Krupczak 1

Leah Krupczak

Professor Welborn

Southern Foodways

25 March 2022

Savannah Field Notes

On the Savannah trip, our group went to many different restaurants that all have

meanings to the overall theme of the course. We went to Naan on Broughton, Latin Chicks

Restaurant, The Grey, The Flying Monk, FraLi Gourmet, Yia Yia’s Kitchen. Breakfast was eaten

at the hotel every morning that we were there. The trip to Sisters of the New South was also

canceled. Instead everyone was able to choose their own restaurant to eat at. My group went to

Huey’s on the River.

On Friday March 11th, we departed from the school around 3pm and headed towards

Savannah. We stopped along the way to get snacks from a gas station. I ended up getting a coke

and some dark chocolate covered almonds. Once at the hotel, we had some free time before

going to dinner. At around 8pm, everyone headed towards the restaurant, Naan on Broughton.

The restaurant was located on a main street in Savannah and was busy from that time of night. In

the foodways book, it talks about how many “Indian grocery stores provide not only masalas,

basmati rice and Assam teas”1. Many of these items were located on the menu and were used in

the dishes we ate. I ordered vegetable samosas and butter chicken. The samosas were filled with

potatoes, carrots, peas, and a curry spice mix. It was also served with a tamarind sauce that was

sweet and tangy. The sauce was just addicting. The butter chicken tasted like every butter

chicken I have had, but it was still delicious. The table also had this plate of chicken samosas,

1 Wilson, Charles Reagan. The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Foodways. Edited by
John T. Edge, vol. 7 (University of North Carolina Press), 243
 Krupczak 2

spicy shrimp, and a ground chicken dish. All of them were delicious but the samosa was the

winning dish that night to me. Everything also had this slow burn to it. The dishes were not spicy

at first the more you ate, the more spicy it became. After dinner, we all got back into the cars and

headed back to the hotel to relax.

On Saturday March 12th, breakfast was around 9am. It was at the hotel and it was a

buffet style which had eggs, sausage, biscuits, and gravy. There were also different types of

cereal, bagels, and toast. For drinks, there was apple juice, orange juice, water, and coffee. Our

class meeting was at 9:30am and only lasted maybe 10 minutes. Then we got ready and headed

towards the restaurant for lunch. We arrived at Latin Chicks Restaurant and I was surprised by

how nice it was. I thought that it would have been a small mom and pop shop but it was a full

restaurant and a coffee bar. It was an order at the counter type restaurant but that only added to

the charm. The foodways book talks about how “strong connections persist between Latino

communities in the South and their home countries”2. This restaurant showed how food connects

people no matter where they are located. The owner then came around and gave us a choice of

the type of protein we would like. It was a choice of either rotisserie chicken or stewed chicken.

The rest of the meal consisted of roasted pork, yellow or white rice, black or pinto beans,

tostadas, plantains, and yuca fries. It also came with two sauces. One was a cilantro sauce and

the other was a spicy orange sauce. I could not figure out what was in the orange sauce but it was

delicious. There was also a choice in drinks. It was either mango juice or passion fruit juice. I

had the mango one and I usually do not like mango but this drink was delicious. I could drink it

everyday and never get bored of it. After lunch we had free time. My group decided to go to the

botanical gardens but it was a huge disappointment. It was just a house with a normal garden.

2 Wilson, Charles Reagan. The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Foodways. Edited by
John T. Edge, vol. 7 (University of North Carolina Press), 211
 Krupczak 3

After that we went to downtown Savannah. We visited the visitors center and then walked

around river street. I enjoyed walking around but not all of my group liked it. The wind was

really strong and it was very cold. I was not bothered too much but I could see how it was

bothersome. We went into Riverside Sweets where I got chocolate covered pretzels, truffles, and

chocolate covered strawberries. They were all delicious. Then we went back to the hotel to relax.

For dinner, we were allowed to choose our own place. My group decided to go to Huey’s. There

I ordered the red beans and rice which came with kielbasa. Red beans and rice had a “economical

preparation of red kidney beans combined with aromatics, spices, and pork and then simmered

until tender and served over a bed of cooked rice” 3. It also came with a side salad and cornbread.

The salad was just an arrival salad but the corn bread was amazing. It was sweet and crumbly. It

was some of the best cornbread I have ever had in my life. The red beans, rice and kielbasa were

ok. The kielbasa were overcooked and had to be cut while the red beans and rice were under

seasoned.

