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:

• New Local Grocery Store Set to Open on Waters Avenue! 🧃🛒

• Squirrel’s Pizza Crew Shares Their Must-Try Spots in Savannah 🍕

• Sweet Potato Chip Recipe: The Perfect Pairing for Any Sandwich 🥪

• Have you checked out Munchie's BBQ on Montgomery Street? 🐔🥓

APPETITE AWAITS

Corner grocery store set to open in Waters Avenue Revitalization zone 🛒🥫🧃

When Becca Goossen saw the property, only a few blocks from her house, she knew this had to be the place. 

Never mind the dirt floor.

Whether or not she was aware of it at the time, the home of what will soon open as Goodfortune Market enjoyed a long history as exactly what Goossen had envisioned: “a community-friendly food store close to home.”

Originally built in 1928, the structure that stretches half the block from Maupas Avenue to East 40th Street had long ago housed a bakery and a candy shop, among other businesses that strived to serve the day-to-day needs of Baldwin Park and Live Oak residents.

One of the earliest concerns was a daily grocery owned by William and Julia DeLoach, who also lived a few blocks away from their mom-and-pop shop.

“This neighborhood has a long history of having quality food resources that are walkable,” said Goossen. “That’s what a lot of this district was built for.”

“I really don’t think I’m ‘inventing’ something,” she added humbly. “I’m just a steward of this legacy. I’m trying to bring back what we were always supposed to have.”

In a few short weeks, Goossen’s dream store will open for real.

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CHEF’S CRAVINGS

Squirrel's Pizza - Chris Dickerson & Kendrick Hall

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?

This past June, the original Squirrel’s Pizza celebrated the start of its fifth year on Bull Street, and its Eastern Wharf outpost turned one back in May. The brand is the brainchild of Chris Dickerson, who may be the most convivial owner-chef to talk about food with, and this week, he and kitchen manager of both Squirrel’s locations Kendrick Hall offer up their Chefs’ Cravings.

KH: Lately, I’ve been trying to eat on the lighter side, and near the Squirrel’s on Bull Street is Ukiyo. They make really good sushi. They also have edamame dumplings that are super-good, they make really nice sauces, and chef John is a super-nice guy 🥟 They have a noodle bar up front, and you can sit there and watch them make your meal pretty much from scratch. They have a broth that sits for five days, and it’s so tasty and real light.

CD: I haven’t had their noodles. That sounds good. They have a really good pork bun.

KH: That’s also good. Their buns … (pause for adolescent giggles)

CD: Make sure you attribute that to him not me (more giggles). I try to find places where I can take my computer and do work and go at times when they’re not going to be crowded. I really like Husk, especially for brunch or for happy hour, just for their oysters. I also like Dottie’s. I like going there for lunch. They also have a breakfast sandwich that I really like. I haven’t had it, but the roasted chicken looks really good 🍗 They put butter under the skin. I’ve watched them make it. My son and I will get Nom Nom Poké for takeout sometimes. 

KH: Oh yeah, it’s really good.

CD: I like it because it’s lighter, and it’s hard to get relatively healthy food to go.

KH: They have a good culture there. I’ve only been in two or three times, but every time I’ve been inside, everybody seems happy, the kitchen staff is nice and friendly, and they’re good with suggesting things, like if you’re trying to get something outside of the raw. They have a teriyaki bowl that’s really nice.

CD: I like Strange Bird, too. Brandon [Carter] is a good friend of mine. I like any kind of more elevated Mexican. Whatever place says it’s ‘authentic’ probably is not. In Mexico, it’s so regional. I like high-quality ingredients in that format. That birria burger is really good 🍔 Felipe [Vera] told me how they make it. After they smoke the brisket, they use the fat and the jus and add peppers to it. I like it there.

KH: Over Yonder’s burger is super-good.

CD: I haven’t had it.

KH: It’s late-night enough but open early enough to go in there and grab a quick drink, and if you feel like you need to put something in your stomach, the burger. I go with a lot of my lady friends, and they like the fries 🍟

CD: Is it a smashburger? 

KH: It is a little fattier.

CD: Maybe a 70-30 or something? Is it extra-caramelized?

KH: Yeah.

CD: So it’s crispy-cripsy. Because a lot of smashburgers are kind of caramelized, but they’re not actually crispy.

KH: And just for overall atmosphere, I used to work there, Zunzi’s and Zunzibar ⛱ They just opened a new location in Hilton Head. They have the Tybee location and one in Atlanta, and I think they’re looking at Pooler. The owner, Chris [Smith], has created a really good culture, the staff is super-nice, they have a great slogan, and they have a really good chicken sandwich. If I go there, I get the Godfather. I really like that Boerewors sausage.

CD: The what?

