Fire Street Food: Not packing the heat

Like books, you cannot judge restaurants on appearance alone. Fire Street Food on 13 East Perry Street is a shining example.

Everything inside is so perfect and so hip it hurts. When I see an interior that is so nice, I automatically assume that the restaurant is so successful, they can afford top of the line everything.

This place is so cute inside

On Friday night, Mike, Ingela and I sauntered in to Fire Street Food at about 10 p.m. and there was a line. Good sign.

We learned two things standing in that line. One, they ran out of sushi by 8 p.m. that night, and three, despite boasting many flavors of bubble tea, by10 p.m. on a Friday, they were out of a few of them. Bad sign.

Traditionally, I order things I know, but this blog has made me step outside of many of my normal boundaries. So I decided to try the Laos Egg Noodle Soup with braised pork.

My Laos pork soup

When the manager dropped my soup off at the table, he asked, “Do you want hot sauce?” I agreed

and proceeded to make my once clear soup a pleasant pink with the addition of about 10 shakes of Sriracha. And while I could handle the heat, the taste of the soup was just not good.

There were a few pieces of pork that tasted like the pork from fried rice at a Japanese restaurant, there was an unidentifiable floating substance that I shared with my dinner companions and they also had no idea what it was. It looked like tofu, but it tasted like meat.

Did I mention how cute the inside of this place is?

Mike's Gang Dang Gai

Mike had the “Gang Dang Gai” with chicken. The menu description lists this as a curry, coconut milk, basil entrée. Sounds good, right? Unfortunately, this was also not very tasty. Mike also ordered a green tea flavored bubble tea that he didn’t enjoy. Seriously, as I’ve mentioned before, Mike eats and drinks everything. For him to not finish a meal or a $5 bubble tea, you know something is wrong.

I tasted his meal and I’m sure I’ve had much better curry in at least two other restaurants in the city.

Ingela's winner chicken sandwich

Finally, of course, we laughed at Ingela when she ordered an American chicken sandwich. Of course, I tasted said chicken sandwich. Of course, said sandwich rocked my world and I ate half of her dinner. It almost tasted like a Louisiana Po-Boy with the same messy and delicious factors. To top it off, her French fries were banging.

So three Americans walk into an Asian restaurant and the one who orders the American chicken sandwich has the best dinner. The end.

North Beach Café: Great Food, Amazing View

I walked into North Beach Café in a crappy mood. And that’s never a good way to start a meal. Tybee Island, home to the café, requires you to pay to park until 8pm. After finding the first three parking meters did not work, my patience was exhausted. Mike’s guffaws only exacerbated the situation.

The sign from the parking lot

The restaurant was empty except for a gathering of Red Hats women sitting at the tables inside and a few beachcombers sitting outside. For fear of the Red Hats women breaking into song with lyrics like “There may be snow on my roof, the foundation’s shot, but if you come into my kitchen, the oven’s still hot,” we decided to sit outside.

Chips and Salsa

Our waitress was chipper. Of course Mike harassed her and asked her how local the “local seafood” was. She came back and said, “We buy it from a local salesman.” Mike of course wanted to know where he got the fish. She left and returned. I’m not entirely sure what they were talking about, but the fish is not from the Gulf, which pleased Mike.

           

We ordered chips and salsa for an appetizer. They make their salsa and chips from scratch. They taste like they have cheese baked into them. Score. And see that little pot the salsa is in? Mike drank the juice once the salsa was gone because it was that good.

Chicken Tortilla Salad

For my meal, I had the Chicken Tortilla Salad. It was killer. There were more of those tasty chips at the bottom of this plate heaped with chicken and black beans and I was satisfied and full. Well done for a salad.

Non-Gulf Crab Cakes

Mike ordered the crab cakes after yet another dialogue about the birthplace of the crabs and a conversation about where they did their undergrad. He said they were some of the best crab cakes he has ever had. A healthy serving of red beans and fresh veggies accompanied the crab cakes.

Unbeatable view from our table

Overall, this restaurant was exactly what we wanted: Quality, taste, and affordability. The view from our table was priceless and if you’re heading to this restaurant, it’s probably a good idea to do it before tourist season.

At around 7:30 p.m., the bugs got hungry. We skipped dessert and opted for a walk on the beach instead. If you head here at night, bring some bug spray.

Wasabi: Wasabi Win, Photo Fail

There is one thing I learned from my recent trip to Wasabi: taking photographs of gross-when-you-think-about-it sushi in dim light yields bad photographs. So in advance, I apologize.

