Welcome back to Savannah Flavors, our weekly newsletter bringing you the latest delicious details from Savannah’s culinary scene every Thursday.

Here is what’s on the menu today:

• Dinner collab series at Flora + Fauna 🌺🍸

• Bandana Burger share their favorite Savannah picks 🍔🥤

• Creamy Homemade Carrot cashew purée 🥕

• Sampling the savors at The Fitzroy 🌃

THE MAIN DISH

Kyle Jacovino cheffing next Collab Series dinner at Flora and Fauna 🌺🍸

“In record restaurant time, Flora and Fauna’s Supper Club established itself as something special in Savannah’s dining landscape, offering a “relaxed yet refined menu” in the French prix-fixe convention.

This coming Tuesday, FARM Hospitality Group’s (FHG) Starland darling will continue its monthly guest-chef event dinners with Kyle Jacovino, chef-owner of Pizzeria Vittoria, joining Brandon Carter and Opie Crooks in the kitchen.

Before you swipe away from this story to make a reservation, the 65 seats for this F+F Collab Series supper sold out in under 24 hours.

“We posted it on Instagram, and it took off,” said Carter, FARM’s executive chef and founder, adding with a smile, “It’s Kyle. Everybody loves Kyle.”

With Flora and Fauna closed full-stop on Tuesdays, Carter and Crooks, FHG’s culinary director, figured that they could “fill that dead space with some energy,” per the former, with these regularly scheduled pop-in pop-ups.

“We’re doing one a month for now, and we’ll see what happens,” Carter said.

“This one is, kind of, to promote and to kick off Kyle’s new concept on the end of the block here,” continued Carter, referring to Lucia, slated to open in the former Starland Dairy come spring.

“At the end of the day, I don’t think it’s a complete representation of Lucia,” Jacovino said of what he will serve at F+F. “It’s more a bunch of us having some fun cooking and me knocking some rust off so I don’t feel like a joker when I open Lucia.”

CHEF’S CRAVINGS

Bandana Burger - William LaFlower, A'Nia LaFlower, & Daniel Hoffman 🍟🥤

Each week, I ask the folks behind the phenomenal food at our favorite places around Savannah these same simple questions:

When you are not in your restaurant kitchen, where do you go out to eat and what do you order?

In December, Bandana Burger will mark its first anniversary. When Barberitos moved out of the corner property in Habersham Village, William LaFlower moved in, birthing his unique burger brand that has expansion designs to put “Good in Every Hood” and to give their namesake accessory to each guest. Not only because it is open late - until 3 a.m. Monday through Wednesday and until 5 a.m. Thursday through Saturday - Bandana Burger has quickly become a favorite of the local F&B community.

In the next few weeks, the Bandana Bunch and business partner Michael Yoon will unveil their plans for the West Broad Bandshell in The Seabrook Building on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, the erstwhile home of the Chromatic Dragon and Brick House BBQ. For now, LaFlower, his wife, A’Nia, and brother, Daniel Hoffman, dish on what they crave when they are not serving Savannahians their signature burgers, pausing every time the front door bell dinged to welcome in each guest and to thank folks for their patronage.

WL: When we talk about food in the city of Savannah, we break it up into categories. We obviously have the ones that we love the most, and we have the ones that we adore so much that we share them with tourists and family and friends. One of the places is definitely Spudnik. Andrew [Wanamaker] is the man. 

AL: We love Spudnik 🥔

WL: He definitely has held that torch of late-night eats, and we love to be right there with him, running along. He just hit a decade.

DH: Every Sunday, I make it a point to get some great desserts at Lulu’s [Chocolate Bar]. They’ve got amazing crème brûlée 🍫

WL: Peanut butter pie!

AL: The pumpkin pie martini!

DH: Knock it out, delicious. I’ve got the sweet tooth, and they can satisfy it. If there’s a seasonal item. They rotate through certain desserts every couple of weeks. I’ll check out anything with peanut butter, or any kind of a cheesecake definitely will get tried. Gotta do it.

