Bistro Savannah
Shellfish-Stuffed Black Sea Bass with Clam Sauce. One bite of this flamboyant sea-inspired dish and you may not want to venture back to shore. Bistro Savannah Chef Danny Kim uses fresh local seafood, infusing lumps of blue crab meat, shrimp, scallops with cream and saffron, wine and even a hint of fennel, all topped off with a rich clam sauce. “The dish became popular in Savannah because of [its] presentation and the flavor of fresh local seafood,” says Kim. “This dish, I believe, is what Savannah seafood is about.” Bistro Savannah, 309 West Congress Street, 912.233.6266

Playing with his food yields delicious results for Chef Kirk Blaine of Driftaway Cafe.

Kirk Blaine has an advantage over most chefs. Every evening, he walks through Driftaway Cafe’s dining room and knows what customers will order even before they open a menu. “Our customer base comes in here five to seven times a week,” Blaine says enthusiastically. “We pack the house every night—not many restaurants can say that.” But there’s another reason Blaine knows all of the hungry faces lining Driftaway’s mural-painted walls: he’s been working there since he was 16 years old. He left for a short time to attend the Culinary Institute of America in New York City, but before long he was back in Savannah—mostly because he hated the cold, but also because of his loyalty to Driftaway owners Robin and Michelle Quartlebaum. “They are amazing owners who have given me the opportunity to explore with food.”

A large part of his success is due to his fascination—obsession, even—with food. A visual artist by nature, Blaine finds himself playing with his food in the best possible way.

How does a hobby grow into a multi-million dollar business? For a local weapon manufacturer, it happened when opportunity met preparation and a core group of people believed in one man’s dream.

Marty Daniel describes himself as a “gun guy.” Tall, lanky and unassuming, the Savannah native grew up tinkering with machines and parts, intrigued by the mechanics of firearms and fascinated by how things work and what was needed to keep them working. As he got older, Daniel channeled his interests into Daniel Overhead Doors and Fireplaces, a business that still stands after 20 years. But a new company targeting a completely different market has now replaced the businessman’s former mainstay. Operating from a new manufacturing facility off I-16 in northern Bryan County, Daniel is taking the world’s assault rifle industry by storm.

After nearly two decades solving Savannah’s mysteries, Private Investigator Ron Palefsky reveals the truth about sleuthing―one story at a time.

Ron Palefsky sits in the dead silence of his recently purchased converter van, swiveling in the captain’s seat, waiting for any movement from within the house he is watching. Hours pass. I want a coke, he thinks. I wish I could run down the street and just get a coke.

That’s impossible—he could miss crucial information and draw attention to himself.  Maybe a cigarette will help. He lights one, watching the cabin fill with smoke. He can’t crack a window to let the cool night air in without giving himself away, so he forces himself to stub it out slowly.

As Palefsky stares out onto the softly lit streets of Ardsley Park, it starts to drizzle. Tiny droplets of water gather on the van’s windows, blurring the view into splotches of colors. In the house beyond, there is no movement.

Do you speak savannah-ese?

Teeter-toddler
/”tē-tər-’täd-lər/

n., A child who sits on a parent’s shoulders, usually a father’s, in order to better view an event occurring on adult eye level, such as Fourth of July fireworks on River Street.

Example:
As the first firework cascaded over the Savannah River and into the distant night sky, I could see an army of parents begin to mobilize. One by one, fathers lifted their little ones onto their shoulders for the best view of the pyrotechnics. From the wide-eyed smile of every teeter-toddler there, it was clear that the thrilling perspective from their elevated perch outdid the views of any box seat imaginable.

Submit your own Savannah slang to editor@thesouthmag.com. For more inventive words and phrases, visit writer David Gignilliat’s official Quixotica blog at www.quixoticawords.blogspot.com

A good female bartender has a special skill set they don’t teach you in bartending school: Guts, gusto and a good sense of humor. Get to know the bold ladies behind some of Savannah’s busiest bars.

Jade Kersey
Club 309 West, 309 West River Street

Bartending Since: 2004

Hip new trends in home and interior designs from an industry insider.

Primitive sconce. With bands of brushed steel over frosted glass, these sconces would make any wall look cool. The contrasting materials are retro-deco-futuristic without being kitsch, and will transform a space with gleaming beauty. Keep an eye out for the desktop version.
Buy locally: Circa Lighting, 405 Whitaker Street, 912.447.1008

A lot of things have been said about children: Children are our future, the world’s most valuable resource, messages we send to a time we will not see. All cliches aside, in a world of revolving uncertainty, few can deny the importance of well-being—both physical and emotional—of today’s youth.

The South presents five outstanding youth advocates who know the importance of fostering young people and have dedicated their lives to the cause. Together with the organizations for which they serve, these individuals arm local children with the tools they need to become successful, happy adults who will, in turn, pass on the message and motivation to future generations.

Jonathan Barrett
Hails from: Perry, Georgia

Why Savannah: “Besides the exquisite architecture, the mild climate in winter, the history, the natural beauty and landscape and the fabulous Lowcountry food,

With brush in hand, Anna Fox Ryan explores the gritty relationship between man and machine.

“What if nothing changed and industry continued chugging oil, choking our economy and churning out pollution? What if the machines that destroy us become the relics of our existence?”

Pondering—and painting—these questions is a full-time job for Savannah-based painter Anna Fox Ryan. Her work, which touches on apocalyptical circumstance, directly questions the costly behavior of big business, the wastefulness of our society and the destruction of natural habitats. Intending to spread awareness, Fox Ryan renders power poles, smoke stacks, wind turbines and fire as motifs for a collection-in-progress.

She came to Savannah from Charlottesville, Virginia for the same reason as many other students: To obtain a degree that would allow her to have a career that is both creative and financially secure.

The South celebrates an artist who forges a uniquely artistic look for Savannah’s historic district.

On Wayne Street, a pair of Camellia trees stand in eternal bloom. Swaying branches support individual petals and delicately veined leaves. These life-size trees are the forged steel creations of renowned metalworker John Boyd Smith. Welded together, the trees form a carport gate at a private residence. Metalwork of this caliber, where flowers of steel bloom in three-dimensional form, is unusual, first in its artistic achievement and second, for its practical purpose.

Unlike traditional metalwork, which commonly features scrolls and simple designs, Smith’s creations depict elements of nature with sculptural nuances and careful detail. Smith renders metal into “realism.” Only a handful of American blacksmiths can produce this caliber of work—“Maybe less than five,” Smith says.