Editor’s note: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is expanding its food and dining coverage beyond greater Atlanta to encompass Georgia and other states in the Southeast. Watch the print edition of the AJC and AJC.com for more stories about the people, places and products that make this region’s food culture so vibrant. Let us know what you think about our expanded coverage. Email Food and Dining Editor Ligaya Figueras: ligaya.figueras@ajc.com.
SAVANNAH — When Cheryl Day first decided to open what would become Back in the Day Bakery, she envisioned it as the latest “food landmark” in a city that is home to many culinary institutions.
What made Day’s eatery different than such mainstays as TV star Paula Deen’s The Lady & Sons, Mrs. Wilkes’ Dining Room, the Olde Pink House and the Pirate’s House was the address. A first-time entrepreneur, she couldn’t afford rent in Savannah’s picturesque downtown, and she and her husband Griff wanted to open in a locale in need of an identity.
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution
“Everyone pointed me toward Broughton Street and downtown, but we saw that as a place where you had to cater to tourists and their expectations,” said Day, a 2015 James Beard Award semifinalist and 2022 nominee. “We wanted to do our business our way, in a place where we could limit our debt.”
The Days settled on an abandoned storefront located across the street from a homeless shelter in a neighborhood now known as the Starland District, located between downtown and densely populated residential neighborhoods.
The bakery opened in 2002, just as downtown Savannah was beginning its ascent as a foodie destination. And while star chefs such as Mashama Bailey (the Grey), Roberto Leoci (Pacci), Sean Brock (Husk) and Anthony Debreceny (the Collins Quarter) elevated downtown Savannah’s reputation beyond fried chicken and shrimp and grits, a new crop of culinary artisans quietly followed Day to Starland.
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Building a sense of place
Starland, named for a dairy that once operated next door to Day’s bakery, sits at the nexus of several neighborhoods that flank Bull Street, Savannah’s main north-south thoroughfare.
In 1999, two Savannah College of Art and Design grads with degrees in historic preservation — and an interest in urban planning — decided to make a passion project of turning the area around the Starland Dairy into an arts district. John Deaderick and Greg Jacobs put together a master plan, shared it with the public and began purchasing real estate.
They bought the old dairy and more than 100 other properties in the area, gutting the large spaces and dividing them into small artist studios and storefronts. They flipped the Victorian-style houses, usually at cost, to buyers who wanted to fix them up and live in them, not retrofit them into rental apartments.
Yet the renaissance they sought stalled.
“What we were battling — and battling for a long time — was that it was a forgotten neighborhood,” Deaderick said. “There was no reason to go there.”
Starland’s early champions held street festivals and open houses. They courted service businesses, such as a vet clinic, with low rents. Deaderick and his then-partner, Michael Pritchard, opened a lunch spot, the Starland Cafe, in 2005.
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Meanwhile, downtown Savannah was in the midst of a tourism-driven transformation, sparked by the popularity of Deen and the film “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” based on the best-selling book of the same name.
The notoriety brought new investors to town, with a focus on downtown real estate. Between 2002 and the Great Recession in 2007-2009, home prices increased citywide by 56%, according to the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency.
The Starland area absorbed many of the young professionals who previously would have bought or rented downtown, Deaderick said. At the same time, SCAD converted several properties in the district into classroom buildings, which led to a surge of students renting in the neighborhood.
“All of the sudden, Starland had a sense of place,” said Clinton Edminster, a longtime resident and the owner of arts supply store Starlandia.
Establishing a food scene
Deaderick always considered cooking a “different and delicious” form of art, and one that would be vital in order for Starland to succeed.
Once the economic recovery took hold, restaurateurs took notice of the area’s demographic shifts. A farm-to-table burger spot, Green Truck Pub, opened in a former fast-food restaurant location four blocks east of the Starland Dairy site in 2010. The next year, a coffee shop and cafe called Foxy Loxy moved into an old house four blocks north.
“We challenged the notion that if you wanted to go out to eat you had to go downtown, and that a good meal was defined as the same kind of stuff, like shrimp and grits,” said Green Truck Pub’s Josh Yates, who moved to Savannah from Atlanta with his wife Whitney in 2007. “We wanted to open a neighborhood joint like the ones we used to eat at in Poncey-Highland.”
