The plates that define Savannah: what they are, and where to eat the canonical version.
The plates that define Savannah. what they are, where they came from, and where to eat the canonical version.
Stone-ground white grits with sauteed Georgia shrimp, andouille or tasso ham, often finished with tomato gravy or a butter sauce. The canonical Lowcountry plate served at breakfast and dinner alike.
Where: Husk Savannah, Vic's on the River, Elizabeth on 37th, B. Matthew's Eatery
Price: $18-32
A one-pot boil of Georgia shrimp, smoked sausage, corn on the cob and red potatoes, seasoned with Old Bay or a house spice blend. Traditionally served on butcher paper for shared family eating.
Where: The Wyld Dock Bar, Sorry Charlie's Oyster Bar, Wiley's Championship BBQ, Vic's on the River
Price: $28-45 (shared, serves 2-4)
A rich blue-crab bisque thickened with cream and finished with a splash of sherry. Traditionally made with the orange roe of female blue crabs (now often substituted with extra crab stock and cream).
Where: The Olde Pink House, Vic's on the River, Elizabeth on 37th, Crystal Beer Parlor
Price: $10-16
A small confection of pecans, brown sugar, butter and cream, cooked in copper kettles until thick enough to set on parchment. The candy is buttery, slightly grainy, deeply sweet.
Where: Savannah's Candy Kitchen, Byrd Cookie Company, Leopold's Ice Cream
Price: $2-4 per praline
Small, thin, lacy sesame-seed cookies, golden brown and crackle-crisp. A Gullah Geechee signature with deep West African roots; eaten as a snack, a tea biscuit, or a sweet to close a meal.
Where: Byrd Cookie Company, Savannah's Candy Kitchen, Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room
Price: $8-14 per box of 30
Sweet ripe Georgia peaches under a buttery biscuit or pie-crust topping, baked until the fruit bubbles up around the crust. Served warm with vanilla ice cream.
Where: Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room, Sisters of the New South, The Olde Pink House, Vic's on the River
Price: $8-12 per portion
Sea Island peas (cowpeas) simmered with Carolina Gold rice, smoked pork (hock or bacon) and onion. A simple, deeply seasoned one-pot served on New Year's Day for luck.
Where: Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room, Sisters of the New South, The Grey, Husk Savannah
Price: $8-14 as a side; $16-22 as a plate
Slices of unripe (green) tomato dredged in cornmeal or buttermilk-and-flour, pan-fried golden and served with remoulade, hot sauce or a fresh tomato salsa.
Where: B. Matthew's Eatery, Crystal Beer Parlor, The Olde Pink House, Vic's on the River
Price: $10-16
Savannah's signature curry: a chicken braise of bone-in pieces with onion, bell pepper, curry powder, tomatoes, currants and toasted almonds, served over rice with chutney on the side.
Where: Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room, The Olde Pink House, Sisters of the New South
Price: $22-32
The South's signature spread: sharp cheddar grated coarse, mixed with mayonnaise, diced pimientos, garlic, hot sauce and cracked pepper, served on white bread, on crackers, on celery, or melted onto a hot biscuit.
Where: Crystal Beer Parlor, Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room, The Grey, The Public Kitchen & Bar
Price: $7-12 as a starter or sandwich
Lowcountry crab cake: hand-picked sweet Georgia blue crab lump folded with minimal binder (mayonnaise, Dijon, egg, saltine crumbs), pan-fried golden in butter, served with a Lowcountry remoulade and lemon.
Where: The Olde Pink House, Sorry Charlie's Oyster Bar, Vic's on the River, The Wyld Dock Bar
Price: $24-38
The Lowcountry's house drink: black tea brewed strong, sweetened heavily while still hot, then chilled and served over ice with a lemon wedge.
Where: Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room, Crystal Beer Parlor, The Olde Pink House, Sisters of the New South
Price: $3-5 (free refills)
Stone-ground white grits with sauteed Georgia shrimp, andouille or tasso ham, often finished with tomato gravy or a butter sauce. The canonical Lowcountry plate served at breakfast and dinner alike.
History: Lowcountry watermen ate shrimp over grits at breakfast through the 19th century, a working-river dish documented across Gullah Geechee communities from Savannah to Charleston. Bill Neal's 1985 Crook's Corner version (Chapel Hill) opened the dish to national restaurant menus; Elizabeth Terry and successive Savannah chefs adapted it for the city's dinner programme through the 1990s. Variations now run through every Lowcountry kitchen.
