Have you ever heard of the saying "I just ate my way through <insert city or country here>"? Well that is exactly what I did this past weekend when two of my friends and I traveled down to the quaint city of Savannah. Jena served as tour guide and Jess was our photographer. Our goal was to have a girl's weekend away from Charlotte but it turned into much more than that as soon as we parked the car at her parent's historic home, circa 1850, in downtown Savannah.
Savannah is only a 3 1/2 hour drive from Charlotte so if you have not been there I highly recommend making a trip down, especially while the weather is cooler. It had been a long week for all of us and even though we arrived late Friday night we were not ready to call it a night yet. Our first stop,
Lulu's Chocolate Bar. This fine establishment serves an array of homemade desserts along with tasty cocktails that pair nicely with them. We each decided on champagne as our drink of choice. We couldn't decide on just one dessert so we decided to split two. We went with the Chocolate Nut Brownie served a la mode with homemade vanilla bean ice cream and the Creme Brulee sampler, which included White Chocolate Raspberry, Chocolate Espresso, and Vanilla Bean. Words cannot describe how delicious they truly were. With my tummy full on sugary goodness I was now ready for bed, excited for the next day ahead.
Saturday we took to the streets for a jog around Forsyth Park hoping to get a little exercise in before we started our culinary tour for the day. We enjoyed a small breakfast at a laid back cafe called the
Sentient Bean. Jess and I went with coffee and yogurt with homemade granola and Jena chose a savory scone with a berry smoothie. Now with breakfast finished we were ready to start our shopping.
We walked around downtown wandering in and out of the stores, ranging from charming antique shops and a honey shop called the
Savannah Bee to the usual mainstream stores like Banana Republic and Gap. It did not take us long before our stomachs began to rumble or at least we were just telling ourselves that so we could partake in another one of Jena's restaurant picks. Well the minute I walked into
Papillote, I no longer had to convince myself I was hungry. It's a simple concept; great, no scratch that, amazing French food without the high prices or any of the frills. I have never been to France but I think what we had for lunch came very close to what you would find in a cafe in Paris. I was so impressed with the food I will be attempting to recreate my sandwich in a future blog post. Jess chose the Le Parisien (Ham, Swiss cheese, brie and paper-thin slices of apple with a touch of honey-mustard on a slice of crunchy ciabatta bread) while Jena and I chose the Crab and Mango Tartine (A French open-faced sandwich topped with crab meat, fresh mango, avocado and a spicy sauce on toasted brioche). As the French would say "
Mangez bien, riez souvent, aimez beaucoup" and that is exactly what we did all weekend. On a side note, I have to give the restaurant bonus points for being environmentally conscious, a majority of their packaging is 100% recycled or recyclable/compostable.
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So if you're wondering if I'm near the end, I'm not, so I'll understand if you need to step away from the computer to find something to snack on because I know all of this reminiscing is making me very hungry!
That afternoon we rested up and got dressed up for what was to be a night filled with good food and drinks. Around 7:00 we headed to the
Bohemian Hotel, a boutique hotel with an amazing view of Savannah from it's rooftop bar, for cocktails. From there we moved on to
Jazz'd Tapas Bar for dinner.
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Jazz'd is a chic restaurant with modern decor. It's known for hosting many a bachelorette party, in fact we saw 3 groups while we were there. We split a bottle of Cavit Pinot Grigio and started off with the Roasted Garlic Hummus. From there we each ordered two tapas for ourselves. The menu is extensive so it was hard to just pick two but I narrowed it down to the Traditional Bruschetta, which was by far the best bruschetta I've had in a long time and the Roasted Tomato Escargot, which I also highly recommend. It was a nice change from the usual recipe of escargot engulfed with butter and garlic. To top it all off we each ordered a dessert martini. After dinner we wandered over to
Circa 1875 for one last drink before our walk home. However, on our way home our equal love for sweets got the best of us and we just had to stop at La'Berry, Savannah's version of a Pinkberry or Yoforia. Somehow Jena's willpower was holding strong and she chose not to indulge. Nonetheless it was a sweet ending to our night.
Suprisingly I actually woke up hungry on Sunday morning. Honestly, I am always hungry for breakfast. The three of us joked about people that actually say they forget to eat because they just get so busy. We on the other hand eat every few hours but I think you've already figured that out. Before we departed on our drive back to the Queen City, Jena's parents took us on a boat ride to another one of her favorites, especially during the summer,
Bonna Bella. It's a casual restaurant with fresh, local ingredients. I had one look at the menu and knew exactly what I wanted, fish tacos. They offer 3 flavors and I chose the South American spice with tomatillo salsa verde served with a side of spicy black beans and rice. A cool tidbit I found when looking at their website, they were featured on Food Network's Chef's vs City this past May. I have to say it was a great way to end our Savannah weekend!
So there you have it, Savannah seen through the eyes or should I say stomachs of Jena, Jess, and Kealy. I could go on and on about the many other things Savannah has to offer like the beautiful architecture, museums galore, the historic Squares of Savannah, etc etc but I think I've written enough for now. I am looking forward to returning to Savannah sometime soon and another girl's weekend filled with a lot of good food and laughter.
