Savannah Squared

Saturday, November 23rd
Savannah, GA
Partly Cloudy with Showers - 77 Degrees

When larger, richer, smarter cities around the world want to find out how to make their cities walk better and work better, they come to Savannah.  Savannah set the standard for modern urban planning in the first half of the 18th century, and it is still a model today.

Like a child conceived for spare parts to save an ailing sibling, Savannah was created to protect Charleston.  The area south of Charleston was a breeding ground for attacks on the city mounted by natives and Spaniards.  King George II chartered a venture to build a new settlement as a buffer to Charleston in 1732, led by General James Edward Oglethorpe, whose vision was much grander than the king's.  Oglethorpe was a dreamer, an idealist, and a progressive.  Many of Oglethorpe's reforms intended to create a "classless society" didn't last after the charter was revoked and Oglethorpe was recalled to England in 1752, emancipation and prohibition among them.  In fact, prohibition would eventually give way to open consumption.  When slavery finally came to Savannah, slaves here had more freedom than any other jurisdiction in the South.

Oglethorpe's lasting legacy to Savannah is in the plan he laid out for city.  The streets form a near prefect grid pattern, the straight lines interrupted at regular intervals by squares.  Each square represents the center of a ward, the neighborhood streets that surround the square.  There are 24 squares in the historic district, named a National Landmark Historic District in 1965.  The squares are about neighborhood first, providing open space and community identity.  But they also work to knit the entire city together, providing rhythm and order, and a cohesive identity for all of Savannah.  Designed for a city without cars, the Oglethorpe plan works to seamlessly integrate pedestrian and vehicle traffic.  Both people and cars are forced to slow their pace, look for each other and at the world around them, as they proceed through or around a square, and on with their journey.

While each of Savannah's squares has its own charm, there are five "Monumental Squares."  These squares form the spine of the city north to south on Bull Street between City Hall overlooking the river on Bay Street, and Forsyth Park on Gaston Street.  Our tour of Savannah's Monumental Squares, our square route, if you will, begins at the River and goes south.

Johnson Square

Wright Square

Chippewa Square

Madison Square

Monterey Square

The pictures don't do Oglethorpe justice.  Each of these squares is a lovely place to wander through and sit for a spell.

The Mercer-Williams House, site of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, is just off Monterey Square.  The true story has become iconic of Savannah, and Savannans don't like it.  They prefer to be known for their gentility, fragile and fleeting though it may be, rather than this sordid affair.  It's a good movie, and a better book.  The house was one of Savanna's finest and most noteworthy, even before the murder, known then as just the Mercer House, the former residence of favorite son Johnny Mercer.

First African Baptist Church is one of the most historic sites in Savannah, because it is, in fact, THE FIRST AFRICAN BAPTIST CHURCH.  The building has its own story that goes back to 1859, but the congregation has been celebrating fellowship in the word of God since 1773, earning accreditation in 1777.  Founding Pastor George Liele was a freeman, and maybe the first black missionary in the colonies.  This church was built with slave labor on volunteer time.  After long days working in the fields and homes of their masters, they walked many miles to work most of the night on building their church, returning by sunup to resume their duties.  Some had been saving what little money they could earn their whole lives, so that they could someday buy their freedom, but many chose to remain enslaved so that they could donate their savings to build the church.  They could have walked the Earth free, but alone, and instead they chose to walk in chains with God.  That is faith.

First African Baptist is on the National Register of Historic Places.  It was the first building constructed of brick owned by blacks in Georgia  And, it was a stop on the Underground Railroad, the network of people, routes, and places that helped escaped slaves make it to freedom in the North.  In the basement of the church, the wood floor has been drilled with a pattern of holes surrounding each support pillar.  They form the shape of an African prayer symbol, the Congolese Cosmogram.  The decorative and spiritual aspects of the design distracted from its true purpose, ventilation for the four foot high space under the floor that hid and protected escaped slaves on the Underground Railroad.

The church itself is not picturesque, but the plaque says it all:

Now that we've been to church, it's time to speak truth to power from my favorite intersection in Savannah:

The South is the capital of BBQ, but Savannah is not the capital of Southern BBQ.  Still, can't come to the South and not hit a real BBQ joint.  We found one in Wiley's Championship BBQ.

"Barbecue caterer and champion, Wiley McCrary began his first catering business in Atlanta in 1983 producing large and small special events with the main emphasis on bbq and grilling.  In 2005 Wiley, along with his wife Janet, fulfilled a lifelong dream and moved to Savannah, GA to make it their home and create a new business, Savannah BBQ & Catering, which morphed into their restaurant Wiley’s Championship BBQ, opening  September 12, 2008.  Wiley and Janet bring a strong professional competition bbq resume to Savannah and Georgia barbecue."

Wiley's has won awards and competitions all over the South, around the country, and universal accolades as the best pulled pork in Savannah.