Where to try it: Husk Savannah, Vic's on the River, Elizabeth on 37th, B. Matthew's Eatery
Watch out for: Shellfish, Dairy
A one-pot boil of Georgia shrimp, smoked sausage, corn on the cob and red potatoes, seasoned with Old Bay or a house spice blend. Traditionally served on butcher paper for shared family eating.
History: Lowcountry boil is a Gullah Geechee one-pot tradition from the coastal Sea Islands south of Savannah. Also called Frogmore stew after a community on St. Helena Island, SC, the dish became the canonical Lowcountry party meal for fishing-fleet feasts and beach gatherings. Variations differ by household, but the four anchors (shrimp, sausage, corn, potatoes) hold across the region.
Where to try it: The Wyld Dock Bar, Sorry Charlie's Oyster Bar, Wiley's Championship BBQ, Vic's on the River
Watch out for: Shellfish
A rich blue-crab bisque thickened with cream and finished with a splash of sherry. Traditionally made with the orange roe of female blue crabs (now often substituted with extra crab stock and cream).
History: She-crab soup originated in Charleston in the 1910s when William Deas added crab roe to a Scotch-Irish partan bree soup, but it spread quickly down the Lowcountry coast to Savannah and remains a menu opener at every classical room. Modern conservation restrictions on female crab harvesting mean most kitchens use stock and cream rather than literal roe.
Where to try it: The Olde Pink House, Vic's on the River, Elizabeth on 37th, Crystal Beer Parlor
Watch out for: Shellfish, Dairy, Gluten
A small confection of pecans, brown sugar, butter and cream, cooked in copper kettles until thick enough to set on parchment. The candy is buttery, slightly grainy, deeply sweet.
History: Pralines came to the American South from French Louisiana, where the original almond-and-sugar Creole praline (named after 18th-century French diplomat Cesar du Plessis-Praslin) was adapted using Georgia and Louisiana pecans. The candy became a Savannah signature through River Street tourism in the 20th century, with Savannah's Candy Kitchen and River Street Sweets running open-kitchen pulling demos in their front windows.
Where to try it: Savannah's Candy Kitchen, Byrd Cookie Company, Leopold's Ice Cream
Watch out for: Tree nuts, Dairy
Small, thin, lacy sesame-seed cookies, golden brown and crackle-crisp. A Gullah Geechee signature with deep West African roots; eaten as a snack, a tea biscuit, or a sweet to close a meal.
History: Benne (sesame) seeds came to the Lowcountry from West Africa with enslaved people from the Senegambia region, where sesame was a sacred crop. The Gullah Geechee community grew benne in coastal gardens for centuries; the wafers became a Savannah and Charleston signature in the 20th century, with Byrd Cookie Company (founded 1924) and others codifying the recipe for national export.
Where to try it: Byrd Cookie Company, Savannah's Candy Kitchen, Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room
Watch out for: Sesame, Gluten, Eggs, Dairy
Sweet ripe Georgia peaches under a buttery biscuit or pie-crust topping, baked until the fruit bubbles up around the crust. Served warm with vanilla ice cream.
History: Cobblers came to the South from English fruit puddings, but Georgia peaches (the state fruit, with major production around Macon and Fort Valley) made peach cobbler a regional signature. Local peach season runs late May through August; every Lowcountry kitchen runs a peach cobbler on the dessert board through those months.
Where to try it: Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room, Sisters of the New South, The Olde Pink House, Vic's on the River
Watch out for: Gluten, Dairy, Eggs
Sea Island peas (cowpeas) simmered with Carolina Gold rice, smoked pork (hock or bacon) and onion. A simple, deeply seasoned one-pot served on New Year's Day for luck.
History: Hoppin' John is one of the foundational Gullah Geechee dishes, built around the West African staples of rice and cowpeas (black-eyed or Sea Island peas) that enslaved cooks brought to the coastal Lowcountry. The New Year's tradition (a plate at noon on January 1 for the year ahead) is universal across Lowcountry households. The name's origin is debated; the cooking is not.
Where to try it: Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room, Sisters of the New South, The Grey, Husk Savannah
Slices of unripe (green) tomato dredged in cornmeal or buttermilk-and-flour, pan-fried golden and served with remoulade, hot sauce or a fresh tomato salsa.