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution
The success of these culinary newcomers finally attracted celebrity chefs to Starland in 2014. Local favorite Sean Tran, who along with his wife Ele had introduced Asian fusion cuisine to Savannah with several downtown restaurants, opened the Vault Kitchen & Market in a former bank building on Bull Street. Also that year, Athens’ Hugh Acheson launched the Florence on Starland’s edge and installed up-and-comer Kyle Jacovino as executive chef. Acheson closed the Florence in 2017, but Jacovino stayed, convinced Starland was Savannah’s next foodie destination.
Deaderick said the tipping point was the opening of Starland’s first craft brewery, Two Tides, in 2018, followed by three eateries that opened in 2019: Starland Yard, a food truck park anchored by a permanent storefront for Jacovino; Big Bon Bodega, a gourmet bagel shop; and Squirrel’s, which owner Chris Dickerson labeled as a “pizzeria brasserie.”
“Starland is the best area in Savannah to launch a food business that offers a menu that’s a little different,” Dickerson said. “It’s like Wayne Gretzky said about hockey: You don’t go to where the puck is, you go to where it’s going to be.”
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Two critically acclaimed eateries, Common Thread and Brochu’s Family Tradition, have opened since the pandemic, as have Ukiyo, a Japanese restaurant, and the Garage at Victory North, which specializes in late-night fare. At least three more restaurants are under construction as rents remain low and property owners still are flexible with how they configure spaces.
Day smiled broadly when reflecting on the evolution of Starland’s dining scene. Back in the Day Bakery long ago achieved the landmark status she sought, and she’s confident her neighbors will, as well. Meanwhile, she has put the building that is home to her bakery up for sale, eager, at age 62, to sleep past “zero dark thirty” and observe her legacy from afar.
“Starland has become a place where small businesses, creatives and makers know they can thrive,” Day said. “They don’t think they can, like we did all those years ago. They know it.”
IF YOU GO
Starland area restaurants
Back in the Day Bakery. 2403 Bull St., Savannah. 912-495-9292, backinthedaybakery.com. Must-try menu item: Southern biscuit
Big Bon Bodega. 2011 Bull St., Savannah. 912-349-4847, bigbonfamily.com. Must-try menu item: Korean Mama bagel sandwich
Brochu’s Family Tradition. 2400 Bull St., Savannah. brochusfamilytradition.com. Must-try menu item: whole chicken
Bull Street Taco. 1608 Bull St., Savannah. 912-349-6931, bullstreettaco.com. Must-try menu item: Chum’s taco
Common Thread. 122 E. 37th St., Savannah. 912-944-7482, commonthreadsavannah.com. Must-try menu item: Lady Island oysters
Elizabeth on 37th. 105 E. 37th St., Savannah. 912-236-5547, elizabethon37th.net. Must-try menu item: coastal grouper Celeste
Foxy Loxy Cafe. 1919 Bull St., Savannah. 912-401-0543, foxyloxycafe.com. Must-try menu item: beef and chorizo taco
Green Truck Pub. 2430 Habersham St., Savannah. 912-234-5885, greentruckpub.com. Must-try menu item: trailer park burger
Over Yonder. 2424 Abercorn St., Savannah. 912-335-7276, overyondersav.com. Must-try menu item: smashburger
Pizzeria Vittoria. 2411 De Soto Ave., Savannah. 912-417-3002, vittoriapizzeria.com. Must-try menu item: classic Margherita
Squirrel’s. 2218 Bull St., Savannah. 912-335-7873, squirrelspizza.com. Must-try menu item: Korean barbecue wings
Starland Cafe. 11 E. 41st St., Savannah. 912-443-9355, thestarlandcafe.com. Must-try menu item: tomato Thai soup
The Garage at Victory North. 2605 Whitaker St., Savannah. 912-298-6967, thegarageatvictorynorth.com. Must-try menu item: crawfish beignets
The Vault Kitchen & Market. 2112 Bull St., Savannah. 912-201-1950, thevaultkitchen.com. Must-try menu item: chicken claypot
Ukiyo. 2224 Bull St., Savannah. 912-428-5683, ukiyosavannah.com. Must-try menu item: tonkotsu ramen
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