Despite my wacky photo hijinks, Wasabi is my favorite sushi bar in Savannah. The restaurant always plays hip music, the servers are nice, the atmosphere is relaxed, and they give discounts to the SCAD community. And all that is great, but let’s get down to the food.

I tend to show up to Wasabi with one of two mindsets. Either I want something light because I’m feeling like a Fatty McButterpants or I want to get down on some hearty Japanese goodness.

On this most recent trip, I was hungry like a manimal.

Chicken & Steak Teriyaki

I ordered the chicken and steak teriyaki dinner. This is the first time I’ve ordered this and it was killer. There was even a little ramekin of a concentrated ginger/teriyaki sauce on the plate. And no matter how hard I try, I cannot make sticky rice at home, so their rice is awesome. Underneath all that beef and chicken is an assortment of vegetables in house-made teriyaki sauce.

Mike's Sashimi Plate

Of course like most entrees at Wasabi, my meal came with a choice miso or mushroom soup. Go with the miso. And a choice of ginger or ranch dressing on a salad. Go with ginger.

My dinner companions had a variety of tasty things too. Mike had this array of sashimi with a stunning visual presentation. This last trip was our second time here and both times he said, “This is the freshest fish in town.”

The photo fail "Out of Order" roll

Steve had this cucumber roll. It’s small, but packed with flavor.  Dean had this orange upside down roll that I debated not including a photo of because, well, you see how it looks. He swears it’s good, it’s a bit beyond looking like something I could eat, so I’ll leave that to you to try. Oh, it’s called the “Out of Order” roll. Seriously.

Ingela had the curry chicken entrée and she said that it tasted more like an Indian curry than a Thai curry. I think that’s an interesting choice for the restaurant to make and good catch on Ingela’s part. I personally prefer both, but some people do not enjoy the Indian type of curry.

Spicy Tuna Roll win!

And lastly, Steve and Dean split one of my favorite rolls of all time, the Spicy Tuna. Wasabi does it a bit differently because they put the rice on the outside and the stuff on the inside. I think it makes the roll taste better and this is something that I order from here frequently.

Whether you want a light summer meal or just want to chow down on some of Japan’s heartier meals, Wasabi is pretty good at making both.

If you really want to indulge, try the green tea ice cream for dessert. I advise holding the whipped cream because the artificial taste of the whipped cream takes away from the natural flavor of the ice cream.

Fresh Fusion: Bundle of Joy

Sometimes, when I walk and I step on or off a curb, my belly seems to jiggle in a different direction from the rest of my body. I’m guessing this is no good. For a while, the only green things in my diet were the toppings on my pizza, the piece of lettuce on a bacon cheeseburger and the annual Shamrock Shake at McDonald’s.

Don’t get me wrong, some people can work that “I’m pregnant” look. I am not one of them. Not since 1994’s film "Junior" starring the talented Arnold Schwarzenegger has pregnancy suited a man.

But the truth is, my recent immaculate conception has caused me to rethink some of my food choices. I even ordered a salad at Screamin’ Mimi’s last week. (Scroll down for documented proof).

As a result, I have been on the hunt for some local establishments that have an eye towards health.

Fresh Fusion on Broughton Street

One day, on our way to get burgers on Broughton Street, Mike and I stumbled on Fresh Fusion.

This place has three main things, fresh squeezed juices, smoothies, and kick ass yogurt with killer toppings.

One day, I ordered the “carrot apple” juice and they use four carrots and two apples to make it.

And it is delicious. Nothing else goes in it, except crushed ice if you want.

Carrot Apple juice and crushed ice

Mike tried a “strawberry pear” juice one day and though it’s not on the menu, you can easily order it and it’s pretty tasty. The fresh squeezed juices are $3.50 each and Fresh Fusion offers 10% off to select local business people and SCAD students.

Possessed by the cravings of my unborn child, I asked about the calorie content in their frozen yogurt. It turns out, four ounces of their frozen yogurt has between 70-90 calories. Yup, that’s it. So I have been back a few times for their frozen yogurt.  And the carrot apple juice, I swear.

Taro Yogurt, my #2 favorite

As for the yogurts, my favorites are the Taro Tea and the new Angel Food Cake. Don’t ask me what goes in these yogurts, I don’t care.  They just taste good and they only have 80 calories for four ounces. On top of that, I can run through the fixin's line and make it look and taste pretty. I’m particularly fond of the mini chocolate chips and fresh strawberries.

