The Lady and Sons (and The Women Who Loved Them)

First, I’d like to say that I tried really hard to hate it. I figured The Lady and Sons restaurant was a tourist trap, but, since I was a tourist, I felt obligated to go. Maybe that’s the best way to approach a celebrity restaurant; low or no expectations. There were five people in our party and two had been to the restaurant before. They were not impressed, but wanted to be team players. Also, as a disclaimer, I am generally not a fan of buffets. They always seem picked over and the food is usually lukewarm. Now that the formalities are over with…

My first impression of the restaurant came at 9 a.m. on a Saturday morning. After a loooong Friday night in Savannah (St. Patty’s Day weekend, no less), we rolled out of bed to the revelation that we would have to leave right then to get in line to make a reservation for 1:30 that afternoon. Not a good start. We weren’t the only ones to get that memo because when we got there, the line was down the block. When we reached the front of the line, we were told that the restaurant was not serving parties of five that day. Also not good. So we reserved a table for four and went home to get some rest.

When we returned to check in for our reservation, the hostess went ga-ga for one of the crew’s boots. When she realized our party was actually (still) a party of five, she decided that since she liked our shoe game, she’s let us slide (thanks Steve Madden!).

Paula Deen and her (cutie pie) sons have given something great to Savannah! The Lady and Sons restaurant fed me the best Southern meal I’ve had outside my grandmother’s kitchen. Four of us ate from the buffet, but one of my companions ordered the fried shrimp from the menu. All of the dishes on the buffet were in small pans so fresh food was constantly replacing half empty pans.

On the buffet: fried and baked chicken, riblets (served naked with bbq sauce on the side), black-eyed peas, rice, mashed potatoes and gravy, creamed corn, baked sweet potatoes, lima beans, green beans, collard greens, a salad bar and the richest, most succulent, cheesiest mac n cheese I have ever had.

I know, it all sounds so ordinary. I don’t know what separates this restaurant from every other place in town that serves Southern or Soul food, but there was something special going on in the kitchen here! Everything was amazing. Even my girlfriends who had been to the restaurant before were surprised with how tasty every morsel was.

Since I wanted to give a fair and balanced report ;-), I felt obligated to try everything. I was trying to be cute and sat down after I got my salad, so my food did not get cold while I ate the salad. My friends were not so discriminating and finished off the last of the lasagna that was on the buffet. It was the last batch and was, apparently, delicious (they didn’t want to share, so I guess I missed out). The chicken was juicy; the naked ribs and accompanying bbq sauce were reminiscent of grilling out with friends on a hot summer afternoon; the collard greens were spicy with a hint of Southern charm; and, as previously stated, the macaroni and cheese was TO DIE FOR!

We ate much more than our share and then continued to try to force food down; it seemed like such a waste to even leave the juice from the greens on the plate. We briefly discussed the etiquette of licking the plate, but in the end decided that although we could probably get away with it, there was just no more room in any of our bellies. Just one thing… dessert comes with the buffet! Dessert was a choice of banana pudding, peach cobbler or the rotating dessert, which, for us, was a chocolate chip gooey cake. I just wish I had room in my jeans or my shoes for another bite…

Needless to say, The Lady and Sons is a winner. A great deal of our conversation the rest of the day was devoted to justifying just one more plate. After I finished being miserably full, I dreamed that I had taken a plate to go. None of us were hungry until breakfast the next morning.

Take a bow Ms. Deen and sons, you have created a masterpiece!

*I think I actually drooled when I was posting the pictures!