WL: You know something that I think a lot of people miss out on just because she has so many restaurants in the city? Ele [Tran] has so much that I think Le Banh gets missed. That is one of our favorites. She just launched a salad menu, their banh mi is amazing, and the ladies that are back there are so kind. When you go to any of her restaurants, they’re so jam-packed, but that one, you can get in and get out. It’s quick, and the price, you just can’t beat it. You can get a tofu banh mi for eight bucks, and it’s like that big (hand gestures the size of small football). What about our breakfast spot? Mention our breakfast spot. Near and dear to our hearts.

DH: Oh, this one, hands down, we take family, we take friends - 

AL: Any special occasion.

DH: Any excuse to go there: Clary’s. The Elvis is a must. Gotta try that. Next-level french toast with bananas and peanut butter 🥞

WL: You want to get the best potatoes in town?

AL & WL (in unison): Das Box.

WL: Chef [Nicholas] Chambliss at Das Box. His potatoes, he crushes them and puts a little flaky salt with the chives and dipping sauce. Oh my gosh! We’ll go to another restaurant and be looking at the menu and say, “Okay, let’s just get something small, and we’ll go there afterwards and get some potatoes.”

AL: Yup, we go just for the potatoes.

WL: We love the city of Savannah so much. We probably go to Bar Julian more than anything 🏙

AL: Yeah, every Sunday. It’s our favorite place.

WL: It just has the essence of Savannah with that view, how you get that whole picture from the river and the boats to downtown and the City Hall. You get this very unique, unobstructed view of the churches and the squares. 

AL: Their management is the best.

WL: Some of our staples are - 

AL: The share bread with a side of pepperoni butter 🥖

WL: She eats the pepperoni butter. 

AL: Daniel and I eat it. It’s so good. I try to do no bread, and then we went there. (pause) I eat the bread.

WL: We get the hummus, the cauliflower, the whipped feta, and then we toss back and forth between a lot of other stuff. We get the fattoush.

AL: Sometimes, we get their garden flatbread with all the vegetables on it. I sometimes get the mushroom pizza, and I put honey on it: so good 🍄

WL: They make me an Arnold Palmer every time, so that’s always good.

AL: Urban Deli.

WL: We love Urban Deli. They’re fantastic.

AL: They have something for everybody.

WL: The owners [Annette Baik and Jae Kim], their energy and love for their guests are infectious. It really gets you going. The freshness of the food is unmatched. We split the vegan chicken salad. That’s been really good.

AL: That one, we definitely mix it up a lot. Sometimes, we get the salads. Sometimes, we split a sandwich.

WL: Okay, something that I don’t think a lot of people know about yet and I have fallen in love with is Sixby. Sixby is awesome, their bread is great, their daily specials are amazing 🥐

AL: Yeah, that’s really good.

WL: I would name two other spots just because of their ownership and their teams. I’m from New York City, so the nostalgic feeling of going there, we always bring friends and family, is Rocky’s [NY Deli & Italian Catering].

AL: Oh yeah, we love Rocky’s.

WL: Bill [Vissicchio] is the man. He really sets the bar for what ownership in this city is.

AL: I change every time. That one, I don’t have a staple.

WL: Also, any time someone comes to the city, and I guess this is a little selfish because I did work there for a long time, I tell everyone that they’ve got to go to Zunzi’s. Larry [Belton] is the man. He’s my best friend. He has so much love for his team and for what he does. Chris [Smith] is a knock-out owner, and I think they shouted us out 🏖

And for a special occasion?

WL: We’ll go to five, six, seven different places. We’ll just pick up a slew of things. We’ll finish date night out at The Hawthorn. I’ll get a mocktail, she’ll get a cocktail.

DH: You know where I think is the best, and you guys just recently went there: Vic’s [on the River]. If you’re going to spend some money, I really like them.

AL: Honestly, we go back to Bar Julian for special occasions or when money’s no object, and we like the Local [11ten]. 

WL: We got engaged there. You go to Local. You take a walk in Forsyth Park. It’s amazing.

