Well hi y'all, thought I'd report back! We arrived late on Sunday and checked into the Best Western Plus (65 bucks/night on Hotwire) My review is on Tripadvisor. There appeared to be a group of vagrants having a drug deal or something outside our door, so we ordered from a local dive called JJ Bonerz. My nachos were excellent, but at 9:30, anything would be. We found out that Paula Deen and sons were going to be at the store Monday signing books, so we planned our day around that. Literally. We ate from the buffet at Lady and Sons and it's what I expected. The greens were delicious, as was the Mac and Cheese and stewed okra. We had a great waiter who told us statistics about the crowd, food etc. They use a ton of chicken per week! That afternoon, we bought Paula's Southern Bible and we met the famous trio. They were great- she wasn't phony at all, just sweet. She said she is seriously considering coming to the Derby this year.
We ate at the Moon River Brewing company for dinner. Though I just had a bowl of chili and the girls had veggie and real burgers , everything was great and the waiter made my daughter's night with his looks and charm. Their home brewed beer was GREAT and even better was I had "one to go" because it's legal there. I saw some crazy trolley that was powered by bicycles
http://savannahslowride.com/ and they were wolfing down beer and having a blast.Only Savannah and New Orleans allow open containers of alcohol and it seems quite popular. I understand that they have lots of pedestrian/bike accidents as well. Hmm.
The next day, we took a 2 hour tour of SCAD which was great. We were starving by noon so we took a chance and pulled into Leoci's Trattoria- a tiny looking place. We almost ate outside- they had a really cool deck and covered area with gardens in the back. My daughter had a grilled vegetable Panini which she proclaimed as "best ever" and I had a half order of Lasagna which was truly one of the best ever. They made their own pasta, the layers of meat and cheese were so thin and perfectly balanced , it just melted in my mouth. GREAT find in a beautiful area.
I cant wait to go back to Savannah w/hubby. They said the whole city shuts down for St Patrick's day! Unfortunately, I won't be visiting my daughter there, as she has chosen to attend Ringling College of Art & Design in Sarasota. Oh well, more seafood and beautiful beaches, so glad she didn't choose Rhode Island!!