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Southern Accents On Haute Cuisine

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By RICHARD MULLINS

rmullins@tampatrib.com

Published: November 28, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - What would happen if a loud-talking, good ol' Southern boy dated a Manhattan socialite with an architectural food fetish?

Crazy stuff, no doubt. If that relationship ended up on a dinner plate, you would have a good idea what's on the menu at Savannah's Cafe in St. Petersburg.

The stylish, airy and funky restaurant on the gentrified strip of Central Avenue - toward the baseball stadium side, not the Jannus Landing side - has a lot of gourmet Southern flings to offer.

And we tried some of the craziest - and tastiest.

Case in point: the Original Julep. Normally, juleps include bourbon, mint, sugar and crushed ice. Not here.

Savannah's julep comes in a - gasp - martini glass, with about a gallon of bourbon, a decorative-but-not-functional sprig of mint and no ice. It packs enough punch to peel paint off the walls.

For an appetizer, we picked the Low Country Egg Rolls. This requires some explanation. It's a traditional Chinese-style egg roll wrapper, but it's filled with Tasso ham, chicken and fresh collard greens and comes with a chutney sauce. It's like South meets Manhattan meets Chinese takeout. It's very, very spicy, but somehow it works in a let's-try-this-and-see kind of way.

For dinner, we tried the Pulled Pork Napoleon. Napoleon dishes normally encase some breed of meat in a pastry and come baked. Here, juicy pulled pork is served in vertical layers like a funky club sandwich: layer of sauce, then layer of pulled pork, then a triangle croissant puff. Repeat twice. It eventually stands about eight inches tall.

Our other entree was the grilled salmon. Before you dismiss salmon as prosaic, consider the presentation. It comes served on cheese grits with saffron and scallion crème sauce. With admirable skill, the kitchen pulls off grits that are creamy and melt in your mouth, rather than cementing into a glop as grits often do. Instead, the combination was sweet, smooth and flavorful.

Oddly, the vegetable terrine side dish somehow forgot the terrine part and came without the stone baking dish that defines, you know, terrine-cooked things. Maybe they left it in the kitchen.

Other tempting options include corn and oyster fritters, seafood jambalaya, cornmeal-encrusted Mississippi Fried Catfish and jerk chicken marinated in garlic, onions peppers and ginger.

For dessert, there were lots of good choices, including Key lime pie from the amazing Mike's Pies, pineapple upside-down cake and Mama D's Bread Pudding.

Because we like names like Mama, we picked that one. Mama must be a fan of cookie-style cakes because this pudding was denser than most and almost took a knife to chop off chunks. Tasty but, again, a stranger item than you might expect.

Even if you're not into the food, the space is worth a look. The location is a two-story brick storefront building with checkerboard tile floors that was once a car dealership.

Prices can set you back a spell - appetizers are $7 to $9, and entrees are $15 to $27. A couple can easily burn through $100 with drinks, desserts and tip.

But if you have the cash, we recommend Savannah's as a fine stroll through some funky, modern Southern experiments.

DINING REVIEW

Savannah's Cafe

BOTTOM LINE: Southern haute cuisine

WHERE: 1113 Central Ave., St. Petersburg

HOURS: lunch: 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday; dinner: 5-10 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 5-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday

CREDIT CARDS: AE/DISC/MC/V

RESERVATIONS: Recommended

CHILDREN'S MENU: Yes

ALCOHOL: Full bar and wine list

WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: Yes

PRICE RANGE: $7 to $27

CALL: (727) 388-4371

Tribune reviewers eat anonymously. Reporter Richard Mullins can be reached at (813) 259-7919.

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