-Neil Gabbey

TRIED, TASTED, TRUE

Carrot cashew purée 🥕

THE STORY BEHIND THE RECIPE

Loyal readers of Triple T know that EatingWell was a seminal resource in my early days of at-home chefdom. Throughout those two decades, I kept each monthly issue in plastic files that filled our pantry shelves, my own little recipe library. I probably attempted half of the catalog, so many of which still rotate through my ‘menus’.

All along, it was not the word ‘well’ that endeared me to this particular publication, although the health-focused renditions of familiar dishes and articles were always interesting; moreover, it was the relative simplicity of the majority of the recipes that made making them initially attractive and ultimately triumphant.

Before we relocated to Savannah a decade ago, my collection of EatingWell back issues were part of the pre-move purge with the understanding that the website would thereafter suffice. The magazine ceased publication in April of 2022, but so many of my mainstays have their roots in those bygone semigloss pages. 

Speaking of roots, one spectacular recipe that appeared in the May/June 2016 issue has been a go-to side dish ever since. Though it might sound like homemade baby food, carrot cashew purée is a grown-up one-pot cinch that accompanies any protein main. 

Topping the vibrant orange portions with crispy leeks is not compulsory, but do it.

For many years, my wife’s contribution to our Thanksgiving spread was her family’s carrot casserole, a luscious layering of carrot coins, bechamel, cheddar, and bread crumbs. This is an involved preparation but always paid off, especially in the Leftover Days.

A few years back, she requested the replacement of the heavier dish with carrot cashew purée, which likewise stands in for any mashed tubers and looks lovely alongside burnished Brussels.

In one sizable saucepan, set a stainless steel steamer basket and fill with just enough water to lap at its underbelly. Peel the carrots, chop into one-inch pieces, and dump them into the basket. Pour the raw cashews on top. Turn the heat to high, lid the pot, and let the two ingredients steam until the carrot pieces give easily with a test poke.

At that point, put the saucepan on a hot pad and carefully remove the steamer basket. Do not toss the residual water. À la hummus, a little of that liquid will be used to loosen and lighten the purée.

The only palaver in the entire preparation is using a food processor, but even that is the matter of a few minutes. With the steam hole left open, pulse the tender carrots and cashews several times before leaving the processor on. Drizzle in the olive oil and salt and then slowly add some reserved steaming water, perhaps a quarter cup per two pounds of carrots.

Twice or thrice, stop the food processor to scrape its sides and to taste test, adding a pinch more salt, if need be.

The finished product looks like even brighter orange sweet potatoes, looser in texture and subtly nutty thanks to the cashews.

Carrots and cashews. Who knew? EatingWell.

-Neil Gabbey

THE RECIPE

HARD GOODS 

• 2 pounds carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces

• 1 cup raw cashews (whole chopped or pieces)

• 1-2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste

• ¼ teaspoon black pepper, plus more to taste

• 1 cup leeks, white and light green parts thinly sliced (optional)

• ½ cup chopped fresh chives (optional)

WET GOODS

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• Canola oil (for frying the leeks, optional)

DO THIS

1. If making the crispy leeks, heat an inch of canola oil in a saucepan to 300° 

2. Set the leeks in the heated oil with a slotted spoon

3. Fry the leeks until they are just turning gold, approximately 3 minutes

4. Remove the leeks with a slotted spoon and spread them out on a baking sheet lined with paper towels

5. Place a steamer basket in a large saucepan and fill with enough water to come up to the basket’s underbelly

6. Turn the heat to high, bringing the water to a gentle boil

7. Put the carrot pieces in the basket and top with the cashew pieces

8. Place the lid on the saucepan and steam until the biggest carrot chunk is fork-tender

9. Remove the saucepan from the heat and carefully remove the steamer basket

10. Place the cooked carrot and cashews in a food processor

11. Remove the feeder cap to allow the steam to release while processing

12. Pulse several times

13. With the processor on, pour in the olive oil and a teaspoon of salt

14. Stop the processor a few times to scrape the sides

15. With the processor on, pour in as much as ¼ cup of the reserved steaming water and process until the purée has the consistency of loose whipped potatoes

16. Serve topped with crispy leeks or chopped fresh chives

BEEN THERE. ATE THAT.