KH: The Boerewors. It’s a South African sausage. When people hear it, they immediately think ‘blood sausage’, but it has a really nice flavor to it. They have a sandwich that just has that sausage, and they call it the Booty Roll. It’s that Boerewors sausage, a vegan gravy that’s really good, and grilled peppers and onions 🫑 It’s super-good.

As much as I try not to insinuate myself into Chefs’ Cravings, I had to mention Zunzi’s scratch-making their own amazing chips, instead of serving Zapp’s Voodoo chips as was done for years.

KH: They’re killer. They’re better. With Dank sauce.

CD: My son was just telling me that he really likes Dank sauce. Do they use barbecue seasoning?

KH: They make their own ‘Voodoo’ seasoning. Personally, I think the Zapp’s chips are a little too salty. I can eat just a couple. Zunzi’s is making them fresh constantly, and before, you had to order chips. Now, pretty much any time you get a sandwich, it comes with chips.

And for a special occasion?

CD: My house.

KH: Yeah. Let me cook, and I promise you, whatever I would have spent, I’d spend on groceries and cook something just as good. If I go out to eat, Alligator Soul. Their alligator chorizo mac and cheese is super-good. I went there a couple weeks ago and had the lamb, the frog legs, the duck, all really good. It’s just a nice ambience in there, kind of quiet, dark, and dim, romantic, with super-good food and a super-friendly staff 🐊

-Neil Gabbey

TRIED, TASTED, TRUE

Sweet potato chips

THE STORY BEHIND THE RECIPE

We love sweet potatoes. No skin off the regular russet or creamy Yukon Gold, but when the chips or fries are down, we choose the orange ones.

Growing up in Western New York, sweet potatoes seemed to appear only at Thanksgiving, and its fries were then nonexistent in freezer cases or on restaurant menus. Perhaps timing played a part, but it was not until we moved to Maryland in the mid-’90s that we suddenly discovered this other superb side.

If it were socially acceptable and nutritionally viable, my wife and I would eat fries every day, so long as they were hand-cut and double-fried. If russets ceased to exist, we would be more than satisfied with cassavas or sweets. 

At home, no matter the time of year, I prepare sweet potatoes probably twice a month, rotating between baked steak wedges, twice-baked stuffed jackets, and chips. Unlike its relatively unrelated and more common cousin, the copper-skinned root can be a cooking conundrum because it does not crisp up as quickly or as easily as an actual potato due to its higher moisture and sugar contents.

Fear not: crunchy sweet potato chips can be made at home with precious few ingredients but plenty of patience.

I have prepared mine by two different methods, baking and frying, both of which yield tasty final products. Which road you take really depends on how many sheet pans you have and how you feel about deep-frying at home.

Both recipes start the same, using a mandoline to make mounds of thin orange rounds. My Börner V-Slicer is pushing 30 but still does the job, even with the hardest roots. I soak the slices in a big bowl of iced, salted, and vinegared water for at least two hours. According to the Idaho Potato Commission, vinegar “can help impart a tangy flavor to the fries without making them taste overly vinegary” and “can also help to slightly break down the surface of the potatoes, aiding in the development of a crispier texture during frying.”

This is when you need to pick your preparation approach. If you are baking your chips, drain the sweet potato slices and lay them in a single layer on a large kitchen towel, topped with another towel. Gently pat them dry. You can even pick up the four corners of the towel and give the pre-chips a little shake.

Place them back in the bowl and toss them with a quarter cup of olive oil before lining them up on a parchment-lined sheet pan and sprinkling them with kosher salt. For one good-sized sweet, you may need three pans to bake them all at the same time, which you want to do.

After years of trying to achieve crispy doneness at high oven temps with varying and oft-burnt results, I recently turned to Summer Collier’s recipe, posted on www.aspicyperspective.com, which calls for a low-and-slow bake that ensures the centers are not soft. Even at just 300°, this far better method results in some slightly overdone edges, but they are still proper chips.

The best version, though, requires parboiling and frying. It means two pots and more steps, but the process eliminates the need for a fleet of pans and pays off in crispier, more legit chips.

On burners not near each other, if possible, simultaneously heat up water to boiling and oil to 325°. 

Because they are going right back into more water, there is no need to dry the raw root slices before they take a two-minute bubble boil. You can try three minutes to cut down on the eventual fry time, but any longer than that will result in over-parboiled pieces that will break apart. 

This is dry time lest you introduce too much water to hot oil. A quick rest between sack cloth towels will give you time to check the oil temp and to line a big bowl with paper towels for the finished chips.

As with any deep-frying, the exact time the sweet potatoes are swimming around does not matter as much as their color. You are not going anywhere anyway. A shade just a shade browner than Texas Longhorn burnt orange is what you want and will take about four minutes. One root will require at least three batches.