Yogurt fixin's bar

If you order the frozen yogurt, they have a frequent customer punch card and I think if you buy 10, you get the 11^th for free.

With summer just minutes a way, and the possibility of your bouncy mid section going on public display at the beach, now is a good time to add some more fresh fruits and veggies into your diet.

Screamin' Mimi's: Who is Mimi and why is she screamin’?

Pizza, gift from the gods. It’s so easy to make yet also so easy to completely mess up. The cheese has to be good, the crust can’t be too doughy or too thin, the pizza has to be big enough to support the weight of the toppings. There are so many ways pizza can go wrong.

Thankfully, Screamin’ Mimi’s always does it right.

I never considered writing about Mimi’s before because it’s just so damn reliable. It has the atmosphere of an independent restaurant, while it also has the consistency of a well-honed chain restaurant.  But fortunately, it’s not a chain.

Screamin' Mimi's storefront

You order your food at a counter, get your own drink, and sit and wait for someone to call your name if you are sitting inside, or for someone to bring your food to you if you are sitting outside.

The outside seating is definitely a plus this time of year. You can still see some hustle and bustle of the city, but you don’t have to deal with strangers asking for bus fare or to bum a cigarette while you eat.

To date, my favorite slice is white pizza with broccoli and tomatoes. This last trip, I was also brave enough to try a slice of white pizza with ham, feta and basil. What an amazing combination.

Ham, feta, basil, white pizza (front); Tomato, broccoli on white (back)

It’s not that I don’t like Mimi’s red sauce, to the contrary, it’s really good. So good that I also highly recommend their spaghetti and meatball entrée. I just feel like there are some pizzerias where you cannot get white pizza by the slice, so when I can, I do. Luckily, Mimi is a gracious gal.

Other good things about Mimi’s? I’m so happy you asked. The slices are huge. Seriously big and seriously tasty. I think after adding all of my toppings, it came to $3.50 a slice.

Yes, this is on the expensive side, but they use a high quality cheese, the toppings are fresh, and the restaurant is independently run, so I am definitely fine paying a little more than some of those $1/slice places on Broughton and on various squares throughout Savannah.

This time I also ordered a salad for man cannot live on pizza alone. Believe me, I tried. The salad was good: a healthy serving of greens, tomatoes, olives and peppers. Go for the house vinaigrette.

Yup, it's a salad

The glutton in me also really likes that there are free refills of soda. And I also like that they have Coke and not Pepsi products. These things matter.

One last thing, the restaurant name is officially Screamin’ Mimi’s Pizza and Subs. I have yet to try a sub there, but if the owners thought it was important enough to include subs in the name, I will try one soon.  

Firefly Cafe: "Two thumbs sideways"

There’s something about rolling back a boulder to find Jesus has left the building and Easter brunch that just go so well together.  On Easter Sunday, Mike and I decided to try a new place for brunch.  I also added a new breakfast companion into the mix, Ingela Marie Johnson Smith Volvo from Pennsylvania.  The destination? The Firefly Café.  I had never been here before, neither had Ingela and Mike hadn’t eaten here in years.  Game on.

Firefly Cafe

We arrived promptly at 9 a.m. and got a sweet table outside.  The coffee was good, the server was perky and prompt and the mood was set for a great meal.  I will say that in anticipation of a busy Easter rush, perhaps we caught the chefs on a bad morning.  We were the first people there and maybe the kitchen hadn’t found their mojo yet. 

Overall, the meal was mediocre.  The worst part about mediocre is when mediocre is expensive.  I think breakfast for the three of us was close to $60.  I had a custom omelette with bacon, Monterey Jack cheese and tomatoes, I added a $2 biscuit that was not homemade and the meal came with hash browns.  The hash browns were stringy and greasy and the consistency was not great.  Ingela had a classic breakfast of two eggs over easy, sausage, hash browns that she didn’t finish, and a biscuit.  Mike’s meal was the most visually impressive and for him to not finish a $14 breakfast, you know it has to be bad. 

My omelette

Here are the descriptions for our various entrees:

Me: "My Way" Omellette (sic)

An Omelet filled your way;

Choose from: Cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach, red onions, green onions, sweet peppers, ham, bacon and sausage.

Ingela: The Usual

Two eggs your way, apple wood smoked bacon or sausage links, hash browns or grits and a buttermilk biscuit.

Ingela's 'The Usual'

Mike: Habersham Hashbrowns

Sauteed peppers and onions in the hash, 2 eggs, jack cheese, adobe sour cream and scallions. Add ham or sausage crumbles.