On Sunday March 13th, breakfast was the same as the first day except I only had a biscuit

with some apple butter. The meeting was at 9:30am again and then we went to get ready for

lunch. Since we went to The Grey, we all dressed nicely. Once there we waited outside for about

20 minutes until we were let in. The restaurant was built in an old Greyhound Bus Station.

Before the restaurant, it was a autoshop and then an abandoned building for a couple years. We

were also told how the historical society does not allow for the restaurant to replace certain

things. For example the tiles in the room we were eating were the original tiles from the women's

bathroom in the Greyhound Bus Station. The clocks that were on both sides of the dining room

were an homage to the bus station having two clocks to make sure the buses were running

3 Wilson, Charles Reagan. The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Foodways. Edited by
John T. Edge, vol. 7 (University of North Carolina Press), 252
 Krupczak 4

correctly. The Grey also had a live band playing modern jazz music. The whole restaurant just

screamed fancy and expensive. The menu was pretty extensive for such a high regarded

restaurant. It consisted of fried chicken, oysters (Mcintosh, Island Creek, and Eld Inlet), trotter

toast, farmers salad, crab beignet, biscuits and gravy, duck and foie terrine, buckwheat pancake,

coffee cake, quiche, falafel, smoked fish, sweetbreads, fish and grits, bacon, marsh hen mill grits,

side salad, and a pastry basket. I ordered the quiche which had broccoli, cheddar, and onions

inside of it. The actual quiche was very fluffy and light but full of flavor. The only thing I did not

like was that there were large chunks of onion in it mostly because of the texture. I like the fluffy

eggs but when I took a bite that had hard onions inside of it, it lost its magic. The dish also came

with a side salad of bitter greens. There was also a pastry basket for the table. It had mini

biscuits, mini croissants, and mini cheddar scones. I also ordered two Mcintosh oysters which I

ate with lemon and vinegar. They were so delicious and I plan to order more. Traditionally

oysters are eaten “raw on the half shell, perhaps with a bit of fresh lemon juice, horseradish, or

cocktail sauce. Fried oysters, oyster dressing, oyster pie, smoked oysters, and oyster shooters are

but a few other ways to serve the shellfish”4. I ate mine with a little bit of vinegar and lemon

juice but now I want to have them in the other ways mentioned above. I believe that I will enjoy

them either way. After lunch, I went back to the hotel with Iris and Sydney to take a nap. We

then went to the Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist. Sadly it was closed, so we just took

photos outside of it. Then we walked to dinner at the Flying Monk. Once we finally sat down, I

ordered the kiwi green tea drink and the barbeque pork which came with garlic rice. People used

to say that “rice was too much trouble to prepare, starchy and fattening, tasteless, and Chinese”5.

4 Wilson, Charles Reagan. The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Ethnicity. Edited by
Celeste Ray, vol. 6 (University of North Carolina Press), 167
5 Wilson, Charles Reagan. The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Ethnicity. Edited by
Celeste Ray, vol. 6 (University of North Carolina Press), 69
 Krupczak 5

In reality rice is the perfect vessel for the main dish because it soaks up the sauce and other

juices. This was my favorite meal of the whole trip. After dinner, we went back to the hotel and

ended up playing Among Us with almost everyone.

On Monday March 14th, we had breakfast at the hotel which had the same food as the

day before. I ended up getting a biscuit with butter. After the meeting, we went to FraLi Gourmet

restaurant. This was an Italian restaurant that served fresh pasta and homemade sauces. The first

thing they gave us was bread with a roasted red pepper sauce. It was followed by an arugula

salad with parmesan cheese. After that was the pasta course. It consisted of cheese tortellini with

a tomato sauce that had pieces of italian sausage. It also had a pesto sauce with a thicker sauce

and fettuccine alfredo. For dessert, they gave us tiramisu. I usually do not like coffee but this was

a dessert that I could eat over and over again. The Ethnicity book talked about how Italians

“achieved an impressive amount of economic mobility as grocers, dairy farmers, and fruit

vendors”6. FraLi Gourmet exemplified this because their restaurant had a section where you

could purchase items that they made in store. After lunch, my group went to the Cathedral but

we were able to go inside this time. The interior was totally different from the exterior. The

outside was all white and did not have any interrogative details but the inside was this bright blue

color with different paintings of biblical stories. It had marble pillars that were actually made of

cast iron and painted to look like marble. The original building was actually in a fire and

completely burned down. The only thing that survived was one stained class window. It also had

the stations of the cross which were made of wood and hand painted. Overally, it was one of the

most beautiful buildings that I have seen in a long time. We then went to a bubble tea shop called