History: Fried green tomatoes are an old Southern tradition for using under-ripe tomatoes at the end of the season; the dish became nationally famous through the 1991 film of the same name. In Savannah they appear on every Southern brunch and lunch menu, often topped with crab cake (Lowcountry adaptation) or as a sandwich base.
Where to try it: B. Matthew's Eatery, Crystal Beer Parlor, The Olde Pink House, Vic's on the River
Watch out for: Gluten, Dairy, Eggs
Savannah's signature curry: a chicken braise of bone-in pieces with onion, bell pepper, curry powder, tomatoes, currants and toasted almonds, served over rice with chutney on the side.
History: Country Captain entered Lowcountry cookbooks in the 1820s, attributed to a sea captain from the British East India trade who carried curry powder from the colonial spice routes back through the port of Savannah. The dish became codified at Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room and the Olde Pink House through the late 19th century. Its profile is distinctly Lowcountry: curry powder rather than fresh garam masala, sweet currants for fruit, bell pepper rather than chili, and the obligatory Major Grey's mango chutney. Franklin D. Roosevelt is said to have requested it at his Warm Springs visits.
Where to try it: Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room, The Olde Pink House, Sisters of the New South
Watch out for: Gluten, Nuts (almonds)
The South's signature spread: sharp cheddar grated coarse, mixed with mayonnaise, diced pimientos, garlic, hot sauce and cracked pepper, served on white bread, on crackers, on celery, or melted onto a hot biscuit.
History: Pimento cheese began as a Northern industrial product in the early 20th century when canned pimientos became widely available, but the South adopted it as its own and made it the dish that defines white-Southern hospitality. By mid-century every Southern home had a daily-batch jar in the fridge. Augusta's Masters Tournament made it nationally famous in the 1950s by selling pimento cheese sandwiches for $1 on the course, a tradition that continues today. Savannah pimento cheese typically uses a heavier hand with mayonnaise and a sharper cheddar than Texas or Tennessee variants; The Grey, Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room and Crystal Beer Parlor each run distinct house versions.
Where to try it: Crystal Beer Parlor, Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room, The Grey, The Public Kitchen & Bar
Watch out for: Dairy, Egg, Gluten (if served on bread)
Lowcountry crab cake: hand-picked sweet Georgia blue crab lump folded with minimal binder (mayonnaise, Dijon, egg, saltine crumbs), pan-fried golden in butter, served with a Lowcountry remoulade and lemon.
History: Georgia blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) has been harvested commercially from the Savannah, Ogeechee and St. Mary's estuaries for over a century; the lump-meat preparation is the canonical Lowcountry treatment. The defining Southern crab cake style differs from Maryland's: lighter binder, saltine cracker crumbs rather than panko, more Old Bay restraint, and the Lowcountry remoulade base (mayonnaise plus Creole mustard, capers, gherkin and Tabasco). The Olde Pink House, Sorry Charlie's Oyster Bar and Vic's on the River all run versions; Tybee Island shrimp-and-crab shacks serve the casual lunch version.
Where to try it: The Olde Pink House, Sorry Charlie's Oyster Bar, Vic's on the River, The Wyld Dock Bar
Watch out for: Shellfish, Gluten, Egg, Dairy
The Lowcountry's house drink: black tea brewed strong, sweetened heavily while still hot, then chilled and served over ice with a lemon wedge.
History: Sweet tea entered Southern cookbooks in the 1870s and has been the Lowcountry's default warm-weather drink ever since. The Savannah version is brewed strong (typically Luzianne or Lipton tea bags) and sweetened generously while still hot so the sugar dissolves completely. The drink is served at restaurants in mason jars or tall glasses, with refills standard and free. The unsweetened or half-and-half option is sometimes offered, but the full-sweet version is more common; the Mason-Dixon line is widely cited as a sweet-tea border. Crystal Beer Parlor, Mrs. Wilkes, and every Lowcountry-Southern menu in Savannah serves it.
Where to try it: Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room, Crystal Beer Parlor, The Olde Pink House, Sisters of the New South
Savannah's signature dishes include Shrimp and grits, Lowcountry boil (Frogmore stew), She-crab soup, Pecan praline, Benne wafers. See our signature dishes chapter for where to eat each.