Black food is the Southern palate: 3 Savannah restaurants, one bar that epitomize the South (2024)

Savannah’s Black restauranteur history is a genuine food tribute to generational recipes buried under Bible verses and only duplicated based on hearsay. During this Black food special, Dine and Dash dug deeper into the Southern palate that is Savannah’s black eats, guest-starring vegan food creator Clay Hodges of Phat Vegan.

We are introduced to a series of black chefs, bartenders, and creators who create food and beverages catered to their inspiration of highlighting other black-owned businesses, foods from their upbringing, and lifestyles inspired by scholars and a need to serve.

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Okàn Bluffton

According to Chef Bernard Bennett, “the importance of using seasoning for me is to bring out every bit of flavor you can. I’m a layered foods person, so many multiple layers of flavor can come from how you season your food.”

One thing for certain about foods in a majority of Black households is that it does not lack any form of seasoning. Individual spices marry together to create a vast note that brings delight, comfort and oftentimes memorization when taste was the only recipe book that many enslaved individuals were allowed to own during the transatlantic slave trade.

At Okàn Bluffton, Chef Bennett uses his knowledge of West African cuisine and Caribbean background to create masterful dishes that fulfill fine dining qualifications in a 16-foot food truck. If you’ve ever been to Starland Yard or certain parts of Bluffton, it isn’t hard to pinpoint the jovial chef in his signature blue pinstripe apron, generously prepping signature dishes that are far beyond southern soul food items. Crisp yuca fries cut shoestring styled and paired with chermoula ketchup that gives the yuca a garlicky and thick flavorful punch and jerk chicken that is perfectly grilled and topped with a jerk sauce that brings a sweetness and tangy combination to each bite paired with a Jarrito.

When I asked Chef Bennett, where he gained his knowledge of his unique flavors from he stated that a big part of his cooking stems from his grandmother. "My grandma had a huge garden when we were growing up," he said. "The flavor of the food being cooked from the garden as opposed to the store was night and day. That taste was a spark for me. Watching my grandma clean greens, green beans, and potatoes and tasting just how delicious everything was definitely helped me want to become a chef.”

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With flavor profiles from West Africa and the Caribbean in many of his dishes, the chef prepares classic favorites like roti, peri peri sauce (which is close to a West African-inspired pepper sauce with vegetables) and of course, jollof rice, which can be compared to southern red rice. Jokingly, I asked the chef if the jollof rice was Nigerian or Ghanaian referencing a tongue-in-cheek joke between the two nationalities and he playfully answered back with a genuine laugh that “it’s Okàn.”

Okàn, meaning heart in the Yuroba language is a relevant description of how Chef Bennett takes into account his presentation and love for creating cultural foods. Chef Bennett said that he “wants to use that language (Yuroba) as we talk about the history of dishes” defining what it means to serve food for the love of knowledge and the betterment of the future.

Learn more about Okàn Bluffton on Instagram and at okanbluffton.com.

Kim’s Cafe

It is rare to see a red tub of pork chitterlings, or even cut conch, outside of the family home in Savannah. However, at Kim’s Cafe, Maronda Pierce and her family are preparing close-to-home meals that mirror your grandma’s favorite eats.

Kim’s Cafe, situated on the historic Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., is what comfortable eating feels like amongst strangers. As soon as you walk into the establishment you can smell the wonders of the kitchen of fried chicken being prepared by Chef Sharon Pierce and smiling faces in a beautiful building space donned with African artwork and colorful murals painted by local black artists. As I sat down with Maronda, I realized why the importance of bringing her family's food to the public’s attention was so important for her.

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Maronda stated that “for us here at Kim’s, we believe it is important to get back to our roots. Typically, homestyle cooking brought families together on Sundays and holidays, only. As the world evolves, it appears that sitting and having a good home-cooked meal went out with a lot of the new generation…”.

After opening its doors in 2001 as a family-owned and operated restaurant under the name of their late mother Kimberly Holmes-Dickens, Maronda and her sisters took on the task of incorporating an additional soul food restaurant into Savannah’s west side. Serving up delicious eats like oxtails smothered over rice with a side of cheesy macaroni and cheese and perfectly brown-sugared yams. The grilled chicken wings with a sticky BBQ glaze surrounded by lima beans and okra, and their signature Kim’s Low Country Bowl that incorporates conch, sausage, shrimp, bell peppers, onion, and a specialty gravy over grits.

Though the entrees were amazing highlights, the star of the table had to be the peach cobbler which had a buttery flaky crust that mixed in well with the caramelized peaches. I only needed a cup of ice cream and I would have taken an after-dinner nap just like grandma’s food made you do after Sunday church service. Kim’s Cafe is a true home away from home that creates community through its giving back services by also offering GED classes on Mondays and Wednesdays and a partnership with Shelter in the Rain agency to provide free baby items for families in need.

Their commitment to the community through food and service is what it means when to invite the village to eat.