We had it all, and all of it was good.  The fried okra was the best of the trip.  Slimy, yes, but fresh, and fried crunchy with custom ranch on the side.  The critics' pick is right on.  This is the ultimate pulled pork.  Not stringy shreds, but thick lobes of finger-tender smoky love, dripping with porky goodness.  This so far outclasses any we have had before, it's not worth a comparison.  This is so the real deal, that we never realized we'd never had the real deal before.  And that, is before the sauce.  Wiley's makes and bottles their own sweet "Better than Sex" sauce, and it's among the best we've had.  But the star with the pork is their vinegar-based Mountain Sauce.  It adds a little depth, a little spice, a little twang, and even more drip to the succulent pig.  The chicken is almost as good as the pork, drop off the bone tender without getting dried out or mealy.  Not outstanding, but plenty good enough, ribs and brisket rounded out the meats.  The mac and cheese was all gourmet with something like ziti pasta, and the baked beans were great too.  We took the banana pudding to go, and it went fast.  Homemade, so fresh, and so good.

Wiley's Championship BBQ Menu:

• Fried Okra
• Pulled Pork Sandwich
• Sampler Plate
  beef brisket, pulled pork, chicken, and Ribs
• Baked Beans and Mac & Cheese
• Wiley's Mountain Sauce
• Wiley's Better than Sex KC Red Competition Sauce
• Banana Pudding

Tybee Island is Savannah's summer home.  Like Kiawah, a barrier island on the Atlantic, Tybee is every bit as downscale, as Kiawah is upscale.  Miles and miles of public beach are an easy walk over boardwalk bridges spanning the dunes, and landing in the sands.  The ruins of Fort Screven, a coastal defense fortification from the early 20th century, forms a backdrop to a stretch of the beach.  There is a little town center with the typical array of beach town shops.  The Tybee Lighthouse keeps watch over land and sea, as it has since 1736, when it was the tallest structure in the Colonies.

Bonaventure Cemetery is hauntingly beautiful, just like the live oaks that keep watch over the dead.  The rich and famous of Savannah are buried here, and it is another stop on the Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil tour.  The shade of the live oaks, and the scenic location on the banks of the river, also draws the family picnic crowd.  In our drive through the cemetery, we encountered a funeral in progress, mourners for those lost long ago, tourists taking pictures of famous tombs, and yes, several families at leisure at river's edge.

Elizabeth on 37th is THE grande dame of Savannah dining.  Located in an historic mansion in a transitional neighborhood south of the historic district, Elizabeth was the first modern fine dining establishment in Savannah, and has maintained primacy for more than thirty years.  Unfortunately, Elizabeth, the chef, has moved on since 1981, and the food has not.

"Elizabeth on 37th opened in 1981 as the creation of Chef Elizabeth Terry & her husband Michael.  Brother's Greg & Gary Butch, long-time employees at Elizabeth on 37th, joined the Terry's as partners in 1988. This dynamic combination has assured the continuance of Elizabeth's high standards of great cuisine & service in lovely, comfortable surroundings.  Kelly Yambor is Executive Chef at Elizabeth on 37th. Her recipes make full use of fresh coastal seafood, local produce, and the restaurant's own house grown herbs and edible flowers. Kelly is committed to giving our guests a culinary experience which reflects the South's rich heritage.  The simple elegance of the 1900's Southern Mansion sets the perfect tone for our wonderful Southern Coastal menu."

Dinner was disappointing from drinks to dessert.  Only the check succeeded in meeting expectations.  The amuse was fine, if strange.  The Surryano ham, a domestic prosciutto, as a starter, brought together some nice ingredients that never really came together.  The pork chop had been flavorfully brined, well-seasoned, and grilled just a minute too long.  The mac & cheese and collards, were both good, but certainly not the best examples we have encountered.  Overall, this was the most successful dish.  The chicken was poorly conceived and poorly executed.  It was dry and overcooked, but even a perfectly moist joint of chicken could not have overcome the discord in the dish.  The vegetables were done with an Asian palette, in total conflict with the traditional flavors of the cornbread dressing and apricot.  Most disturbing of all was the lack of skill exhibited with the meat.  A good chef should be able to judge the doneness of meat by sight, smell, sound, and touch.  A chef seeking precision, or one with less confidence, can use an instant-read thermometer.  Both the chicken and the pork had been sliced to the middle on the underside to check for doneness, releasing the juices of the meat before they had a chance to redistribute.  This is the mark of a lazy and unqualified chef.  Finally, the signature dessert is a puzzle.  The Savannah Cream Cake is like a debutante at her coming out, lovely to look at, light in substance, and completely lacking in seasoning.

Elizabeth, come back!!!

Elizabeth on 37th Menu:

• AMUSE BOUCHE
  PEI mussel with chipotle-tomato aioli
• SURRYANO HAM
  Virginia country ham thinly sliced with fontinella cheese, grilled vidalias, and pecan-pimiento sauce
• TANGLEWOOD FARMS ROASTED CHICKEN BREAST WITH LOCAL WILD MUSHROOMS dusted with cardamom, with pan gravy, apricot butter, braised collards, and cornbread dressing with shiitake mushrooms
• DOUBLE CUT BERKSHIRE PORK CHOP
  with five cheese macaroni and apple-cabbage slaw
• SAVANNAH CREAM CAKE
  Angel food and sherry laced custard cake with berry sauce and custard sauce
• CHOCOLATE PECAN TORTE
  Dense dark chocolate cream in a crushed pecan crust topped with chocolate whipped cream

Next Stop:  Cocoa Beach