Paula Deen's - The Lady and Sons

I imagine that if you haven't turned on the food network, read a people magazine in the past 10 years, perused cooking blogs, or looked int he magazine section of the book store recently you might not have heard of Paula Deen. She is a food network 'celebrity' whose rags to riches story tugs at the heartstrings. She runs a barn of a restaurant in a restored cotton warehouse in Savannah.

Situated in the heart of Savannah’s historical district, the restaurant, a three-story temple to mashed potatoes and gravy, draws the biggest crowd almost every day. And it’s not just tourists, according to our server. Locals join the crowd frequently. The mayor is a regular.

Reservations don’t exist at the Lady and Sons (although I heard through the grapevine that as long as you have a valid Savannah area code, you can pretend you’re a local and make reservations). Instead, they use a system of priority seats, where you have to show up at the restaurant, put your name on the list, and hope it’s not 9:30pm when you finally get a table. They will book large parties and Marcia had reserved three tables of 10 for us at 12:30 on Saturday.

Our table was on the third floor which was great because we would need some exercise (although they did have an elevator). You may order off of the menu of partake of the lunch buffet. Guess what Paul and I enjoyed?

Upon being seated we were given menus and our drink orders were taken. Those who ordered iced tea (unsweetened of course, here in  he south) received a tall class filled with tea and garnished with a sprig of mint. Our server brought us a cheddar biscuit and a hoe cake (no, I am NOT being rude!)

Both were excellent which is a surprise given that they must make thousands of these each day.

You guessed it, we had the buffet! It featured fried chicken, baked chicken, ribs, black eyed-peas, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, collard greens, succotash, rice, etc. There was also a salad bar.

While everything was good, the fried chicken and the collard greens were amazing in my opinion. Brad ordered a blacked tilapia sandwich which he thought was wonderful. Gail a salad, which she wasn't happy with. The fried chicken was crisp, with a lightly breaded coating. Take it from me, if you want to eat here, do not eat a healthy main course. This is the area where if it can't be fried, it isn't worth eating!

Comments

[Eden]

Since I have been reading your Savannah blog, I am totally feeling deprived. I really missed out on a great party and awesome company.

Now, I want to visit and stand in line at The Lady and Sons.

[Jerry]

Eden - it would be worth the wait. Ummm fried chicken.