Learn more about Kim's Cafe on Instagram and at kimscafe.net.

Hungry Vegan

Written by guest writer Clay Hodges of Phat Vegan TV

I was honored to be featured on this episode of Dine and Dash. Even more so honored to sit down with Denise Washington, the owner of Hungry Vegan, one of my favorite vegan restaurants in Savannah.

Hungry Vegan is a special place, but it's not just because of its arrangement of succulent vegan soul food; it’s not just because of its warm and welcoming atmosphere, the quaint and homey aesthetic, or the cute décor of animals in the lobby. The thing that makes Hungry Vegan the most special is the fact that as of now,it is the only Black-owned brick-and-mortar vegan restaurant in Savannah.

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Washington represents a very small minority of people who continuously fight for their place in the growing food and beverage industry in the Lowcountry. She represents well with the selection of southern staples featured on the menu. Items such as fried oyster mushrooms, black eye peas, collard greens, macaroni and cheese, and their sweet homemade cornbread.

“My great grandma used to cook (food) like this growing up. I just used her recipes and made them vegan,” reflected Washington as I sat down and enjoyed a meal with her. The table was laid with a decadent vegan feast fit for a Phat Vegan such as myself. Washington had spaghetti with their homemade vegan meat sauce, cabbage, and black-eyed peas. I had rice topped with a smothered Salisbury steak made from an Impossible patty, okra, and creamy mac and cheese, and of course, that delicious, sweet, soft, buttery cornbread that they make from scratch.

To top it off, we also had fried cauliflower wings and their famous fried oyster mushrooms. The cauliflower was flavorful and meaty. The mushroom was crispy and chewy. It reminded me of the fried chicken my mama used to cook for us as children. I haven’t eaten meat in almost eight years but I never forget where I came from.

Washington didn’t either as she shared the vegan journey that led to her starting Hungry Vegan. “I stopped eating meat five years ago. I got tired of eating French fries,” she said with a chuckle. “I was literally a Hungry Vegan.”

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Hungry Vegan has been serving delicious vegan food to the Savannah community and tourists since 2021. She looks forward to many more wonderful years and I look forward to many more servings of their delicious fried oyster mushrooms. I have a saying at Phat Vegan, “we just don’t eat plant-based, we buss it down!” Hungry Vegan is definitely bussin’.

Learn more about Hungry Vegan on Instagram and at facebook.com/hungryvegan2020/. Learn more about Phat Vegan on Instagram.

Bar Black Club

Remember when we became aware that Nathan “Nearest” Green, an enslaved Black man actually is responsible for teaching Jack Daniels the craft of making whiskey? If not, here’s your fun factoid of the day.

Places like Bar Black Club, operated by one of Savannah’s leading bartender Loni Lewis, doesn’t want you to forget. Bar Black Club is an ode to the alcoholic beverages and brands owned, operated, and curated by Black-identifying beverage ambassadors. Lewis stated that “while previously working for an alcohol distributor. I noticed the overwhelming amount of companies that are black or woman-owned, and the ones that are available aren’t gaining traction because people don’t know about them…I started Bar Black Club to help make these brands more visible and so people can taste them before buying the bottle.”

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As a pop-up co*cktail hub, Lewis has partnered with Ilesha “Cocoa” Graham, acurator, educator, and event creator from California, to create their first event called “Coco(a), Convos, and co*cktails.” This women-empowerment series is meant to encourage and empower women to get together for the purposes of networking and engaging with each other. Cocoa states that “when I was dreaming up this event, there were two things driving me forward. Since it is Black History Month, I wanted to highlight Black, women-owned businesses and impact makers in Savannah. But even closer to my heart, I desired to create an opportunity for women in Savannah to come together as a collective to connect, share stories, build relationships, have fun and begin to create a strong network that will lead to positive change in our lives and our local communities."

This ingeniously crafted space does more than just invite you to try Black-owned alcoholic beverages, Lewis also utilizes sustainable and environmentally friendly ingredients. For this episode, she paired a father and son, Black-owned vodka brand called IslandJon Vodka with fresh lime, mint, and basil. A drink that she calls the Social Bird is a true conversation starter for its mint and basil notes from the rim of the glass using leftover tea and the body of the drink that tasted close to a margarita due to its refreshing flavor and slight pucker from the lime. Lewis stated that this drink is a favorite for “women who normally like a sweeter drink, akin to limeade, but want to experience a sustainable version, that has delicious notes of mint and basil.”

To join in the conversation with the duo, you can join them for their first event at Brockington Hall located at 213 E Hall Street starting at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. Tickets are available via eventbrite.com starting at $50.00 a person.

Learn more about Bar Black Club on Instagram.

Martina Yvette produces the Dine and Dash videos for Savannahnow.com. Contact her at adashofthat1@gmail.com. See more columns by Martina at savannahnow.com/entertainment/dining/.