Mike’s sounds the best and from the photo, it looks the best, but he pushed it away.  I think it honestly has a lot to do with the hash browns.  Given they make up 1/3 of a typical breakfast plate, if they are bad, the odds are not ever in their favor. 

Mike's Habersham Hash Browns

As Mike and I were discussing our disappointment later that afternoon, Ingela texted to say:  “My official Firefly Café review: two thumbs sideways.”

And she is right.  I hate to knock a small business doing it’s best to keep the doors open against the megalochains of Savannah, but it’s the South.  You can’t serve mediocre breakfast and charge $2 for a frozen Pillsbury biscuit.  It’s just not very Christian. 

Foxy Loxy: The Fox and Fig

As a result of owning my own coffee shop at one point and managing a Starbucks at another point, I’ve become a bit of a snob about coffee shops and their espresso.

Foxy Loxy Cafe

My neighborhood is home to Foxy Loxy Café.  It just opened in August 2011 and a woman who is also a SCAD professor owns it and frequently slings lattes.  This is already a good sign.  If someone who owns a coffee shop is behind the counter, you know this means he or she enjoys what he or she is doing.  As a result, the coffee and espresso will just taste better.  Promise.  And if the place is as beautiful inside as Foxy Loxy, well then, even better. 

My standard drink is an iced latte.  But I’m picky about my espresso.  I found out however, that Foxy Loxy brews PERC Coffee and uses PERC espresso.  Both of which locally owned PERC Coffee roasts just for them.  Sweet.  And let me tell you, it’s really good.  It’s a bit smoother than your average espresso.  It tastes a bit nuttier also.  If you like that ‘punch me in the face’ espresso from Starbucks, you may want to add an extra shot to your drinks here.  (Word to the wise, taste has nothing to do with strength.)  The espresso here is probably just as strong, but ah, the mind plays tricks and Starbucks’ espresso just does taste strong.

Fig and Chocolate Scones

So what do I pair with my latte?  Well, after haunting this shop frequently over the last few weeks, I will say YOU MUST GET A FIG AND CHOCOLATE SCONE.  I even sometimes call ahead to ask what kind of scones they have.  “Jason, you’re sick and you have a food problem.”  I say, “Qu’ils mangent du scone!”  Believe me, they are worth it.  They also have an amazing lavendar lemon loaf.  Yeah, they went there.  They also have three kinds of brownies.

In order of preference:

1. Foxy Brownie – made with the aforementioned PERC espresso and heaps of tasty cinnamon.  I currently weigh an 1/8 of a ton and I can’t even finish one.

2.  Vegan brownie – yup, it’s like egg and milk free and stuff, but damn it’s good.

3. The other brownie (not the official name) – I’m pretty sure it has bacon and bourbon, but it’s too decadent for me.

If you aren’t a dessert person, they also have more savory choices like soups, tacos and my favorite, cheese boards.  You can mix and match several cheeses and bread and fruit and guess what else?  They even serve beer and wine.  Betty Ford score!

Foxy Loxy inside

Foxy Loxy is the real deal.  It has great atmosphere including a huge deer head that greets you at the door.  The espresso delights, the food is killer and the choices are always changing.  Plus, you can say you supported a local establishment and that’s pretty awesome. 

P.S. Try the Mexican hot chocolate.

B. Matthew's: Brunch on this

With the tourists gone and classes underway, I expected my life to get back to normal.  With one exception.  Mike kept reminding me about my promise to go chain-free while writing this blog.  He’s kind of a jerk.  And he recently quit smoking so he is twice the jerk he was before.

Mike steals food from my plate (again)

 We decide to go to breakfast together on Sunday morning.  And I would have been fine with going to J. Christopher’s for the 100^th time, but wait, what’s that you say?  It’s a chain.  Yep.

While I can’t tell you an exact number, there are 14 pull down choices of cities alone on J. Christopher’s “Find a restaurant near you” portion of the website.  Most of them are in Georgia, but some are in Tennessee. Not only do I love everything on their menu, my friend John goes there all the time.  And we all have a mutual friend who works there.  Boo.  Blog project. 

So Mike and I agree to get up early on Sunday and go to B. Matthew’s.  I’m not sure what the appeal is of first initial/last name places, but this one is not a chain.  I’m sure of it.  I even reviewed their website ahead of time. 