Kung Fu Tea. I ordered lychee green tea with mango pearls and pieces of lychee in it. It was very

6 Wilson, Charles Reagan. The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Ethnicity. Edited by
Celeste Ray, vol. 6 (University of North Carolina Press), 173
 Krupczak 6

delicious and I wished we had time to go there again. Then we walked around river street and

went back to the parking garage in order to go to dinner. The last restaurant we went to was

called Yia Yia’s Kitchen. This was an authentic Greek restaurant which sold Greek products like

honey and wine. It was kind of like a kafeneion which “provides a place for men to share coffee

and spirits, play cards, smoke, and discuss politics or sports”7. Of course, the restaurant is not for

smoking or drinking but it still has the feeling of a place for the community to hangout. The

owner explained why the restaurant was created and why it held so much importance. For the

actually meal, we were given Greek salad, rice with spinach, pita bread, a Greek style lasagna,

spanakopita, a shepherds pie like dish with eggplant, lamb, chicken, tzatziki sauce made with

real greek yogurt, dolmadakia, baklava and meatballs in a red sauce. The Greek style lasagna did

not use a red sauce. It used a caramel cheese sauce that was salty and addicting. The red sauce

was different from others because they use lemon zest in theirs. We also were given sweet and

unsweet Greek style Iced Tea. It was a Greek style because they brewed camomile tea that was

imported from Greece. This meal was the most food we had gotten on the trip and everything

tasted delicious. I also bought a thing of Greek honey while there. The owner was very nice and

gave us all 10% off of everything we bought too. After dinner, we all went back to the hotel and

went to the pool. We then played marco polo until the pool closed. Afterwards we all hung out

and talked until like 4am.

The final day was on Tuesday March 15th. We ate breakfast at the hotel and then headed

back towards Milledgeville. This drive took us 2 hours but we stopped at a gas station on the

way back. I bought a coke and a bag of doritos which did not live up to the amazing food that I

had on this trip.

7 Wilson, Charles Reagan. The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Ethnicity. Edited by
Celeste Ray, vol. 6 (University of North Carolina Press), 148
 Krupczak 7

This trip helped contribute to my understanding and appreciation of the course theme

because it showed how many different cultures have created a home in the South. Each

restaurant had influence from a different part of the world. Naan had Indian influence while

Latin Chicks was influenced by Latin America. Huey’s had influence from New Orleans which

has creole influence. The Grey was more of what I would call modern american cuisine because

it had influence from many places but showcased the local ingredients. The Flying Monk was an

asian restaurant that had many influences. It had Vietnamese pho and Japanese ramen. FraLi

Gourmet was Italian and Yia Yia’s was Greek. Each of these restaurants showed how their

cultural identity influences how they cook and how they run their restaurant. I understood how

their food is what keeps their culture with them. It shaped my thinking because it showed how all

of these different cultures can survive in the South and not have to change who they are.

Most of the restaurants did not do presentations but The Grey and Yia Yia’s did talk to

us. At The Grey, we were mostly told about the history of the restaurant and how it has evolved

over time. He talked about how the bathrooms were originally the colored waiting room and how

the signs that pointed up to the private room were the original sign. It says Womens Restroom so

many people ended up walking into the private room thinking that it was a restroom. The private

room’s flooring was also the original tile and the toilet stains were still there. Sadly, it was pretty

loud in the restaurant so I was only able to hear certain bits of the presentation. Yia Yia’s

presentation was about how the owner is a first generation Greek American. He talked about how

his parents immigrated to the United States and that is why he has a Southern accent but can

speak Greek. He also told us that his restaurant became a local place to hangout and eat at. The

children in the school nearby usually come into Yia Yia’s kitchen and wait for their parents to

pick them up. He also told us that many cancer patients come to eat their food because it is one
 Krupczak 8

of the only things they can stomach. He believes that the actual greek yogurt is what helps them

get better. The owner also talked about how it is a family business because all of his family

works there. He also sells his products all over the country and gets imported ingredients from

Greece.

Everything that we ate was delicious and I plan on going back to each of these places.

The dishes were full of flavor and reminded you how important food is to everyone. It helps

bring joy to all of those who ate it. These meals helped shape my understanding and appreciation

of the theme because these restaurants show much love that people put into food. It showed me

that if you are excited and happy then your food reflects that. It shows how the South has

evolved and changed in a way that different cultures can express their individualities. It also

showed how they are appreciated and supported by everyone around them.