Our final night took us to one of Savannah's newest and hottest restaurants in a bit of a noisy revamped greyhound station hence the name The Grey. They also boast a James beard nominated chef for best chef in the region this year...awards in May!
The linoleum floors add to much more noise and the hard chairs don't make it too comfy for long seating, So try to head to one of the gray leatherette banquettes which give it a very 1950's diner feel, not to mention the large bar with raised stools giving it very much a diner feel with a walk up counter.
There is a large selection of small plates and several large plates divided into a number of categories which include oysters, pantry, dirt, water and pasture.
Will and I started with a a dozen oysters accompanied by an adorable eye dropper vial of mignonette. Sea Nymphs and Dana Passage came from Washington, salty Mookie Blues from Maine, and my favorites the Rocky Nooks from Massachusetts, while Will preferred the Georgia Harris Necks.
There were many vegetarian options and Samuel decided to start with turnip cakes made with potlikker vinegar, daikons and scallions. The Benne Seed Crackers were nice and came with a kicky collard chutney with habaneros, raisins and Indian spice.
We started with a crisp Vermentine from Domaine Vetriccie 2016 in Corsica. The wine list is fairly large and very varied with many expensive wines but also a huge selection under $30 that are quite a value. Our red was a Zweigelt Glatzer "Rebencuvee" 2015 from Austria and each of these was about $28!
Another veggie dish was Peas and Rice made with Carolina Gold rice, Sea Island red peas and Bay leaf
For us the Carrot Tartare was a winner and arrived with a tartare of lamb hearts, some cooked carrots, some thinly sliced raw carrots, Benne seeds and Chile d'arbol for spice. The octopus was also perfectly cooked and served with Lima beans, a very kinky harissa and pickled celery with some gorgeous bagel chips.
Slow roasted leeks arrived at room temperature and we expected them to be hot, but they were delicious and cooked to perfection served with Edward's ham, gooey Tomme cheese and crunchy bread crumbs.
House made ravilo was filled with ricotta cheese and served with heirloom sweet potatoes in a Brown butter sauce, and disappeared from Sam's plate in seconds. The Smoked collards with onion trifecta, olive oil and smoked over pecan wood were also a tasty and nove spin on the Southern staple.
Smashed New Potatoes with Brewer's Yeast, sour cream and scallions was a baked potato lover's dream. Speaking of Brewer's yeast, I forgot to mention that you get a bowl of popcorn dusted with that instead of bread.
Will and I chose two meat plates to end our main course: first came Foie and Grits with sweet potato jam, red wine gravy and onions.. which was indeed traditional grits with a little bit of gravy around the edge topped with a gorgeous piece of foie gras and a dab of jam. The 2nd dish was one of the winningest dishes of the night, as it was fried veal sweetbreads with a ham hock vinaigrette and a shallot mustard that was out of this world.
At one point Sam had a delicious mocktail of lemon and ginger as well.
Coconut lime gelees appeared as a pre-dessert, and then we ordered Beignets with Ginger Ice cream and chocolate sauce which were divine and a to die for rich Chocolate Pot au Creme.
As if this wasn't enough we were given little crunchy peanut butter candies that were like honeycombs to eat then or munch on the walk home. A winning meal as we packed to head home.
Kudos to Chef Mashama Bailey, whom we did not meet, but definitely deserves a James Beard Award!