The Fitzroy 🥘

The last time my wife and I enjoyed a meal at The Fitzroy was a unique treat. Back in February, a wife-and-husband executive chef-and-GM couple had taken the reins and allowed us to sample a few new dishes alongside one of our familiar favorites at Southern Cross Hospitality’s hip gastropub.

For undisclosed and unimportant reasons, their time on Drayton Street was brief, and we had not been back since but only because writing about food has us bopping around town more than we are able to have frequent haunts.

I know, what a chore.

Truly, we had been wanting to return to The Fitzroy, whose culinary team is now headed up by executive chef Zach Orban, nearly three years now with SCH, but the dark and cozy interior makes it one of our cold-season dining destinations. 

Still over 70 a couple Saturdays ago, we first tried to snag an outdoor table at The Arches Bar, but even at quarter past five, that would be more than an hour’s wait. Fortunately, Plan B was walking 400 feet further east on East Bryan Street to The Fitzroy.

This has to be where I admit our shared stupidity: because we have always eaten here while wearing sweaters and jeans out of necessity, neither of us remembered that the resto boasts a darling rooftop patio. Next time.

Thankfully, the fried Brussels sprouts starter ($12) had made the cut on Orban and Co.’s moderately modified menu, so that was a no-brainer. My wife and I shared these on that prior visit, and they were revelatory, a big brimming bowl of charred and crispy cabbagettes rivaled only by those at Erica Davis Lowcountry.

Since The Fitzroy first opened, the chicken schnitzel was a standout and a must, a thin and crispy cutlet the circumference of a manhole cover. Still a featured entrée, the schintzels appears to have migrated south from Austria to Italy, now served like a posh chicken Parm with fresh mozzarella, northern beans, pomodoro, and prosciutto ($26)

. No, grazie. I need a schnitzel gravied and accompanied by something starchy.

Instead, I was tempted into the Fitz Burger ($19) by the burnt honey beet jam, rosemary aioli, and always underestimated and underused havarti.

By half past five, the bar was full, but the downstairs dining room had plenty of capacity, probably because the smarter folks were sitting above us. The music was a loud mix of early 2000s pop that made me feel like I was shopping in Forever 21.

As they were back in February, the generous serving of sprouts came in a big bowl, the lime agrodolce wafting above it. Unfortunately, a few alterations to the preparation were not positive ones. Most of the burnished buds came still attached to their stalks that, while al dente, took up volume. Slivers of raw red onion were out of place and begged to be roasted or pickled, and the fresh mint leaves overwhelmed the citrus and did not match any of the other flavors. We picked them out one by one. 

The bite-sized bulbs were not as amazing as they were several months ago but were better than most.

Knowing that she would sneak a few bites of my burger, my wife ordered the BBQ shrimp ($17), which proved to be a sizable starter: at least a dozen plump Georgia shrimp swimming in a kicky Korean sauce topped by a piece of grilled country bread.

Even though our server let me know that the burger was smashed and not cooked-to-temp order, I did not realize that it was a double-patty sammie. Actually, each was a little thicker than most of their pressed brethren, a nice hybrid thickness that made for big mouthfuls, and my anticipation of the havarti, burnt honey beet jam, and rosemary aioli paid off in full: phenomenal. 

Bookended by a puffy brioche bun, the Fitz burger is a sleeper and easily holds its own with its Husk counterpart.  

What are listed as ‘crispy frites’ are really just fries and are not scratch-made in-house, confirmed by our server. Had I ordered the $39 steak frites, an accompaniment of previously frozen cornstarch-coated fries would have steamed me, but to go with this burger? Okay.

Much like B. Matthew’s, The Fitzroy remains a great local place that locals should frequent frequently. Just remember to sit on the rooftop if the weather is gorgeous.

-Neil Gabbey