Lady & Sons for Lunch
Trip Start
Apr 02, 2010
1
25
36
Trip End
May 01, 2010
Savannah, Georgia
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Greg's Version:
We had barely left Yulee, FL when we crossed the border into Georgia where we made the required stop at the Visitors Center. Mary has now been to 48 states. Tomorrow she will make it to numbers 49 and 50!
We drove another hour to the hotel but it was way too early to check in and Mary wanted to try to eat at Paula Deen's restaurant Lady and Sons in Savannah. I am so used to the GPS being wrong that when it told us to turn on Congress Street I thought it meant the next major intersection. Wrong! Congress Street is this little place that I did not even think was a street. After a short adventure I got headed in the right direction for the drive down Congress Street. We found the restaurant then needed to find a place to park so I followed the parking signs through the construction zone to this parking structure. When we had worked our way down the stairs to the ground floor I commented to Mary that it was a good thing this was not earthquake country because the first small quake would shake the building down.
We walked through a beautiful square back to Lady and Son's to find a line stretching around the corner. We walked to the end of the line only be told that this was a tour group. We needed to be in another line on the other side of the restaurant entrance. We walked back sure that the wait for lunch would be forever. Surprise! They could seat us right now. Just take this ticket and give it to the person on the third floor. The food was excellent, pure southern cooking with lots of butter. Everything I ate was perfect. I want to go back for the cheese bread.
After lunch I suggested that we take a tour. So we headed off to the Visitors Center that I thought I had seen when I drove by Congress Street. I just didn't realize how far I had driven before I got turned around and headed back to Congress Street. It looked like only a couple of blocks; it was about half a mile. After browsing the gift shops we bought our tour tickets and boarded the tour tram. I took lots of picture but most are not usable because they are sideways or bounced around. Ah, well, good memories from the tour and a couple of really bad jokes. As the tram was bouncing down one of the cobblestone streets the tour guide told us it was not the drivers fault, it was not the trams fault it was the asphalt. Groan. As the tram rolled along the waterfront the tour guide pointed out some tugboats and told us that Paula Deen's husband worked on one of them. The guide was not sure why because Paula Deen owns a whole block in Old Town Savannah. Something about boys and their toys.
Before we started the tour I had talked to someone about a history museum and he suggested a tour of the Central of Georgia Roundhouse. I am aways up for a roundhouse tour. I took lots of train pictures that I will not bore you with but I had a wonderful time.
It was getting late. We needed to find an ATM to get more cash and walk back to our car. Well, we needed to find where I parked our car. The first thing we almost walked into was a Revolutionary Way Memorial that was not much more that a trench with a dirt fortification in the middle. A few minutes later, after I found the ATM, we walked into a square with a memorial to Haitian Soldiers that fought in the Revolutionary War. Ah, we had found Congress Street and walked the six blocks to the parking structure.
I am going to sleep well tonight.
Mary's Version:
You've heard of Paula Deen, right? On the Food Network? She's the chef who cooks Southern comfort food, and speaks with a great Southern accent. She owns a restaurant in Savannah, Georgia, where she, her husband, and her two sons and their families live. She has a restaurant there, called "The Lady and Sons". Well, Greg and I ate there! We asked our GPS to find us the restaurant right after we got checked into the hotel, just outside Savannah. I especially, was tired of being on the freeway, and thought that of course, the GPS would take us right back to the freeway, to take us there. But, no, it took us around the airport, and on back roads! Now, that was pretty cool! Greg thought that it was taking us in the opposite direction, and I began to think that the restaurant wasn't really in Savannah, but in the suburbs. Well, Greg and I were both wrong! The GPS led us right to downtown Savannah, and the restaurant!
Since Paula Deen is so popular, I thought we'd never get into the restaurant itself, but we tried anyway. We got right in! Well, what we didn't know is, the restaurant is three stories tall! Sooo, there is plenty of room for lots of people. The greeter gave us a card to take up to the third floor, to give to the maitre' d there. I guess it was proof that we were legitimate, not just wanderers. Anyway, we got seated right away, and a charming young waiter gave us our menus. What Greg and I decided to have was Paula''s buffet, which consisted of the typical Southern comfort fare. (No, not booze, lo)!! In the buffet was, Southern fried-chicken, smashed potatoes, (the skin was left on), collard greens, (yum, they had some kind of liquid sauce, which tasted like it had vinegar in it somewhere). Everything on my plate tasted delicious! Just like it is supposed to! And let me tell you,. Paula is known for her use of butter, and those potatoes tasted like it. Don't go there while on a diet, you'll blow it, but if you want yummy, comfort food, don't hesitate to go there! Yummmmmmmyyyy!
After lunch, Greg and I went on a "train" tour of Savannah. When I say train, I mean, an electric car/"engine" which pulled another "car' which reminded me more of bus seats, than train seats. We took a tour of 22 of those squares that Savannah is known for. The squares are beautiful, with huge oak trees dripping that Southern moss you always think about when you think of Savannah. Greg took a picture of some of these, but he was facing the opposite way from the squares, so he only got one or two pictures He did get a picture of the house that was in the book and movie, "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil". Hopefully, he will post it here.
After our ride, we went to the Savannah History museum. I was kind of disappointed, I mean, it was okay, but I won't write any more on it, (nor will I write home about it, lol). We also went to the old train roundhouse, and Greg took pictures of the trains remaining there, (Of course, what else would Greg do)? Now, that was kind of cool, not too many train roundhouses are left. For those who don't know, roundhouses have a rotating track, which can face any direction, towards rail that is situated beyond the rotating track itself, so that a train locomotive can be turned around to face whatever direction the railroad needs for it to go. Sometimes mankind's engineer's minds boggle my mind. I mean, who thought of this in the first place? And whoever thought of the first steam engine, to pull cars around in the first place? Amazing.
We had a great time in Savannah!
