Tomorrow, Thursday, June 13, will be the Humane Society’s Third Annual Pup Crawl, and this year will be the first PUP Crawl through River Street! Purchase your $10 Souvenir cups (no charge for the pooches) at The Shrimp Factory and Jen’s & Friends from 5pm-8pm. You’ll receive your crawl map and instruction on the scavenger hunt details throughout the crawl. Join us at Joe’s Crab Shack at 9pm for a special raffle drawing and discounts on tasty treats!
Temporary Suspension
Due to an illness in the family, I have to temporarily discontinue most of my postings on this blog. I’m afraid I will not have the time to go out scouting around for new restaurants or new dishes at old favorites. Of course, if something comes my way, Ill post it or if any of my readers have little tidbits of news about eateries or the world of foodies in general, I will be delighted to post it. Just sent them to me at Tidbits@savannahbest.com.
Hopefully, I will be back in stride soon!
Papillote As We Have Known It…
It was a week ago yesterday. Jack came home with dinner for us. He looked distraught, sad, quite unlike himself. I asked what was the matter. He looked at me. “Papillote as we have known it will soon be gone,” he said. I stared at him. That’s impossible, I said. They just celebrated their fourth anniversary in Savannah. They’re doing a fabulous business. How could they be closing?
They have sold the business. They are leaving Savannah. But you must promise to say not a word, don’t even think of publishing anything about it, until after they are gone. I promised Herve, he said, that I would keep it a secret.
And so I did….until today, when I discovered that it’s all over Twitter. All I can say now is that I’m as heartbroken as Jack.
I take comfort, however, in the certainty that Chef Herve would not sell his small creation to anyone unless he believed that they would maintain the standards that he set for excellence. According to Chef Herve, the new owners intend to keep the same menu, perhaps adding a few new dishes of their own. Tomorrow will be the last day for Papillote under the auspices of Chef Herve and his partner Ann-Marie. Sunday, they will be closed for the transition. The new owners will re-open next week, probably Tues. or Wed. I wish them well.
A Mother’s Day Dinner to Bring Smiles!
Most of us, including our mothers, love roast leg of lamb. But many are intimidated by cooking this delicious dish. In fact, it’s very easy, takes you very little actual time, although there’s a good deal of time that it spends in the oven. Anyway, here’s how:
2-1/2 to 3 lb. leg of lamb
One or two bulbs of garlic
A good handful of fresh rosemary
1 or 2 Myer lemons and EVOO
Pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees
Take a half dozen cloves of garlic, peeled, and slice each into two or three slices.
Strip as much of the leaves of rosemary off the stems as you can.
While the oven is heating, cut slits about an inch deep every couple of inches all over the lamb. Then, into each slit, put a slice of garlic and as much rosemary as you can squeeze into the slits.
Rub the whole roast with a mixture of lemon juice and olive oil.
Place on rack in roasting pan and put in oven for about an hour and a half for medium rare lamb. Check temperature with an instant read thermometer. It should be about 145 degrees for medium.
If you’d like, you can add some potatoes, carrots and onions to the bottom of the roasting pan, giving you a complete meal with your leg of lamb surrounded by the vegetables.
When you take the roast out of the oven, be sure to cover it with aluminum foil and let it stand for at least 30 minutes to reabsorb its juices.
A perfect appetizer for this would be a shrimp cocktail, and dessert could be lemon or lime sherbet surrounded by fresh strawberries or blueberries…or both!
‘Tis the Season…for Soft Shelled Crabs
When the season for shad with its glorious roe comes to an end, I always feel a touch of melancholy.
But just as the fading flowers of Spring begin to drift out of sight for another year, so the big bold colors of summer start to shimmer in the sunlight.
All endings bring on new beginnings, I guess. And so the departure of Shad and Roe heralds the arrival of Soft Shelled Crab.
This delightful delicacy is a favorite around much of the world. We in the South are especially lucky, since the finest of these crustaceans, always blue crabs, come from Maryland, which is considered the best, and the Carolinas, close runners-up.
Personally, I think that the quality of the crab is far ore important than it’s state of origin. The very best you can get are live crabs, although fresh ones can be excellent too. Once they’ve been frozen, they can be good, but they never reach the culinary heights of the other two. One thing to note: if the legs look papery it means that they’ve gone past their prime eating quality. Pass them up!
Savannah Wine Cellar Wine Tasting
Savannah Wine Cellar’s tastings are always worth the trip! This one, Thursday, May 2, 5:30 to 7:30 pm, is to benefit Rebuilding Together Savannah Charity. $15 per person or $25 per couple. Includes lovely appetizers from Bonefish Grill and Gigi’d Cupcakes.
Low Country Boil to go at Murphy’s
You really can’t beat the Low Country Boil at Murphy’s. It’s fresh — prepared the moment you order it — and heaping with shrimp, plus the usual sausage, potatoes and corn on the cob. It’s a big portion, too, so for the average appetite, two can probably share the dish. At least, my husband and I do just that. And at $7.50 you really can’t go wrong. Murphy;s at 1201 Habersham St., Tel: 335-7325. Enjoy!
Savannah Dining Tidbits 