So Mike and I walk there, they are open for breakfast and lunch during the week and on Sunday when we went, they had a special brunch menu.  They do this for both Saturday and Sunday.  This also means they do not open until 9am.  When we arrive at 9:03 the hostess asks if we have a reservations.  Nope we sure didn’t.  But crap, do we need them right when the doors open?  The hostess asks us if we want to sit at the bar.  Nope we sure don’t.  So we get a table and a very witty, friendly server.  Hooray.

I decide on the Bay Street Scramble, here is the menu description: 

Scrambled eggs smothered with hashbrowns, applewood smoked bacon, mushrooms, tomato, green onion and cheddar cheese topped with a sundried tomato hollandaise and a homemade biscuit $9.00

Bay Street Scramble

It was a whole lot of food and taste for $9.00.  This is definitely something to order again.  The homemade biscuit was to die for and my dish was almost like an omelet on top of roasted potatoes.  I typically put ketchup on my eggs because I am a Yankee but this meal did not require it.  This says something for the food if I shied away from my trusty ketchup bottle.  The applewood bacon, scallions, cheddar cheese and sundried tomato hollandaise sauce make it completely unnecessary.

And Mike ordered the black-eyed pea cake sandwich.  I hate to admit it, but his was better than mine.  His meal was a big savory black-eyed pea cake seasoned just right with awesome bread and what won my heart was the side of blue cheese pasta.

Black-eyed pea cake sandwich w/blue cheese pasta

Here is the description:

Black-Eyed Pea Cake Sandwich on wheatberry bread with red onions, lettuce, tomato and pepperjack cheese with Cajun remoulade served with your choice of side$7.75

Overall B. Matthew’s was a big win.  The food was great, the restaurant was comfortable and our brunch cost maybe $20 for the two of us.  I think this weekend we are going to check out Firefly Café. 

Happy eats y’all.

Leoci's: Faith in Tagliatelle Carbonara

A few days later...It’s St. Patrick’s Day and I have two friends in town, one from London and one from New Orleans.  My buddy Justin from New Orleans used to be one of my favorite dining companions.  As a result of living in New Orleans he and I both know good food just by totally passive osmosis. 

Rachel from London and Justin from New Orleans

And my friend Rachel from London, well, she comes from a country where the national fare is fried fish wrapped in newspaper – she shouldn’t be too hard to please.

After a string of personal failures of my inability to pick a non-chain restaurant and the bogus meals we’ve had, we decide to let Rachel from London pick where she wants to eat on her last night.

She decides on Italian.  She uses an app on her phone and comes up with three choices, Olive Garden, Leoci’s, and some other restaurant that popular opinion instantly vetoes.  Truth is, I love Olive Garden.  I could eat salad and breadsticks all day everyday.  But I lose the battle.  We decide to go to Leoci’s despite the fact that we know nothing about it.

It’s rare for me to experience a meal so great that I tell everyone I know about it.  But quite possibly the best meal I’ve had in the past 18 months was that night at Leoci’s.  And the inspiration behind finding such a truly hidden gem fuels me in this blog project search. 

Leoci's dining room

I am Italian, and I know what authentic Italian fare tastes like.  I also like some of the American variations.  This place is the best of both worlds.  On top of that, they make their own pasta.  On top of that, they rotate their menu so it’s never the same.  On top of that, they locally source their ingredients from Georgia and South Carolina.

Here is what our meal consisted of:

BRICK OVEN—ROASTED MIXED OLIVES 6
A mix of Mediterranean olives

INSALATA DI RUCOLA  7 / 10
Arugula salad, shaved fennel, cherry tomatoes, house seasoned croutons,
lemon vinaigrette

CLASSIC BOLOGNESE 16/ 22
House-made pappardella pasta tossed in a Hunter Cattle Co. hunter sauce consisting of beef, pork and veal ragu with a touch of Sweet Grass Dairy cream

TAGLIATELLE CARBONARA 12/ 18
House-made tagliatelle pasta, smoked pancetta, pecorino romano cheese topped with poached egg and parmigiano-reggiano

Mike also had some duck specialty dish that was to die for.  We each tasted the other’s meal and I decided that Rachel’s Tagliatelle was by far the best.  In addition, I had a really nice Argentine Malbec wine and some of the best cannoli I have ever had for dessert. 

So in one instant, Leoci’s restored my faith in Savannah’s dining culture.  Leave it to an out of towner to pick my new favorite restaurant for me.  As this blog continues, I hope to find more places like Leoci’s and less like the places I naturally gravitate towards.

Leoci's image taken from leocis.com