Fish the finished chips out of the oil with a spider skimmer or slotted spoon and set them in the big bowl. Lightly salt each batch and gently toss while they are still hot and glistening.

One sweet potato makes enough chips for the two of us to split in one meal, but the work is well worth it.

-Neil Gabbey

THE RECIPE

HARD GOODS 

• 1 sweet potato, squat and thick (not long and thin) 🥔

• 1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more to taste

• Fresh-ground black pepper (to taste)

WET GOODS

• 1 tablespoon white vinegar

• ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil (if baking) 🫒

• 4 cups canola or vegetable oil (if frying)

DO THIS

1. Under cold water, clean the sweet potato’s skin with a potato brush (or your hands)

2. Using a mandoline, slice the sweet potato into thin rounds

3. Add 1 tablespoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of vinegar to a large bowl of iced water

4. Soak the slices in the water for at least two hours (no more than four)

5. IF BAKING

   • Preheat an oven to 300°

   • Line at least two—and probably three—baking sheets with parchment paper

   • Drain the sweet potato slices and dry in a single layer between two large kitchen towels

   • Toss the slices with the ¼ cup of olive oil

   • Arrange the slices in a single layer on the baking sheets

   • Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, flipping once about halfway and rotating the baking sheets

   • Close to the end time, if possible, remove the smaller, obviously done chips and place in a big bowl

   • Toss with a pinch of kosher salt and black pepper

   • Repeat until all of the chips look done

6. IF BAKING

   • Fill one stock pot with plenty of water and bring to a boil over high heat

   • Fill another stock pot or dutch oven with the cooking oil and bring to 325°

   • Parboil the sweet potato slices for two minutes (three maximum)

   • Drain the slices and dry in a single layer between two large kitchen towels

   • Working in batches, fry the slices until just past burnt orange (roughly four minutes)

   • Remove each batch to a big bowl lined with paper towels and toss with kosher salt and pepper while the chips are still hot

BEEN THERE. ATE THAT.

Munchies🍗🍛

Though I was born and bred in Rochester, New York, my stomach was destined for the South.

I had a little literal taste of Southern cuisine during my college years in Virginia, but it was not until my wife and I were 46 miles below the Mason-Dixon Line that I really tucked into barbecue, biscuits, fried chicken, and grits.

Not until we became card-carrying Georgians a decade ago did I wholly swallow and appreciate all that I had been missing. I am a Southern cooking convert through and through and would be a meat-and-three eater every day if my physiology could handle it.

My wife had headed back to our aforementioned hometown for a few days, so instead of cooking for one, I decided to treat myself to a meal from Munchies, the Montgomery Street standard for barbecue and soul food.

Full disclosure: I did not experience the excellence of Munchies until almost exactly a year ago, but I was an immediate food fan of the restaurant Willie Cooper bought from its eponymous originator, John “Munchie” Maxwell, right as 2020 was ending.

Because I do not go there nearly often enough, I always order the chicken and rib combo entrée with double red rice ($18). 

That may seem like a steep price, but what is heaped into a Hefty styro clamshell is much more than one person can—or should—eat in one sitting. This is a true value meal, enough food for two dinners for me or for my wife and me to split.

As it always is, the service was sweet and friendly, like you are getting takeout not at a restaurant but from a neighbor’s house, and because Munchies is so popular, the meats and sides in the buffet steam table run out and turn over at a quick clip. That means fresh food. It also means that you had better show up before five o’clock lest they are sold out of whatever smoked savory you were craving. 

Everything in the chicken and rib platter is the most appetizing orange color, including generous drizzles of a house-made barbecue sauce that, along with Miss Geneva’s, is the best in town 🐓 Make sure to ask for at least two extra cups for dipping.

The ribs more than live up to the expected cliché, the tender meat falling from the four big bones with barely a bite. Keep a roll of paper towel close or just lick the unctuousness from your fingers.

The same goes for the chicken legs, the meat soft and moist and smoke-pink through. Both meats have a nice grill crust without being overcooked one bit. 

Over cherry, oak, and pecan woods, the heat stays lower than 300°, and meats are dry-rubbed with a “secret” blend known as the Munchie Mix 🍖 Just the right amounts of salt and pepper allow the smoked proteins to be the stars.

In the rice, the grains are beautifully blond with flecks of tomato and big chunks of smoked sausage. It is a fantastic recipe without being unnecessarily fancy, rivaled only by Erica Davis Lowcountry’s rendition. I am sure that Munchies’ other sides are superb, but I can never pass up twice Savannah’s eponymous rice 🍛

I ate both well and sensibly that night, saving one rib and two drummies and about half of the rice for the next night. With food this wonderful, that takes will power.

-Neil Gabbey