10th Annual Taste of Downtown in Savannah

Each year the Chamber of Commerce puts on a great event for its members, and the public, called the Taste of Downtown. It is a great way to get out and sample something special from the local restaurants here in the Savannah area, as well networking with fellow chamber members. This years event was held in beautiful Johnson Square and had plenty of variety for everyones taste buds. From casual to fine dining, it was there. Below is for the most part the best of the best that I ate. Some vendors were there that I didn't try just because I eat in their restaurants so often or the fare they were offering just didn't excite me enough to want a bite.

You can watch the news feature at the end about this event, in which I make a guest appearance in a drive by shot.

First up I tired the Braised Short Rib Slider Topped with Shrimp from The Olde Pink House. This was quite possibly the best dish I ate of the night and it was the first one out of the gate. It set the bar pretty high for everyone to match and only their sister restaurant, Garibaldi's, came close with their stuffed fried shrimp entry. This one was so good that I ended up coming back around for seconds.

Everything else was pretty good. The duck wrap was a nice bite. The ribs from a chef in Richmond Hill were excellent. The crab dip from another restaurant was spot on. The steak sandwich from Ruth's Chris was decent. But one other thing stood out...the cupcakes from Gigi's.

Gigi's has been one of our favorite guilty pleasures since they opened here in Savannah a couple of months ago. Bethany, the owner, has done an amazing job with her shop and these works of art are something to behold, and eat. Last night they had an amazing sampling of the mini cupcakes for everyone to enjoy at the event. These were far and away the best desserts of the night, and it wasn't even close. Every time I turned around Bethany was roping me back in and she let me know that the regular cupcakes would be arriving shortly. She gave me a couple for the road to take home to my wife, that is what you see pictured below. The one on the left is the Italian Wedding Cupcake and the other one is the Cherry Limeade Cupcake. Sadly only one made it home as I lost the Cherry Limeade one on a sharp turn. The cupcake went rolling onto the passenger side floor for the rest of the ride home.

For those that have never had a cupcake from Gigi's, find a location near you and get one today. You won't be disappointed at all.

Polka Dot Pig Gastro Pub in Augusta

This is a new restaurant in Augusta that has been open for a month. We decided to give it a shot and it was pretty good. We started off with a White Pizza and an order of Duck Empanadas as our apps. The white pizza is fire cooked with 5 different cheeses, fresh basil, and a garlic pesto. The empanadas were filled with duck, roasted black cherries, and crumbles of goat cheese. Both apps were very good and I would gladly eat them both again. For my main course I got the Chipotle Braised Beef Short Ribs with Jalapeno Mac-n-Cheese and Roasted Corn with Green Chilies. The short ribs were perfect. The mac-n-cheese was different and was on fire with every bite. Not really my cup of tea, but it wasn't horrible. Still, I would have been much happier with the old standard mac-n-cheese. All in all, they have a lot of different tastes on the menu and I would gladly go back. Hopefully though they will have things flowing better and get kinks worked out while shaking off the new restaurant rust. They only had 1 high chair for the entire restaurant (not good with as many tables as they have). Also, our apps came out within 10 min of ordering. We didn't get out main dishes for another 45 min. It was worth the wait, but it shouldn't have taken that long.

Braised Shanks & Brown Rice

Easy dish, great in cold weather. Brown the meat and carmelize the onions..add a little broth and let it all cook a couple of hours. You will have a very concentrated cooking liquid that you dilute with more broth and add your carrots and brown rice. Total time about 3 hours but doesn't require constant attention.