Off the Menu: Some of Savannah's tastiest dishes aren't listed. Here's where to find them

I have not lived in Savannah long enough or written about food extensively enough to ‘be someone’ who is or should be ‘known’ - and that is fine by me.

Still and all, over these past nine years, more than five of which I have been blessed to cover the local dining landscape, I have pocketed a few ace cards, if you will. Not quite insider secrets, there are certain tricks of the restaurant trade that my wife and I lean on.

Call them our own Kitchen Confidentials. (Thank you, Anthony.)

I am not going to give away the chicken and the eggs here, but several secrets deserve to be enjoyed by the masses, two of which are favorite dishes that are no longer on their respective restaurants’ menus.

Even though I am not really a somebody, both Crystal Beer Parlor and Mellow Mushroom make them for me every time I come in.

Join the Cheeseburger Club

Back in Baltimore, my wife and I occasionally ate at Jerry’s Belvedere Tavern, which was just down the block from our house. Jerry’s was never what one would call a ‘restaurant’. Its current web presence, if you can even call it that, lists its hours as ‘always open’, which definitely suits the patrons who have sat at its bar since the Nixon administration.

Though its food had no pretense to be great art, Jerry’s served a cheeseburger club, and on fall nights after a late volleyball match, that gigantic sandwich is what the dietary doctor ordered.

In many ways, Crystal Beer Parlor is the idealized version of Jerry’s Belvedere Tavern, a rightful restaurant institution that keeps getting better with age, and though it is no longer on its multi-page menu, CBP’s cheeseburger club remains my must-have.

The always amenable servers are more than happy to take my order: medium with American cheese and a side of housemade chips.

What comes to the table is a tantalizing tower, anchored by one of the most consistently cooked burgers in the city, perfectly pink, tiered with onions slightly warmed from the residual heat and healthy slathers of mayo. Above the lettuce and tomato is just as much bacon as headlines a hearty BLT.

Honestly, the first bite is the biggest challenge but only because I do not have a shark’s bite radius. There is no point in trying to ketchup-and-mustard the layers; instead, just make adjacent pools on the plate for pre-bite dipping.

If I eat the entire sandwich, dinner is not even a thought, and more often than not, I save half for lunch leftovers. Last Saturday, I ponied up and polished it off, sharing a corner with my wife.

Another word to the wise: get to CBP by 11:30 a.m. at the latest on a weekend morning unless you are willing to wait a while.

Personal Pizza

When Mellow Mushroom’s Liberty Street location closed during the pandemic, plenty of tasty pizzas filled the relative void, but we did miss the occasional bike ride downtown to sit outside and split a pie while the traffic glided by beneath the live oaks.

Thankfully, owners Kim and John Boyce added this piece to their Mellow medley and reopened in 2021. The slightly modified new menu saw the 86ing of the White Rabbit, but we still ask for it by name. Infinitely more palatable than its Jefferson Airplane song inspiration, this particular pie will make you respect a regional pizza parlor chain.

By and large, Mellow’s pizzas are really good because of the hearty crust that is fortified with molasses and bites like buttery whole wheat, flecks of parmesan baked onto the tawny gold bready bubbles.

The White Rabbit’s flavor is furthered by an olive oil-and-garlic base topped with a variety of veg, some of which make it into every mouthful: artichokes, mushrooms, spinach, and sun-dried tomatoes.

Just the right amount of lightly charred feta melts into not too much mozzarella to make it all succulently salty. Even with the ample toppings, the piece’s point holds up.

The two of us split a small ($15.95), which is plenty unless you are trying to win some sort of contest.

Wink, wink, nudge, nudge

In a city filled with fabulous food, hidden gems are all over the place, and the following number just a few of our go-tos.

You really cannot go wrong with any flavor at Leopold’s, but the two coffee varieties are world-beaters. For years now, my wife’s ‘special’ order is what we have dubbed the Frozen Latte: a single scoop of plain coffee ice cream served in a double cup and topped with as much whipped cream as will fit.

As I have written before, we proudly frequent Savannah’s signature scoop shop perhaps more than any other 912ers, but once the line reaches that first lamppost, Mission Ice Cream is aborted.

Until the management team sees its way to addressing the illogical logistics of the queue, we run the locals’ sneak: go in through the out door (out door…Thank you, Prince) to bypass the people from Pasadena, Pittsburgh, and Plano, snag a pint or two from the cold case, pay at the register that was moved into the back dining room during the pandemic, and skedaddle.

At Bar Julian, the Pepperoni Butter ($3) is on the menu but is buried at the bottom left. Look there first. Order it. Order more than one portion. The unctuous, vibrant orange spread is reason enough to dine there, and you will fight whoever is sitting next to you for the last dollop.

The same is true for the basil purée at the Bull Street branch of Squirrel’s Pizza. Here and there, this emerald emulsion appears on pizzas and other dishes, but you want a bucket of it. Individual bites of the Benny Blanco are made even better dragged through this ingenious purée that is the antidote to burned basil chiffonades and whole leaves tossed on a pie after baking.

Fire Street Food’s Gang Leuring (yellow curry) is phenomenal and is my wife’s favorite, and they readily oblige her request for no potatoes, no rice, and extra veg and sauce.

Nom Nom Poké Shop offers fried wonton chips in two superb nacho iterations, though a simple side order of plain chips ($4) might miss your hungry eyes on the printed menu. You and your chosen poké bowl deserve them.

At Tubby’s Tank House, order the Spanky’s chicken fingers and spuds extra-crispy and ask for two plastic ramekins of honey-horseradish, another condiment that should come in gallon jugs.

If you want, I can give you my recipe for the concoction.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Some of Savannah's tastiest dishes aren't listed. Here's where to find them