What to Eat in Savannah: Mrs. Wilkes' Dining Room, The Grey, Shrimp & Grits & Pralines

Savannah's culinary identity combines two traditions: hearty 19th-century Southern boarding-house comfort food (buttermilk fried chicken, collard greens, macaroni pie and peach cobbler) and Gullah Geechee and Coastal Lowcountry seafood harvested from nearby tidal creeks (sweet Georgia white shrimp, blue crab, oysters and red rice).

1. Mrs. Wilkes' Dining Room (107 W Jones St, Weekday Lunch Only)

Operated in the garden-level basement of an 1870 Jones Street townhouse since Sema Wilkes took over the boarding house in 1943, Mrs. Wilkes' takes no reservations and accepts cash only (check their official site for weekday lunch hours and set pricing). Join the queue under the oak trees mid-morning; when the doors open, ten guests at a time are seated family-style around tables covered with 22 steaming porcelain bowls of Southern fried chicken, beef stew, candied yams, butter beans, gumbo, fried okra, macaroni pie and warm biscuits, with banana pudding included.

2. The Olde Pink House & Planters Tavern (23 Abercorn St on Reynolds Square)

Housed inside a 1771 Georgian brick mansion whose plaster bled pink, it is famous for Crispy Scored Flounder with Apricot Shallot Sauce, Fried Green Tomatoes and Shrimp and Grits. If the upstairs dining rooms are booked out weeks ahead, walk down the exterior side steps in the late afternoon into the candlelit 1771 brick basement Planters Tavern, offering a walk-in fireplace, live piano music and the full dinner menu without a reservation.

3. The Grey, Husk Savannah & Modern Port City Dining

Chef Mashama Bailey's James Beard Award-winning The Grey (109 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd) occupies a restored 1938 Art Deco Greyhound bus terminal (sit at the front Diner Bar for walk-in drinks and small plates). Other standout tables include Husk Savannah, Common Thread, Brochu's Family Tradition and Alligator Soul.

4. Casual Classics: Zunzi's, Leopold's Ice Cream, Pralines & Artillery Punch

For a quick lunch, order the Conquistador sandwich at Zunzi's (236 Drayton St) or biscuits at Maple Street Biscuit Co.; get a scoop of Tutti-Frutti at 1919 Leopold's Ice Cream; sample warm Butter-Pecan Pralines on River Street; and sip Savannah's 1780s Chatham Artillery Punch made with cognac, dark rum, bourbon and champagne.