Starland Café: One of Savannah's brightest stars

The main problem with the Starland Café is that I always want it. I eat sandwiches at other restaurants and in my head I compare them with sandwiches from the Starland. I do it much like the way you might compare past lovers to the a potential new mate.

But the problem with Starland is that they are only open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Do you know what this means? No dinner.

I'll let that slide because if you show up around 11:30 a.m. or 2 p.m. and avoid the lunch rush, you will have one of the best food experiences in Savannah all for around $10. Promise.

Right now, the weather is perfect for sitting outside and enjoying lunch while looking on at the Starland Dog Park or the row houses across the street that remind me of a cross between the opening credits of Full House, Key West, and New Orleans. You might even see this neighborhood cat stroll by and welcome you to his 'hood. The cafe is inside the first floor of a restored home. It just adds more flavor to the already perfect menu.

The chair of the welcoming committee

The Starland Cafe menu is basic Panini, soup and salad. If you order a Panini off the "everyday" menu, you get a whole sandwich.

The Gobbler

If you order the special Panini of the day, you can substitute a salad or soup for half of your sandwich. Sandwiches range in price from $8 - $11.

For some reason whenever I go here, I mix myself an Arnold Palmer and it just seems to go perfectly with sitting outside on a bench and eating. I recommend doing the same.

I most recently ordered their daily special which had the word Gobble in it. This made total sense to me because biting into the sandwich was like biting into the best parts of Thanksgiving dinner minus Uncle John's racist rantings or Aunt Betty boozing it up in the bathroom (sorry Mom). The sandwich had cranberry chutney and thick slices of cheese and onions. And now, I'm hungry again.

The Gobbler and Tomato Bisque Heaven

I chose a cup of tomato bisque soup for my side that also had a dollop of goat cheese in the center and I was seeing stars. I think my exact words were, “Let’s order more so we can hoard it and pour it over pasta.” I’m pretty sure I have a food problem.

Mike had the chicken sandwich from the regular menu and it was full of hunks of white meat chicken, peppers, and swiss cheese. He also got a small salad which is a mini version of their kitchen sink salad. It has an amazing homemade vinaigrette dressing, cheese and crunchy noodles. Of course, it was gone in sixty seconds.

Chicken sandwich, salad and Arnold Palmer

Overall the Starland Cafe is that place in Savannah where I feel I have to take out of town guests to show them that we do have good local food culture here. I've never had a bad meal here, and I'm sure you won't either.