues to plug along. Gary tells me there were days when sales downtown (despite really only having sandwiches, salads and chocolates) where higher than the Sandfly location. Gary says he plans to introduce a Thursday-Sunday dinner menu downtown as well as weekend brunch. Look for that in September as well. Have mimosa, will travel.
Till next time. See you on TV.
